THROUGHOUT HISTORY, MANY CATASTROPHIC EVENTS COULD HAVE
BEEN AVOIDED IF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING HAD BEEN A REALITY AT
THE TIME. HUMANS BUILT STRUCTURES SUCH AS BUILDINGS, BRIDGES AND
DAMS, AND DUG TUNNELS AND HOLES WITHOUT THE SCIENTIFIC
KNOWLEDGE TO BACK THEIR PLANS AND THUS ENSURE THE STABILITY AND
SAFETY OF THEIR STRUCTURES. IN EARLIER TIMES, GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING WAS A PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR, EMPIRICAL
EXPERIMENTATION AND OBSERVATIONAL EXPERIENCE. PROBLEMS WITH
STRUCTURES LIKE THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA LED ENGINEERS TO START
USING A MORE SCIENTIFICALLY BASED APPROACH TO GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING.
THE ANCIENT FOUNDATIONS ERA EXTENDS FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES
TO ABOUT 1700.
IT INCLUDES THE PRACTICAL FOUNDATION AND DRAINAGE WORK
PERFORMED BY ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS SUCH AS THE BABYLONIANS,
EGYPTIANS, INCAS, GREEKS, AND ROMANS. THE ERA ALSO ENCOMPASSES
THE GREAT CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD AND THE
RENAISSANCE. MANY OF THE ORIGINAL TEXTS ON FOUNDATIONS FROM
THIS PERIOD EITHER HAVE BEEN LOST TO HISTORY OR SURVIVE ONLY IN
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS, ALTHOUGH SOME WORKS HAVE BEEN REPRINTED
EITHER ON PAPER OR ONLINE. THIS ERA WAS ORIGINALLY DEFINED BY
KERISEL (1985).
THE ENLIGHTENMENT SOIL MECHANICS ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1701
TO ABOUT 1775.
IT ENCOMPASSES MOST OF THE 18TH CENTURY, DURING WHICH EARLY
ATTEMPTS WERE MADE AT RATIONALLY STUDYING FRICTION ANGLES AND
EARTH PRESSURES. SKEMPTON (1985) REVIEWED A NUMBER OF THESE
STUDIES IN HIS “HISTORY OF SOIL PROPERTIES, 1717-1927”. HOWEVER, MANY
OF THESE WORKS ARE IN FRENCH, POSING A POTENTIAL LANGUAGE
BARRIER TO WOULD-BE HISTORIANS OF THE ERA. THIS ERA WAS
ORIGINALLY DEFINED BY SKEMPTON (1985).
THE AGE OF REVOLUTION SOIL MECHANICS EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1776
TO ABOUT 1855.
WHILE COUNTRIES SUCH AS THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE WENT
THROUGH ONE OR MORE POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS, SIMILARLY SWEEPING
DEVELOPMENTS WERE OCCURRING IN SOIL MECHANICS. IN FRANCE,
COULOMB DEVELOPED THE FIRST MODERN EXPRESSION OF SOIL SHEAR
STRENGTH, AND COLLIN CONDUCTED EARLY TESTS TO ASSESS UNDRAINED
SHEAR STRENGTH. IN THE UK, MOSELEY INTRODUCED THE CONCEPT OF
EQUIVALENT FLUID UNIT WEIGHT, WHILE GREGORY INVESTIGATED THE
STABILIZATION OF SLOPES IN RAILROAD CUTS. FOR THE FIRST TIME, A
NUMBER OF SOIL MECHANICS WORKS WERE PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH; IN
ADDITION, TRANSLATIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR MANY OF THE MAJOR
FRENCH WORKS OF THE ERA, SUCH AS THOSE OF COULOMB AND COLLIN.
THIS ERA WAS ORIGINALLY DEFINED BY SKEMPTON (1985).
THE PROTO-GEOTECHNICS ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1856 TO ABOUT
1925.
THE ERA BEGAN WITH THE WORK OF DARCY ON PERMEABILITY OF
WATER THROUGH SANDS AND OF RANKINE ON LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE.
IT CONTINUED WITH AN INCREASING NUMBER OF TEXTBOOKS DURING THE
LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES DEVOTED EITHER PARTIALLY OR
TOTALLY TO SOIL MECHANICS AND/OR FOUNDATION CONSTRUCTION. THE
LATTER PORTION OF THE ERA FEATURED THE WORK OF ATTERBERG ON THE
PLASTICITY OF FINE-GRAINED SOILS AND OF THE GEOTECHNICAL
COMMISSION OF THE SWEDISH STATE RAILWAYS ON SLOPE STABILITY. THE
ERA CULMINATED IN THE PUBLICATION OF KARL TERZAGHI’S
ERDBAUMECHANIK, THE FIRST MODERN BOOK ON GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING, IN 1925. THIS ERA, ORIGINALLY DIVIDED INTO TWO
SEPARATE PERIODS, WAS FIRST DEFINED BY SKEMPTON (1985).
