Early Swedish Contributions to Geotechnical Engineering

Geotechnical engineering in Sweden has a long tradition due to the presence of soft and sensitive clay deposits along lake and sea shores, where most settlements were established. As the country increasingly took on the difficult tasks of constructing harbors, canals, and foundations for roads and railways, novel foundation concepts had to be developed. The establishing of an interdisciplinary "Geotechnical Commission" in 1914 consisting of geologists and civil engineers with the task to study landslides and slope failures laid the foundation for modern geotechnical field and laboratory testing methods and began the key role of geotechnical engineering in Swedish civil engineering. A very important aspect is the spirit of close cooperation between practitioners, engineers, and scientists, manifested in the Swedish Geotechnical Institute and the Swedish Pile Commission. The Swedish geotechnical practice has a long history of important accomplishments by individual engineers. A few notable contributions to geotechnical engineering by Swedish engineers and scientists from the early stages of civil engineering around 1600 until about 1960 are listed in the paper. The contributions encompass mining, canals, railways, harbors, foundations, earth retaining structures, dams, slope stability, and information systems.