VILLAN, JERIC MIKAELO D.

CE563
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Arthur Casagrande

Arthur Casagrande was an American-Austrian civil engineer famous for his

achievement and development in geotechnical field. He was born on August 28, 1902 in

modern day Slovenia, Austria which was once part of the Italian section during the
Austrian-Hungry Empire in 1902. During his education, war broke out against Central

Powers (Austria included) and the Allied powers. Despite this, in 1924 he graduated with
a degree in civil engineering from Technische Hochschule, Vienna specializing in

hydraulics.

After the death of his father at the end of WW1, he move to United States and
later worked as a steel detailer and draftsman for Carnegie Steel in New Jersey. He then

became a professor in hydraulic in MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where

he met Karl Terzaghi, now known as the “father of soil mechanics.” Together they

developed the shear box, hydrometer test and the liquid limit apparatus. Casagrande
made numerous studies that focused on soil classification, shear testing and frost action

in soils while working as a consultant in the U.S Bureau of Public Roads.

Because of the real world applications of Casagrande's work, much of his career
was spent consulting on a variety of large-scale construction projects. His recognition

soon earned him a position in the Army Corps of Engineering and Bureau of
Reclamation as the second World War was looming. During which he was able to derive

a unified classification system of soils.

In 1963, during the Casagrande’s career as a professor in Harvard, he organized

the First International Conference in Soil Mechanics and published his most influential
paper on the characteristic of cohesionless soils affecting the stability of slopes and

earth fills. The paper addresses the problem of liquefaction, a phenomenon in which the
strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid loading.

Casagrande's fundamental research eventually led to the formulation of criteria and

tests that defined the growing understanding of soil behavior under load.

With his nearly five decades of civil works and teachings, in 1973 Casagrande retired and
became a professor emeritus.

Casagrande’s work entails his character as great practitioner of the civil works,

not only that but a passionate civil engineer. His research and development is
something to astound from with his great ingenuity. Seeing and living through both

World Wars and even serving in the Army Corps Engineering shows his strong will and
unbreakable spirit, and even more his great leadership that led to 400 officers being

trained by his hands on the soil mechanics aspect of airfield construction, and this
officers was later assigned to aviation engineer battalion in many parts of the world. It

was known through his colleges that he was an excellent teacher who was devoted to
his student, both in and out of classroom. He has great pride for his students for later

having a successful career.

On September 6, 1981, Arthur Casagrande passed away at the age of 79 living

behind his legacy of works and achievement serving both as modern and practical

application in soil mechanics and foundation engineering; and inspiration for engineers
for years to come.
Source:

http://www.ejge.com/People/Casagrande/Casagrande.htm

http://nysspe.org/2016/11/21/arthur-casagrande-nysspes-engineer-week/

https://www.asce.org/templates/person-bio-detail.aspx?id=9915

Arthur Casagrande, BSCE Journal, September 29, 1981