P.C. VARGHESE, M.S.; M.Engg. (Harvard); Ph.D., was a distinguished teacher, a well-known consultant and an established author. He had his undergraduate education at Trivandrum Engineering College, postgraduate education in soil mechanics at Harvard University, USA (under Professor Terzaghi and Professor Casagrande) and also in reinforced concrete design at Imperial College, London (under Professor A.L.L. Baker). As a teacher, he worked as one of the founding faculty member of three well-known universities—IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and University of Maratuwa, Sri Lanka (here, he also served as UNESCO Chief Technical Advisor). He has good field experiences as Assistant Soil Specialist, Hirakud Dam Project in Odisha, Construction Engineer at IIT Kharagpur and UNCHS Advisor to Buildings Department, Sri Lanka. As an author, he has written a number of textbooks in the field of Civil Engineering after his retirement while working as Honorary Visiting Professor at College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai. Including the present book, he has written nine books—all published by PHI Learning.