History of Soil Mechanics

• In 1776, a French Engineer, Coulomb, made a major contribution in the field of soil mechanics which resulted in the formation of classical earth pressure theory.
• Shear strength theory of soils was discovered by Christian Otto Mohr in the year 1871.
• In 1857, Henry Darcy and George Gabreil Stokes formulated the laws of water flow in soils and soil particles settlement in liquid medium.
• Rankine, a Scottish civil engineer, published his theory on earth pressure and equilibrium of earth masses in the same year.
• Atterberg, a Swedish scientist, created the concept of consistency limits in 1911.
• Fellenius, the Chairman of Geotechnical Commission of Swedish Railways, pioneered work in the field of soil mechanics in 1913.

Test your knowledge about the key contributors and discoveries in the history of soil mechanics, including Coulomb's earth pressure theory, Mohr's shear strength theory, Darcy and Stokes' laws of water flow in soils, Rankine's theory on earth pressure, Atterberg's consistency limits concept, and Fellenius' work in soil mechanics.