We explain what geotechnics or geotechnical engineering is, its fields of study and history. In addition, the work of geotechnical engineers.
What is geotechnics?
Geotechnics or geotechnical engineering is a branch of the geology that studies the mechanical properties of the materials of the geological environment used in the field of construction, especially in civil engineering, that is, in the design and construction of works such as highways, bridges, dams, etc.
The perspective of geotechnics regarding the physical, mechanical, hydraulic, etc., properties of the I usually, of environment and of the materials used in construction is essential in the prevention of accidents and natural disasters.
His specific fields of study are:
- Geological engineering. That is, the inventiveness of human being applied to the interaction with the geological environment where it lives.
- The mechanics of rocks. Whose interest is the behavior of the stones and rocky massifs, as well as their description theoretical and applied.
- The study of soils. To understand your reaction to stress, tension and other physico-chemical conditions, depending on your particular nature.
- The mechanics of soils. Similar to the previous one, but dedicated to the application of the laws of physics and other natural Sciences to the study of the forces acting on the surface layer of the Earth.
Individuals engaged in the study and application of geotechnics are called geotechnical engineers, and they specialize not only in fundamental principles of hydraulics, mechanics Y geophysics, but also in geology and in the natural processes of creation and deposition of rocks, as well as their classification, their morphological processes, etc.
The founder of geotechnics was the American engineer Karl von Terzaghi (1883-1963), also the father of soil mechanics, with his famous book Erdbaumechanik auf bodenphysikalischer grundlage from 1935.
His work allowed specialists such as the American Ralph B. Peck (1912-2008), the Iranian Gholamreza Mesri (1940-) and the Austrian Arthur Casagrande (1902-1981) to develop and lay the foundations of geotechnical engineering, distinguishing it for the first time from other adjacent knowledge areas.
But being one of the younger branches of geology, geotechnics continues to be actively evolved and reconsidered, so it can often be considered formally as a branch of civil engineering as well.