Soil mechanics: effective stress and consolidation (Terzaghi)
Mecánica de suelos: tensión efectiva y consolidación (Terzaghi)
- Date
- 1925 · confidence high
- Place
- Vienna, Austria
- Credited to
- Karl von Terzaghi
- Field
- Tools
What was discovered
Terzaghi formulated the principle of effective stress and consolidation theory to explain how saturated soils compress as pore water drains. His book Erdbaumechanik founded geotechnical engineering as a computational discipline.
The experiments were done in Istanbul (Robert College, 1916-1925) and published in Vienna; Coulomb (1773) and Rankine had already studied earth pressure, but not compressibility with water.
What it led to
- foundation and settlement design for buildings
- earth dams and slopes with pore-pressure control
- standardised soil testing