Current theories and procedures in evaluating dynamic lateral earth and water pressures due to submerged backfill soils against rigid retaining structures are throughly reviewed. Available experimental data is gathered and compared to the theories. A new generalized apparent angle of seismic coefficient, which can be easily used to evaluate dynamic soil as well as water pressure for a wide range of backfill soil types, is proposed. The new procedure incorporates the effect of the permeability and the geometry of the backfill soils and the modes of the wall movement.

In order to understand the physics of the strength and stress‐strain behavior of soils and to devise mathematical models that adequately represent such behavior, it is important to define the degree to which the particles of an element of soil are crushed or broken during loading. The amount of particle crushing in a soil element under stress depends on particle size distribution, particle shape, state of effective stress, effective stress path, void ratio, particle hardness, and the presence or absence of water. Data are analyzed for single mineral soils and rockfill‐like materials and equations are presented that can be used to estimate the total breakage expected for a given soil subjected to a specified loading.

An experimental program was conducted to obtain data from model tests to evaluate the effects of open trenches on blast‐induced circumferential and longitudinal stresses on an underground pipeline. A model pipe was instrumented with five sets of orthogonal strain gages at two longitudinal locations. Five sets of experiments were performed. The first set of experiments, in which the blast‐induced stresses covered the range of a stress‐predictive equation derived previously, consisted of tests without a trench. Similar blasting tests were then conducted using four different trench geometries. The trenches were all the same width and located the same distance from the model pipe. Two different lengths and depths were used on the four trenches/The measured strains and ground motions from the no‐trench experiments showed that the new data compared very well with values obtained using the predictive equations developed on a previous program. In general, the trenches were more effective in reducing the circumferential pipe stresses than the longitudinal pipe stresses. However, different depths and lengths of the trench affected the pipe stress amplitude variations. The longer and deeper trench was the most effective.

The primary criterion used in evaluating the suitability of hazardous waste landfills for containing hazardous wastes is permeability, and many regulatory agencies have adopted regulations requiring clay‐lined hazardous waste landfills to have a coefficient of permeability no greater than a fixed value. However, the measurement of in‐situ permeability of compacted clay is time consuming and difficult. If used to monitor construction, it slows the construction rate. Another equally important problem is that clay‐liner permeability is extremely variable. Solutions to both of these problems are presented. Firstly, a relationship is developed between permeability and easily measured dry unit Weight and moisture content. This would allow for the immediate monitoring of clay liners during construction. Secondly, an alternative is provided to the conventional approach in which permeability is treated as a single‐valued quantity. A probabilistic description of the permeability of clay liners is developed from considerations of the heterogeneity of the soil. This would improve the design of clay liners by establishing confidence levels associated with possible ranges of the permeability.

Substantial decrease in resistance to liquefaction is shown to occur with increase in confining pressure for a rounded and an angular sand having identical gradation. For a given increase in confining pressure, angular sand suffers a larger loss in resistance than rounded sand. At equal relative densities, angular sand is shown to be more resistant to liquefaction at lower confining pressures but less resistant at higher confining pressures than rounded sand.