A HISTORY OF GEOTECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS - Introduction to Soft Soil Geotechnique: Content, Context and Application - page 14

Netherlands, applying a method of carefully extracting soil underneath the uplifted
edge and letting the soil compact by the tower's weight. The newspaper of those
days reported: By him a new proof is provided that only then the work attains its
full value, when the hand that works is steered by a head that thinks. He was
honoured by the churchwardens for his idea and persistence and obtained an annual
fee of 5 guilders, raised at retirement to 52 guilders, enough to live in humble
comfort. It is remarkable how courageous and skilful the profession was 150 years
ago. It is good to notice that today the same attitude exists, e.g. in saving the Pisa
Tower (see John Burland). Methods survive generations, sometimes unnoticed. The
church tower of Nijland, unmoved since, remains nicely upright.
- 1868 Menck (Germany) built the first drilling steam car.
- 1874 Application of the pneumatic caisson method for the northern abutment of
the Old Willem Bridge in Rotterdam.
- 1875 Cullman's method for slope stability
- 1879 Dramatic slope failure in Berlin.
- 1883 Ground freezing applied in mining.
- 1883 Discovery that friction increases with density in sands.
- 1885 Reynolds discovers dilatancy in sands.
- 1885 Boussinesq theoretically solves the point load problem.
- 1888 Kötter develops curved line earth pressure characteristics
- 1889 Difficulties with excessive creep of the foundation blocks of the large roof
of the central railway station in Amsterdam are overcome.
- 1890 The first concrete caisson invented by Kraus (Chili).
- 1891 The first application of a screw pile for the railway bridge Konigsberg-
Labiauer (Germany).
- 1892 Flamant solves the line load problem.
- 1892 Railway embankment failure at Beek-Elsloo (no casualties). The public
trust in the safety of rail transport was shocked. It caused vivid discussion in the
Parliament and a serious collision between geologists and geotechnicians.
- 1894 Honigman applies heavy fluid (bentonite) for bore hole stability.
- 1894 The first concrete foundation pile applied by consulting bureau
Hennebique.
- 1898 Kraus invents the hollow concrete tilting caisson for hydraulic engineering.
- 1898 First application of a dewatering cell system for sewer works in the Hague.
- 1900 Electric pile driving car (France).
- 1901 Application of caissons in the quay wall of Rotterdam by consulting
bureau Hennebique.
- 1903 Hackstroh suggests using gunpowder explosions for soil densification.
- 1905 Caisson Law: protection of labourers against the caisson disease.
- 1909 Large slope failure during construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1910 Resal shows the importance of cohesion. Cohesion could not be measured,
which resulted in overestimation of the design strengths and stability.
- 1910 Von Kármán performs the first triaxial test on marble and sand stone, at
high ambient pressures.
- 1911 Sweden, Atterberg defines a protocol for water content and soil condition
(liquid limit and plasticity limit).
- 1915 Fillunger defined effective stress.