The subject of earth pressure is one of the oldest and most extensive chapters in soil mechanics and foundation engineering and is one of the pillars of structural engineering. First the development of earth pressure theory is comprehensively described. The descriptions range from the first approaches to the determination of earth pressure through continuum mechanical earth pressure models to the integration of earth pressure research into the disciplinary structure of geotechnics.
The main part of the book comprises a selection of current calculation basics. The aim is to provide a collection of working instructions for foundation and structural engineers in construction companies, consultants and in building supervision as well as students. In order to further theoretical understanding, the essential basics of the determination of earth pressure are first presented. Then the most important processes for active and passive earth pressure and at-rest earth pressure for practical application are dealt with, with spatial effects also being taken into account. The book sets out to provide brief information about rarely encountered questions with references to further literature. In recent years, the dependency of earth pressure on displacement has been paid ever more attention. This applies not just to the passive but also to the active case.
Questions are repeatedly passed to the DIN committee "calculation processes". A selection of these is dealt with in the commentary to DIN 4085, which came out in September 2018.
The history of earth pressure theory is supplemented by 40 selected short biographies of scientists and practical engineers, who have taken up the subject and further developed it over the years. The book also has two appendices with terms, formula symbols and indices as well as earth pressure tables.
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Achim Hettler was until 2018 head of the chair of soil mechanics and foundation engineering at the TU Dortmund. He is a member of standards committees and functions as the chairman of DIN 4085 'Subsoil: Calculation of earth pressure' and chairman of the working group 'Excavations'. Additionally, he is the author of the books Gründung von Hochbauten (foundations of buildings) and Baugruben (excavations), 2nd and 3rd editions.
Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Karl-Eugen Kurrer was editor in chief of the journals Stahlbau (1996-2018) and Steel Construction: Design and Research (2008-2018). Since 1996, Kurrer has chaired the working group on the history of technology at the VDI (Association of German Engineers) in Berlin. For more than 40 years, he has carried out research on the subject of history of civil engineering and in 2018 published the book The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium, a standard work of the construction history.
