INTRODUCTION Thus, civil engineers must study the properties of soil

such as:
TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
✓ Origin
Soil ✓ Grain – size distribution
✓ Ability to drain water
- is defined as the uncemented aggregate of mineral
✓ Compressibility
grains and decayed organic matter (solid particles)
✓ Shear Strength
with liquid and gas in the empty spaces.
✓ Load – Bearing Capacity

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING PRIOR TO 18th

CENTURY
In recorded history, the ancient civilization flourished
along the banks of rivers such as…

Soil Mechanics ✓ Nile (Egypt)

- is the branch of science that deals with the study of ✓ The Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia)
the physical properties of soil ✓ Huang Ho (Yellow River; China)
- deals with the behavior of soil masses subjected to ✓ Indus (India)
various types of forces
Thus, dykes/levees dating back to about 2000BC were
Soil Engineering built in the basin of the Indus to protect the town of
- is the application of the principle of soil mechanics Mohenjo Daro.
to practical problems.
During the Chan Dynasty in China (1120 BC to 249
Geotechnical Engineering BC), many dykes were built for irrigation purposes.
- The subdiscipline of civil engineering that involves
natural materials found close to the surface of the
earth. Levees/Dykes(Dikes)
- It includes the application of the principles of soil
Dikes or Levees
mechanics and rock mechanics to the design of
- generally formed naturally or constructed of
foundations, retaining structures, and earth
impervious clays and built of sandy soil,
structures
- are structures used to protect the land from floods
or tides (Ojha, et al. 2008)
- The words, Dike and Levee though can be used
Examples Of Soil Properties
interchangeably, have one major difference:
Soil
- is used as a construction material in various civil ✓ Levee - is a flood control device used to
engineering projects, and it supports structural protect the land from the flood water which
foundations. otherwise will be below ground level
 ✓ Dyke(Dike) - is a barrier that is used to protect After encountering several foundation-related
the land from water, if not the land will be all problems during construction over centuries past,
the time under water. engineers and scientists began to address the
properties and behavior of soils in a more
methodological manner starting in the early part of
the 18th Century.

Four Major Periods of Geotechnical Engineering:

✓ Pre – Classical (1700 to 1776 AD)

Isolated Pad Footings & Strip – And – Raft ✓ Classical Soil Mechanics – Phase 1 (1178 to
Foundations 1856 AD)
✓ Classical Soil Mechanics - Phase 2 (1856 to
Ancient Greek Civilization 1910 AD)
- used isolated pad footings and strip-and-raft ✓ Modern Soil Mechanics (1910 to 19237 AD)
foundations for building structures.

Soil – Bearing Capacity Issue

Leaning Tower of Pisa

- One of the famous examples of problems related to
soil bearing capacity in the construction of structure
prior to the 18th Century is the Leaning Tower of Pisa
in Italy
- Construction of the tower began in 1173 AD when
the Republic of Pisa was flourishing and continued in
various stages for over 200 years.
- Recent investigations showed that a weak clay layer
exists at a depth of about 11m below the ground
surface, compression of which caused the tower to
tilt.
- It became more than 5m out of plumb with the 54m
height.
PRE - CASSICAL PERIOD OF SOIL MECHANICS * FRANCOIS GADROY
This period concentrated on studies relating to: (1705 – 1759)
- The first to conduct laboratory model on a 76mm
1. Natural slope and
high retaining wall built with sand backfill.
2. Unit weights of various types of soil as well
- Observed the existence of slip planes in the soil at
as the
failure
3. Semiempirical earth pressure theories

* HENRI GAUTIER
(1660 – 1737)
- Studied the natural slopes of soil when tipped in a
heap for formulating, the design procedures of
retaining walls.

Natural Slope
- is what we now refer to as the angle of
repose
- According to his study,

* JEAN RODOLPHE PERRONET

(1708 – 1794)
- Who studied slope stability around 1769 and
distinguished between intact ground and fills
* BERNARD FOREST DE BELIDOR
(1694 – 1761)
- Proposed a theory for lateral earth pressure on
retaining walls that was a follow-up to Gautier’s (1717)
original study.
- He also specified a soil classification system in the
manner shown in the following table:
CLASSICAL SOIL MECHANICS – PHASE I * ALEXANDRE COLLIN
During this period, most of the developments in the (1808 – 1890)
area of geotechnical engineering came from - Provided the details for deep slips in clay slopes,
engineers and scientists in France. cutting, and embankments
- Theorized that in all cases, the failure takes place
when the mobilized cohesion exceeds the existing
* CHARLES AUGUSTIN COULOMB
cohesion of the soil.
(1736 – 1806)
- He also observed that the actual failure surfaces
- Used the principles of calculus for maxima and
could be approximated as arcs of cycloids
minima to determine the true position of the sliding
surface in soil behind a retaining wall.
- In this analysis, Coulomb used the laws of friction
* WILLIAM JOHN MACQUORN RANKINE
and cohesion for solid bodies.
(1820 – 1872)
- Professor of civil engineering at the University of
Glasgow.
Development Of Coulomb’s Theory
- His study provided a notable theory on earth
* Gaspard Claire Marie Riche de Prony
pressure and equilibrium of earth masses.
(1755-1839)
- Rankine’s theory is a simplification of Coulomb’s
- included Coulomb’s theory in his leading textbook,
Theory.
“Nouvelle Architecture Hydraulique (Vol. 1)”

