Briefly describe the historical development of soil mechanics. [2076 Baisakh] [2]

The development of soil mechanics can be divided into following periods as:

• Ancient to Medieval period,
• Period of early development
• Modern era
• Recent developments

In this period, the civil engineering constructions were constructed using thumb rule. The authorized theories on soil mechanics were not found in this period, but some complex challenging constructions were done during that time which still exists.

1. Hanging garden was built in Babylonian.
2. During Roman times, many heavy structures were built.
3. Taj Mahal at Agra was built.

The eighteenth century can be considered as the real begining of soil engineering. In this period,

1. A french engineer gave a theory of earth pressure on retaining walls.
2. Culmann gave a general graphical solution for earth pressure.
3. Boussinesq gave the theory of st....

The development of soil mechanics can be divided into following periods as:

• Ancient to Medieval period,
• Period of early development
• Modern era
• Recent developments

Ancient to Medieval period:

In this period, the civil engineering constructions were constructed using thumb rule. The authorized theories on soil mechanics were not found in this period, but some complex challenging constructions were done during that time which still exists.

1. Hanging garden was built in Babylonian.
2. During Roman times, many heavy structures were built.
3. Taj Mahal at Agra was built.

Periods of Early Developments:

The eighteenth century can be considered as the real begining of soil engineering. In this period,

1. A french engineer gave a theory of earth pressure on retaining walls.
2. Culmann gave a general graphical solution for earth pressure.
3. Boussinesq gave the theory of stress distribution due to externally applied load.
4. Atterberg give some simple test for determining consistency of cohesive soils.

Modern Era:

The modern era began in 1925 with the publication of book by Karl Terzaghi giving thetheory of consolidation and effective stress.In this era,

1. Pactor did pioneering work on compaction of soils.
2. tayler made major contribution on consolidation of soils,shear strength and stability of slopea.

Recent Development:

Recent development is concerned with:

1. ground improving techniques.
2. application of finite element and numerical methods to study soil mechanics.
3. Computer programming to study soil and structure interaction.
4. Dynamic soil mechanics.