THE EARLY GEOTECH ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1926 TO ABOUT 1947.
THIS ERA SAW FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC GEOTECHNICAL
PRINCIPLES, SUCH AS THE THEORY OF CONSOLIDATION. THE GRADUAL
ESTABLISHMENT OF THESE GEOTECHNICAL FUNDAMENTALS SLOWLY BEGAN
TO UNITE THE PREVIOUSLY SEPARATE DISCIPLINES OF SOIL MECHANICS AND
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING. THE ERA ALSO SAW THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON SOIL MECHANICS AND FOUNDATION ENGINEERING,
HOSTED AT HARVARD IN 1936, AND THE PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST ENGLISH
TEXTBOOKS ON SOIL MECHANICS, INCLUDING THOSE BY HOGENTOGLER,
PLUMMER AND DORE, KRYNINE, AND TERZAGHI. ALTHOUGH SKEPTICISM
ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE NEW FIELD WAS ABUNDANT AND FREQUENTLY
CAUSTIC DURING THIS TIME, THE PIONEERS OVERCAME THIS SKEPTICISM
THROUGH THEIR PERSISTENCE AND PRACTICAL WORKS, ESPECIALLY THOSE
RELATED TO THE FIGHTING EFFORTS DURING WORLD WAR II.
THE CLASSIC GEOTECH ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1948 TO ABOUT 1969.
1948 REPRESENTED A WATERSHED YEAR FOR SOIL MECHANICS. THE
SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOIL MECHANICS AND
FOUNDATION ENGINEERING WAS HELD IN ROTTERDAM, WITH 7 VOLUMES OF
PROCEEDINGS PUBLISHED, AND THE EMINENT JOURNAL GEOTECHNIQUE
WAS FOUNDED AND FIRST PUBLISHED. IN ADDITION, TWO SEMINAL
GEOTECHNICAL TEXTBOOKS, FUNDAMENTALS OF SOIL MECHANICS
(TAYLOR) AND SOIL MECHANICS IN ENGINEERING PRACTICE (TERZAGHI AND
PECK), WERE PUBLISHED. OVER THE NEXT TWO DECADES, INNUMERABLE
AUTHORITATIVE TEXTBOOKS AND JOURNAL AND CONFERENCE PAPERS
WERE PUBLISHED WHICH CONTINUE TO DEFINE THE PROFESSION AS IT
CURRENTLY STANDS. FOR WANT OF A MORE DISTINCT END TO THIS ERA, WE
WILL USE THE 1969 PUBLICATION OF ANOTHER OF THESE DEFINITIVE
WORKS, SOIL MECHANICS (LAMBE AND WHITMAN), AS OUR MARKER.
THE MODERN GEOTECH ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 1970 TO ABOUT 2000.
DURING THIS PERIOD, MODERN TRENDS IN GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING BEGAN TO EMERGE, INCLUDING GEOTECHNICAL EARTHQUAKE
ENGINEERING, GROUND IMPROVEMENT, COMPUTER ANALYSES,
UNSATURATED SOIL MECHANICS, AND ROCK MECHANICS. THIS ERA SAW A
FURTHER PROLIFERATION OF JOURNAL, TEXTBOOK, AND CONFERENCE
LITERATURE ON GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING, AND, AS HOLTZ AND
KOVACS (1981) ACCURATELY NOTED, THERE ARE TOO MANY DISTINGUISHED
WORKS FROM THIS ERA TO LIST THEM BY NAME. MANY OF THE PAPERS AND
TEXTS PUBLISHED DURING THIS PERIOD CONTINUE TO BE WIDELY
CONSULTED TODAY BY PRACTICING ENGINEERS. FOR WANT OF A MORE
DISTINCT END TO THIS ERA, WE WILL USE THE YEAR 2000 AND THE
CONCOMITANT END OF THE 20TH CENTURY AS OUR MARKER.
THE 21ST CENTURY GEOTECH ERA EXTENDS FROM ABOUT 2001 TO THE
PRESENT.
TO DATE, THIS PERIOD HAS BEEN MARKED BY FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
OF THE TOPICS MENTIONED IN THE MODERN GEOTECH ERA. NEW AREAS OF
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING HAVE ALSO BEEN EXPLORED DURING THIS
TIME. THESE ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENTS INCLUDE RELIABILITY AND RISK
ASSESSMENT, FINITE ELEMENT MODELING, LIQUEFACTION AND SEISMIC
BEHAVIOR OF SOILS, DEEP MIXING, COASTAL GEOTECHNICS, FULLY
SOFTENED SHEAR STRENGTH, GEOSYNTHETICS, AND TRANSIENT SEEPAGE.
ADVANCES IN THESE TOPICS REPRESENT THE INTERFACE OF THE NEEDS OF
CURRENT GEOTECHNICAL PRACTICE WITH THE PRESENT STATE OF
GEOTECHNICAL RESEARCH.
