The complexities of designing piles for lateral loads are manifold as there are many forces that are critical to the design of big structures such as bridges, offshore and waterfront structures and retaining walls. The loads on structures should be supported either horizontally or laterally or in both directions and most structures have in common t

This publication contains the papers presented at the 15th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ECSMGE), held in Athens, Greece. Considerable progress has been made in recent decades in understanding the engineering behavior of those hard soils and weak rocks that clearly fall into either the field of soil or of rock mechanics, and there have been important developments in design and construction methods to cope with them. Progress would be even more desirable, however, for those materials which fall into the ‘grey’ area between soils and rocks. They present particular challenges due to their diversity, the difficulties and problems arising in their identification and classification, their sampling and testing and in the establishment of suitable models to adequately describe their behavior. The publication aims to provide an updated overview of the existing worldwide knowledge of the geological features, engineering properties and behavior of such hard soils and weak rocks, with particular reference to the design and construction methods and problems associated with these materials. Part 4 was published post-conference and includes Conference Reports.

Elastic, Plastic and Yield Design of Reinforced Structures presents a whole set of new results which have been published by the authors over the last 30 years in the field of continuum solid mechanics applied to the analysis and design of reinforced civil engineering structures. The focus is on the development and application of up-scaling/homogenization methods in the design of such composite structures, with a special emphasis on the plastic behavior and ultimate strength of materials. The specificity of the book is highlighted by at least two completely innovative concepts which lie at the very heart of the book's originality: the elaboration of a fully comprehensive homogenization-based method for the design of reinforced structures (and not only materials), through the study of macroscopic behavior, and the development of a multiphase model for materials reinforced by linear inclusions, which considerably extends the range of applicability of the classical homogenization procedure. - Sums up almost thirty years of original research in the field of mechanics applied to the analysis and design of reinforced civil engineering structures - Focuses on the application of upscaling/homogenization methods to the design of civil engineering structures - Highlights the elaboration of a fully comprehensive homogenization-based method for the design of reinforced structures (and not only materials), through the concept of macroscopic behavior - Features development of a multiphase model for materials reinforced by linear inclusions, which considerably extends the range of applicability of the classical homogenization procedure.