Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
is formulated in 1822 (Mohr was a German civil engineer, professor of mechanics
at Stuttgart Polytechnic). Dutch governmental engineers were invited by the
Japanese emperor (Ming dynasty) to assist in the regulation of complex water
management problems and land reclamation. They introduced the NAP 7 , a central
geodetic reference level that worked well in the Netherlands. Also in Germany this
was adopted and still in use.
In 1918, the State Courant reports the act about closure and land winning of the
South Sea (plan Lely), a great engineering project. In 1919 the execution started: a
2.4 km long dike from North-Holland to Wieringen (1924 completed) and a 30 km
dike from Wieringen to Friesland (1932 completed). For five new polders ring
dikes were constructed: Wieringer Lake (1929), North-East Polder (1940), East
Flevoland (1956), South Flevoland (1967) and Markerwaard (1975). Except the
last one, these new lands contain at present urban conglomerates, nature reserves,
road and railway connections, agricultural lands and pastures. In the mean time, the
need for land for food for a growing population is outdated by modernisation and
intensification. Some outstanding achievements related to the geotechnical
profession are listed next.
- 1808 The Overtoom sluice in Amsterdam is constructed by a consortium, for the
first time after an open tendering,
- 1818 The first patented shield tunnel in London (Marc Brunel).
- 1825 After the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, Stephenson
succeeded to make a steam locomotive, which allowed large-scale transport.
- 1838 Application of a pile drilling machine that can be handled by one single
man.
- 1839 The first railway line in Holland, Amsterdam-Haarlem; a national project
for modernisation of transport.
- 1841 First application of the pneumatic caisson method (Triger, France).
- 1842 Nasmyth invents the steam hammer.
- 1846 Alexandre Collin shows the relation of strength of clay with water content:
water negates cohesion. He also shows that the slip surface of a slope failure
runs according to a cycloid. Petterson and Fellenius rediscovered his work in
1956.
- 1850 Systematic ground investigation via borings became standard (the function
of Boring Master).
- 1853 Darcy discovers his law of groundwater flow for the design of a fountain in
a park in Dijon.
- 1857 Rankine studied extreme stress states. Due to internal friction a range of
admissible stress fields exists, marked by active and passive states.
- 1860 Dutch Railway Law. The government takes the railway development in
hand, because soft soil conditions made it difficult (peat and clay).
- 1860 Mechanisation of building; invention of (modern) concrete.
1866 A simple carpenter, Fedde Albertus Hokwerda, put straight a dangerously
leaning church tower of the village Nijland in the Province Friesland of the
7 NAP stands for Normaal Amsterdam Peil, or Amsterdam Ordnance Datum, adopted in the
Netherlands around 1684. Since 1955 in use in many other countries (Normalnull).
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