After early attempts to describe the behavior of beams under load, equations of equilibrium were first formulated correctly in 1827. Isotropic elastic behavior was described shortly after. Plasticity studies were initiated and failure conditions were established in the period 1860 to 1920. By 1900, correct equations of plasticity for soils had been proposed, and solutions had been obtained to a number of practical cases by graphical integration. Punch or footing problems were examined in the 1920s. By 1950, the mathematical bases of plasticity for metals were firmly established. Since that time, they have been extended by many investigators to account for the peculiarities of soil behavior, including yielding under hydrostatic stresses. The present state of incremental plasticity theory, necessitating the use of computers for solutions, requires consideration of three basic conditions: A yield criterion, a hardening law, and a flow rule.

In recognition of the need to predict the thermal regime in arctic offshore structures, a laboratory research program was constructed to evaluate the latent heat of fusion of a coarse‐grained soil with saline pore water. Latent heat of fusion measurements were made by placing frozen soil specimens with saline pore water in an insulated cylinder and melting the specimens under steady‐state heat flow conditions. The specimen temperature and heat transfer through the cylinder as a function of time was recorded. The latent heat of fusion is equal to the heat supplied to the soil specimen in the time interval during which a phase change occurs. The results from the research program indicate that the latent heat released during thawing depends on the initial values of pore‐water salinity and subfreezing temperature. The latent heat released increases with decreasing pore‐water salinity. For the coarse‐grained soil employed in the research program, the latent heat released when thawing from a given subfreezing temperature was found to be equal to the latent heat released in a pure saline solution over a comparable temperature range.

Erosion of alluvial soils along the Ohio River is a matter of increasing concern to riparian landowners and commercial interests. One mechanism by which erosion of alluvial streambanks takes place is by sliding wedge failures of upper bank layers. Results of a study are presented in which the sliding wedge mechanism was investigated for Ohio River banks. Streambanks were assumed to fail by sliding along sand partings underlying cohesive upper layers. Results of computer wedge stability analyses indicated that bank stability is most sensitive to the depth of water present in tension cracks behind the face of the bank. Other factors found to be important to wedge stability are the effective angle of internal friction of the sand seam underlying the cohesive sliding wedge and the unit weight of the cohesive wedge. The importance of tension crack formation on wedge stability of multi‐layered river banks was also evaluated.

At a coral reef site on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, load tests were performed on 1,422 mm diam tubular steel piles to verify pile design compression and tension capacities predicted by calculations. Although two tests were planned at separate site locations, five were performed (two on test pile A, and three on test pile B) due to the test results disproving some of the calculation assumptions. Test pile A was installed open‐ended and the test results concluded: For a coring pile, the measured compression capacities had reasonable agreement with those calculated ($\mathrm{calculated}\mathrm{overestimates}=5.2\%$ and 16.3%); and the design assumption that a soil plug would form was disproved. Test pile B was installed with a structural plug fitted to the leading end and the test results concluded: (1) The measured skin friction at $11m\mathrm{penetration}=\mathrm{zero};$ and the unit end bearing capacity assumed in the calculations was considerably larger than that measured in the tests at 11 m and 30 m penetration ($\mathrm{calculated}\mathrm{overestimates}=181\%$ and 164%).

An approach often used to determine the bearing capacity of shallow foundations subjected to eccentric loading is based on Meyerhof's concept of a reduced effective area. The effective area is the area of greatest length such that its centroid coincides with the resultant load. The effective width of the reduced area is defined as the effective area divided by its length. The procedure for determining the effective dimensions of rectangular footings with one-way eccentricity is straightforward but the process is complex and time-consuming when the eccentricity is in both directions. Depending on the magnitudes of eccentricities e_l and e_b in the directions of the length, L, and width, B, of the footing, respectively, the effective area is one of four possible shapes. To aid the engineer in the design of eccentrically loaded footings, analysis charts are prepared which yield normalized reduced dimensions as a function of normalized eccentricities, e_l/L and e_b/B, for the four cases. An analysis chart is also prepared for determining normalized reduced dimensions of circular footings as a function of the normalized eccentricity, e_r/R.