"Unsaturated soil mechanics remains an emerging area in the classical arena of soil mechanics, which is the cornerstone of geotechnical engineering. While conventional soil mechanics operates under the conservative assumption that soil is either fully saturated with water or fully dry, unsaturated soil mechanics represents an essential expansion of the field to include soils under all saturation conditions. Because most construction activity, environmental problems (e.g., contaminant spills), and food production occurs near the ground surface where the soil is in an unsaturated condition, the engineering community is rapidly adapting to approach these problems from the framework of unsaturated soil mechanics. Unsaturated soil mechanics is the future of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, yet there are very few comprehensive books that systematically lay out the necessary fundamental theory and practical guidance"-- Provided by publisher.