Contributions to Géotechnique 1948–2008: Soil behaviour

Soil behaviour (that is, strains induced by changes in stresses, suction, or physico-chemical conditions) has been a recurring theme of contributions to Géotechnique throughout its 60 years. Focusing on experimental work, this essay illustrates the developing understanding of soil mechanics through brief reviews of 47 contributions. These contributions were chosen for their insight or influence, necessarily involving subjective judgement on our part. Some work comprises now well-understood wisdom. Other work provides fundamental, but not necessarily widely appreciated, insight—and continues to be relevant to developments in geomechanics today. Most interestingly, a striking feature in these various contributions is the commonality in findings across the many soils and loading paths investigated. From a practical perspective, this body of work allows assessment of soil behaviour, under a wide range of circumstances, using surprisingly few tests. More generally, these cited contributions provide a history of the subject—and suggest where the subject may go over the next few decades.