Soil mechanics “virtual” laboratory-a multimedia development

This paper discusses the development of a highly interactive multimedia package which includes a series of standard soil mechanics laboratory experiments for teaching and learning purposes at undergraduate level of a typical civil engineering or Earth science course. The developed software is in the form of a CD-ROM and consists of three distinct key elements including: (a) photo-panoramic guided tour of a typical soil mechanics laboratory (navigable movies); (b) technical information, which includes a procedural statement for each experiment, a description of the equipment and apparatus, an example, typical results, references to other literature and additional information to underpin lecture notes; (c) questions and log file of results and navigation. The paper also provides an example test (Shear Box Test) explaining the step by step procedure of using the package. Finally detailed technical and programming information about how this package was designed and developed are provided in this paper