地基基础Terzaghi art of founfation engineering

Karl Terzaghi: the engineer as artist

9102620118 Chen Qian Architecture Engineering Dept. Karl Terzaghi bridged the gap between geology and civil engineering by creating the field of soil mechanics. He developed the fundamental methods and tools used to investigate the nature and behavior of soils that are still employed by soil engineers today. His theories have greatly expanded how an understanding of the behavior of soil can be used in construction projects, and designs for the foundations of most major structures now depend on his work.

1. Biographical Sketch

Terzaghi was born in Prague, Austria-Hungary, on October 2nd, 1883. He attended military school and then the technical high school in Prague. In 1900, he entered Technische Hochschule in Graz where he discovered the an interest in geology and was once encouraged to become a professional writer by a professor who had read some of his essays. He graduated from the Technical University of Graz and then worked as a geologist in the field of civil engineering. Following WWⅠhe carried out a program of research into the properties of soils that lead to the publication in 1925 of his famous book, Erdbaumechanik which presented the first coordinated picture of soils as engineering materials. Terzaghi’s pioneer work was publicly recognized when the first International Conference on Soil Mechanics was held at Harvard University in 1936. He lived to see soil mechanics well established throughout the world, in the practice of civil engineering and in

the curricula of almost all schools of civil engineering. More than just a theorist, Terzaghi was also a consulting engineer of international reputation and with a worldwide practice.

Work experiences: By 1912, Terzaghi had begun his searh for a rational approach to foundation engineering and spent 1911 through 1913 in the US traveling to dam sites, researching geological studies and looking for connections between them and his own experience.

When WWⅠbegan in 1913, he returned to Austria to join the army, transferring to the newly formed air forced and serving until 1916. In that year, he married Olga, with whom he would have one daughter, but they separated in 1926.

After leaving army, Terzaghi accepted a position at the Imperial School of Engineers in Turkey, where he built his first his first mechanical lab. He used tools from the physics department and kitchen utensils to create program for investigating the physical composistion of clay soils. After WWⅠended, he accepted a teaching position at Roberts College and developed his second soil lab there.

Terzaghi published a compilation of his works in 1925,which led him to a visiting lectureship at MIT. During his 4 years in MIT, Terzaghi developed a program for teaching soil mechanics and expanded his work to include

investigation of pavement design and earth dams. Up until this time, Terzaghi had worked only in temperate climates. Curious about the effects of different climates on structures, he asked the United Fruit Company for the opportunity of studying soil behavior at their Latin American Locations. In 1928, he traveled in Coast Rica, Panama, Spanish Honduras, and Guatemala, studying the stability of sloped embankments and the flow of water through soils.

By 1930, Terzaghi had returned to Vienna to teach at the Technical University. For 9 years, he lectured and taught his lab techniques to engineers and students from as far away as Australia. He concentrated on his research on developing new ways to measure the reaction of sand and clay to stresses such as the weights of buildings. During this period, the role of soil mechanics in engineering was becoming more widely understood by professionals. Terzaghi’s role in the development of this field was recognized in 1936 when he returned to Boston for a special ceremony at Harvard University. There he was named the first president of the International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.

In 1938, Terzaghi accepted a visiting lectureship in Harvard University and moved his family to US and settled in Winchester, Massachusetts. In 1946, Harvard made him Professor of Practice of Civil Engineering. During this period, Terzaghi maintained a rigorous professional schedules and continued his teaching, consulting and researching well into his 70s. His health remained excellent and regularly outpaced younger geologist on field investigations.

After retired in 1956, he still wrote a textbook and worked as lecturer and

research consultant.

Terzaghi died on October 25th, 1963, at his home in Winchester, Massachusetts.

2. Terzaghi’s personal charms

Terzaghi’s accomplishments were the product of many outstanding personal characteristics. With his bold vision, brilliant analytical mind, and insatiable curiosity of the type that makes a great physicist, he combined a gift and love for observation of nature that is a prerequisite for a successful geologist. He had a most unusual capacity for mental activity, long hours of work never seemingly tiring him. His splendid memory was a great asset in digesting and retaining a large volume of geological and other observational data which invariably accumulate prior to and during construction of any difficult earthwork or foundation project; and he had a capacity to recognize quickly the essentials in the maze of data.

What’s more, with his highly developed literary talent, writing was for him an easy and pleasant task. When he is “now faced the hardest task,” namely writing a comprehensive report, he replied: “Ah, but that is the best part!” The picture that is indelibly happened in numerable times, Terzaghi sitting at his desk, writing steadily by the hour, with only occasional pauses in which he organized his thoughts and with the help of a good cigar replenished the consistency of the smoke screen that surrounded him.

He also had an artistic talent for drawing, which he used to great advantage in preparing and lettering the many illustrations for his reports and publications. His lectures, oral discussions, and conversation were enlivened with a refreshing humor, and sometimes a biting wit. He could keep an audience fascinated even when describing tedious details. His magnetic personality and sparkling conversation quickly made him the centre of attention at any social affair.

3. Topics that Terzaghi has concentrated on

1918–1925: research work on the behavior of soils and settlement of clays and on the failure due to piping in sand under dams. The publication Erdbaumechanik is primarily the result of this research.

It was through the inspiration and guidance of Terzaghi over the preceding quarter-century that papers were brought covering a wide range of topics, such as shear strength, effective stress, in situ testing, Dutch cone penetrometer, centrifuge testing, consolidation settlement, elastic stress distribution, preloading for soil improvement, frost action, expansive clays, arching theory of earth pressure, soil dynamics, and earthquakes. For the next quarter-century, Terzaghi was the guiding spirit in the development of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering throughout the world.

4. Terzaghi’s way of solving problems

Terzaghi’s method of working was observational. Only when he had

understood the phenomenon on the basis of intensive study of the tests on real foundation materials did he turn his attention to a mathematical theory embodying the results. His attention to a mathematical theory embody the results. He always condemned application of theories without observation of nature and without adequate practical experience and he was an outstanding example: As he studied theoretical problems night by night, he could also be frequently found on construction sites, and he had no fear of physical effort up to an advanced age. Besides, his pioneering spirit and his distinct capability of realizing complex correlations established his worldwide success as a consulting engineer.

5. Selected writings by Terzaghi

1925 Erdbaumechanik auf bodenphysikalischer Grundlage

1926 Principles of soil mechanics

1943 Theoretical soil mechanics

1948 Soil mechanics in engineering practice

1960 From theory to practice in soil mechanics: selections from the writings of Karl Terzaghi

6. Legacy

The ASCE established in the Karl Terzaghi Award to an “author of outstanding contributions to knowledge in the fields of soil mechanics, subsurface and earthwork engineering, and subsurface and earthwork construction”. The Mission Dam in British Columbia, Canada, was renamed in his honor as the Terzaghi Dam in 1965.