Here at TabLogs we always aim to educate— providing you with information about our borehole logging software and
enhancements within the geotechnical engineering scene.
Check out some history below about the industry we work in!
1.Geotechnical engineering is an ancient science. Examples of early geotechnical engineering and slope erosion control can be found as far back as 2000 BC, when ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt started employing construction practices to irrigate crops, create dams and dykes and even dig canals. You could argue that we owe the history of civilisation to early geotechnical engineers!
2.We owe many geotechnical advances to military minds. Because siege warfare was so common throughout early military history, many of the best civil engineering minds were used to develop siege engines and stabilise defensive structures like ramparts. From the ancient Greeks, to more modern contributors like Henri Gautier and Charles Coulomb, many breakthroughs in slope stability and geotechnical engineering were due to the needs of war.
3.Some geotechnical engineering failures make great tourist attractions. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the best examples of foundation-related failures, and it draws countless tourists every year (though, to be fair, engineers in the 1990s were able to stabilise the tower and keep it from toppling entirely). The famous Italian tower isn’t the most accidentally far-leaning structure in the world, though. That title goes to the lesser-known Leaning Tower of Suurhusen in Germany—a medieval steeple which owes it’s lean to drained marshlands and rotten medieval wood. Don’t worry, modern engineers have stabilised that structure as well!
4.There is a “father of geotechnical engineering.” Modern geotechnical practices stem from 1925, when geologist and engineer Karl Terzaghi published the book Erdbaumechanik, in which he developed theories which allow geotechnical engineering companies all over the world to accurately calculate stress, foundation capacity and soil settling rates for slope stability.