Physical properties of the soils: grain size; plasticity; porosity; unit weight; consistency; relative density; etc. (4 h lectures and 4 h exercises). Application of Continuum Mechanics to the soils. Principle of effective stresses. (4 h lectures). Groundwater. Seepage: Darcy's law; permeability; Laplace equation; boundary conditions; solution techniques. (6 h lecture and 4 h exercises). Drained and undrained conditions: Skempton equation. Undisturbed sampling. (4 h lectures). Compressibility of the soil conditions in one way: oedometric test; preconsolidation stress and compressibility. (10 h lectures and 4 h exercises). Direct shear test: equipment, experimental technique, strength criteria; peak resistance Critical state strength. (4 h lectures and 2 h exercises). Triaxial tests: equipment, experimental techniques; influence of drainage conditions; interpretation of test results; the strength criteria (Mohr-Coulomb and Tresca); deformability of soils. Interpretation of the results of triaxial tests in Critical State Soil Mechanics. (10 h lectures and 4 h exercises). Site investigations: piezometers; penetration tests; vane test; pressuremeter test, dilatometer test. (4 h lectures). Limit analysis and Limit equilibrium methods (6 h lectures and 2 h exercises)