The purpose of this book is to explain the philosophy set out in Eurocode 7, the new European code of practice for geotechnical design, and, by means of series of typical examples, to show how this philosophy is used in practice. This book is aimed at: • practising engineers, to assist them to carry out geotechnical designs to Eurocode 7 using the limit state design method and partial factors; • lecturers and students on courses where design to Eurocode 7 is being taught. It is envisaged that practising engineers, using this book to assist them carry out geotechnical designs to Eurocode 7, will have access to the prestandard version of Eurocode 7, ENV 1997 -I, so the authors have concentrated on the main principles and have not provided a commentary on all the clauses. However sufficient detail has been included in the book to enable it to be used on its own by those learning the design principles who may not have access to Eurocode 7. For example, the values of the partial factors and the principal equations given in Eurocode 7 have been included and these are used in the design examples in this book. To assist the reader, the numbering, layout and titles of the chapters closely follow those presented in Eurocode 7.