Contributions to Geotechnique 1948-2008:: Engineering geology, rock mechanics and rock engineering

Throughout its history Geotechnique has regularly published papers on the fundamentals of engineering geology, the core concepts of rock mechanics, and the practice of rock engineering. In totality these papers provide a concise history of the development of these areas of geotechnics. Here, a review of many of these papers is presented in terms of the specific themes of engineering geology, rock slope instability, behaviour of intact rock and discontinuities in rock, field measurements in rock mechanics, discontinuous rock masses, numerical modelling, and rock engineering. Papers covering a wide range of issues within these themes are outlined, together with an indication of how they have influenced later developments. The review clearly demonstrates how Geotechnique has been at the forefront of rock mechanics, rock engineering and engineering geology for the whole of its 60-year existence.