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An Introduction To The History of Geotechnical Eng

Modern geotechnical engineering developed in the 20th century building on the work of Karl Terzaghi who established the philosophy of soil mechanics in the 1920s. Before then, foundation engineering relied largely on empirical observation. In Britain, modern soil mechanics began with investigations of the Chingford Dam failure in the late 1930s and played a role in tall building design in London in the 1950s, involving Professor Sir Alec Skempton. Tunnelling developed from mining and was used first in the canal age. It has continued to advance with interpretations of historical projects like the Thames Tunnel and development of techniques like shield tunnelling.

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134 views1 page

An Introduction To The History of Geotechnical Eng

Modern geotechnical engineering developed in the 20th century building on the work of Karl Terzaghi who established the philosophy of soil mechanics in the 1920s. Before then, foundation engineering relied largely on empirical observation. In Britain, modern soil mechanics began with investigations of the Chingford Dam failure in the late 1930s and played a role in tall building design in London in the 1950s, involving Professor Sir Alec Skempton. Tunnelling developed from mining and was used first in the canal age. It has continued to advance with interpretations of historical projects like the Thames Tunnel and development of techniques like shield tunnelling.

Uploaded by

Santiago Osorio
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Geotechnical Engineering

Modern geotechnical engineering is a development of the second half of the twentieth century, building
on the work of Karl Terzaghi, who expounded the philosophy of soil mechanics in the 1920s. Before that
time foundation engineering had developed as a practical skill relying largely on empirical observation.
Timber piles had been utilised from early times, and a reading of the bible makes clear that the need for
firm foundations was widely recognised. From the eighteenth century the problem of retaining wall design
occupied the minds of engineering scientists like Couplet, Coulomb and Rankine, but practicising
engineers like Benjamin Baker remained unconvinced by the general validity of such theories.

In Britain modern soil mechanics can be said to have begun with the investigations of the Chingford Dam
failure in the late 1930s, and played an important role in the development of tall building design in the
London area in then 1950s. In both these Professor Sir Alec Skempton was involved, and his papers on
the development of soil mechanics to the 7th European Confenece on Soil Mechanics and the Golden
Jubilee Conference of the International Society provide useful introductions to the history of the subject.

Tunnelling, that most difficult of civil engineering arts developed from mining, and was first used by the
civil engineers of the canal age. Railway practice is well summarised by Simms, and the development of
Shield Tunnelling by Copperthwaite. The latest interpretations of the history of the Thames tunnel,
designed by Marc Brunel are to be found in Civil engineering (A M Muir Wood) and Geotechnique
(Skempton and Chrimes) 1994.

Further reading

• A Paper by Chrimes (P11071, record 28747) in 'Structures and buildings' on concrete


foundations provides much background information. This is to be published in a revised form in
'Historic concrete: background to appraisal' in 2001. Two unpublished papers are available
from Chrimes on the use of timber and iron.
• M Borrmann(1992)Historische Pfahlgrundungen.
• W.C. Copperthwaite(1906)Tunnel shields and the use of compressed air in subaqueous works
• H.S. Drinker(1893)Tunneling, explosive compounds, and rock drills. 3rd ed, rev and enlarged.
• J. Dunniciff and D.U. Deere(1992)Judgement in geotechnical engineering: the professional
legacy of Ralph B. Peck.
• H. Harding(1992)Tunnelling history and my own involvement.
• J. Heyman(1972Coulomb's memoir on statics: an essay in the history of civil engineering
• J. Kerisel(1987)Down to earth. Foundations past and present: the invisible art of the builder.
• G.G. Meyerhof(1995)Development of geotechnical limit state design. -: Canadian geotechnical
journal,
• G. E. Sandstrom(1963)The History of tunnelling: underground workings through the ages
• F.W. Simms(1844-1896)Practical tunnelling. 4 eds
• A. W . Skempton(1984)Selected papers on soil mechanics
• Karl Terzaghi: the engineer as artist (1998 by R E Goodman
• K. Terzaghi(1926)Principles of soil mechanics: a summary of experimental studies of clay and
sand.
• P. Varley(1992)From Charing Cross to Baghdad: a history of the Whitaker tunnel boring
machine and the Channel Tunnel 1880-1930.
• G. West(1988)Innovation and the rise of the tunnelling industry.
• Sir Alan Muir Wood(2000)Tunnelling: management by design.

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