Housel Soil Mechanics

[eric1037]

If anyone is interested, I have a copy of "Applied Soil Mechanics" by William S. Housel. I believe the book is out of print.

If you don't have info on Housel, he was a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan that had a method of soil mechanics that conflicted with Terzaghi's.

Through politics and other circumstances, Terzaghi's methods were eventually accepted as "The Law".

Housel spent much of his career trying to discredit such concepts as apparent cohesion and consolidation. One of his main concepts was that of perimeter shear.

If you practice in Michigan, you will know that the Michigan Department of Transportation still uses many concepts from Housel.

If anyone is interested, I could potentially scan the book and post it on a website for download. It is relatively long and would take some time to scan, so only let me know if you are serious.

Thanks!

 

[BigH]

eric1037 - first off, welcome to our group. You will make a fine addition. As you might now, I am a bit of a history buff and love reading the books by Tschebotarioff, Krynine and Judd, Zeevaert, Chellis, White, Peck Hanson and Thornburn. Sadly, I haven't put much effort into Jimikus. I have some of these scanned myself, but with travelling from one country to another, it is easier to take scans than books although there is no substitute for leafing through a good book!! For me, I would be pleased to have a copy of the book if you scan it. As you know, I will be sending to SRE a scan of Poulos and Davis Elastic Solutions for back-door posting for our members. I'll probably put in Tschebotariof's 1951 edition too - it is still a very pertinent book.

So, I vote "AYE".

 

[Mccoy]

I was totally ignorant of such aspect of the geotechnical history. I think the avalaibility of such rare material would make up a very interesting benefit for this group.
I too vote YES to eric1037's proposal, and to BigH's intention to add up to the list Tschebotarioff and other classics as well.
No hurry.

 

[eric1037]

If your firm is a member of ASFE, they have a publication called "Growing Pains of a New Profession - Soil Mechanics 1925-1940"

It is authored by Ralph Peck and was presented at the ASFE Annual Meeting in Boston, MA on April 12, 1988.

It is a great read. Very interesting history of our profession.

 

[BigH]

Dont have - company not a member.

 

[eric1037]

You can order the text version here for $35 US.

http://engineersleadership.org/index.cfm?ac=programs

You can order a videotape or DVD from ASCE here:

http://www.geoinstitute.org/members/historicpeck.cfm

I would consider scanning it, but ASFE is VERY touchy about their copyrighted materials. I wouldn't want to bring down their wrath.

 

[MRM]

Eric,
I was wondering if you were still considering putting the book on a website. I would be interested in having a look too.
Mark