"Symbols and definitions used in geotechnical engineering" is quoted from "Lexicon in 8 languages" (the fifth edition) published in 1981 by International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
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1. General
| Symbol | Dimension | Unit | Measured quantity |
| L, l | L | m | Length |
| B, b | L | m | Breadth |
| H, h | L | m | Height |
| D, z | L | m | Depth |
| d, D | L | m | Diameter |
| A | L² | m² | Area |
| V | L³ | m³ | Volume |
| t | T | s | Time |
| v | LT-1 | m/s | Velocity |
| a | LT-2 | m/s² | Acceleration |
| g | LT-2 | m/s² | Acceleration due to gravity (g = 9.81 m/s²) |
| m | M | kg | Mass |
| r | ML-3 | kg/m³ | Density |
| g | ML-2T-2 | kN/m³ | Unit weight |
| F | - | 1 | Factor of safety |
| p | - | 1 | 3.1416 |
| e | - | 1 | 2.7183 |
| ln a | - | 1 | Natural logarithm of a \(\bigl(\large\log_{e}a\) or \(\large\ln a\bigr)\) |
| lg a | - | 1 | Logarithm of a base 10 \(\bigl(\large\log_{10}a\) or \(\large\log a\bigr)\) |
| Signs: | A "prime" applies to effective stress | ||
| A "bar" above a symbol relates to average property | |||
| A "dot" abobe a symbol denotes derivatives with respect to time | |||
| Prefixes δ or Δ denotes an increment or a change | |||