*Jacques Frederic Francais & Claude Louis Marie

Henri Navier
- studied special cases of Coulomb’s work.
- These special cases related to inclined backfills and
backfills supporting surcharge.

*Jean Victor Poncelet

(1788 -1867)
- extended Coulomb’s theory by providing a
graphical method for determining the magnitude of
lateral earth pressure on vertical and inclined
retaining walls with arbitrarily broken polygon ground
surfaces.
- also the first to use the symbol Φ for soil friction
angle.
- also provided the first ultimate bearing capacity
theory for the shallow foundations.
CLASSICAL SOIL MECHANICS – PHASE II MODERN SOIL MECHANICS
Several experimental results from laboratory tests on In this period, results of research conducted on clays
sand appeared in the literature in this phase. were published in which the fundamental properties
and parameters of clay were established.

* HENRI PHILIBERT GASPARD DARCY

(1803 – 1858) * ALBERT MAURITZ ATTERBERG
- He published a study on the permeability of sand (1846 – 1916)
filters. - Defined clay – sized fractions as the percentage by
- He also define the term coefficient of permeability weight of particles smaller than 2 microns in size.
(or hydraulic conductivity) - He realized the important role of clay particles in a
soil and the plasticity
- He explained the by defining consistency of
* SIR GEORGE HOWARD DARWIN cohesive soils by defining liquid, plastic, and
(1845 – 1912) shrinkage limits.
- Conducted laboratory tests to determine the - He also defined the plasticity index as the difference
overturning moment on a hinged wall retaining sand between liquid limit and plastic limit.
in loose and dense states of compaction

* JEAN FONTARD
* JOSEPH VALENTIN BOUSSINESQ (1884 – 1962)
(1842 – 1929) - Investigated the failure of the 17m high earth dam
- Developed the theory of stress distribution under at Charmes, France.
loaded bearing areas in a homogeneous, semi- - He conducted undrained double-shear test on clay
infinite, elastic, and isotropic medium. specimens (0.77m2 in area and 200mm thick) under
constant vertical stress to determine their shear
strength parameters.
* OSBORNE REYNOLDS
(1842 – 1912)
- Demonstrated the phenomenon of dilatancy in * ARTHUR LANGLEY – BELL
sand. (1874 – 1956)
- Developed relationships for lateral pressure and
Dilatancy or Shear Dilatancy resistance in clay as well as bearing – capacity of
- is the volume change observed in granular shallow foundations in clay.
materials when they are subjected to shear - He also used shear – box tests to measure the
deformations. undrained shear strength of undisturbed clay
specimens.

* JOHN CLIBBORN (1847 – 1938) &

JOHN STUART BERESFORD (1845 – 1925) * WOLMAR FELLENIUS
- Studies the flow of water through sand bed and (1876 – 1957)
uplift pressure. - Developed the stability analysis of saturated clay
slopes ( that is , Φ = 0 condition) with assumption that
the critical surface of sliding is the arc of a circle.
* KARL TERZAGHI
(1883 – 1963)
- Developed the theory of consolidation for clays as
we know today

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING AFTER 1927

- The publication of Erdbaumechanik auf
Bodenphysikalisher Grundlage by Karl Terzaghi in
1925 gave birth to a new era in the development of
soil mechanics.

* Karl Terzaghi
- is known as the father of modern soil mechani

Published papers via inspiration and guidance of

Terzahi

✓ Effective Stress
✓ Shear Strength
✓ Testing with Dutch cone penetrometer
✓ Consolidation
✓ Centrifuge testing
✓ Elastic theory and stress distribution
✓ Preloading for settlement control
✓ Swelling of clays
✓ Frost Action
✓ Earthquake and soil liquefaction
✓ Machine vibration
✓ Arching theory of earth pressure.

Two other important milestones bet 1948 & 1960

(1.) The publication of A. W. Skempton’s paper on A

and B pore pressure parameters which made the
effective stress calculations more practical for various
engineering works.

(2.) The publication of the book entitled The

Measurement of Soil Properties in the Triaxial Text by
A. W. Bishop and B. J. Henkel in 1957.