20
Geotechnical News • September 2018
COMPUTING IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
From the GS Board
Z. (Dan) Eisenstein (Editor), Univer-
sity of Alberta; P.C. (Peter) Lighthall
(co-Editor), Klohn Crippen;and CGS
VP Technical, R.J. (Richard) Bathurst,
Royal Military College; J.R. (John)
Busbridge, Golder Associates; B.H.
(Bengt) Fellenius, University of
Ottawa; D.G. (Del) Fredlund, Uni-
versity of Saskatchewan; D.W. (Don)
Hayley, EBA Consultants; E.C. (Ed)
McRoberts, Hardy BBT; R.L. (Robert)
Martin, Hardy BBT; I.D. (Ian) Moore,
Queen’s University; K.R. (Ken)
Peaker, Shaheen and Peaker (formerly
of the Trow Group); G.P. (Gerry)
Raymond, Queen’s University; R.K.
(Kerry) Rowe, University of Western
Ontario; V.A. (Victor) Sowa, Klohn
Crippen; and, F. (François) Tavenas,
Université Laval and CGS President
(1991-1992) (and a member of the
early 1970s NRC Subcommittee on
Foundations).
Bengt Fellenius was the only mem-
ber directly associated with the
1985
Second Edition
, however, he admits
he had little to do with the
1992 Third
Edition.
For some reason, Alex Sy
of Klohn Crippen was inadvertently
omitted from the above list.
The preface also credited the four
geotechnical engineers who guided
the
1985 Second Edition
. In addition,
the preface of the
1992 Third Edition
credited two additional individuals,
Trish Pharey and Bonnie Banks (both
of Klohn Crippen), “who were respon-
sible for compiling the [
1992 Third
Edition
of the] Manual on a word pro-
cessor [MSWord], and who patiently
undertook the numerous edits”.
The
1992 Third Edition
revised and
enlarged the
1985 Second Edition
, this
time to a 512-page document with a
wider column width on the page. The
‘four parts’ of previous editions were
eliminated; the topics were simply
organized by chapters, but for the most
part in the same order as in the
1978
First Edition
and the
1985 Second
Edition.
Among other changes, the brief
mention of “geotextiles” in the
1985
Second Edition
, was expanded to an
entire 39-page chapter on various uses
of “geosynthetics” in the
1992 Third
Edition
. In addition, the chapter on
Deep Foundations was extensively
updated.
The errors in the conversions from
Imperial units to metric units, which
appeared in the
1985 Second Edition
and were corrected in the
1989 French
Edition
, were also corrected in the
1992 Third Edition
.
It is interesting to note that a subse-
quent page of errata in the
1992 Third
Edition
had the following “Notice to
Users”.
“The use of partial factors of
safety in Limit State [sic] Design
of Foundations, while advocated
in some foreign countries, is
currently under review in Canada
and the United States. Users
of the Canadian Foundation
Engineering Manual are advised
to exercise caution in applying
those sections of the Manual
referring to partial factors of
safety.”
The
1992 Third Edition
was distrib-
uted by Bitech Publishers. Approxi-
mately 1,800 copies were printed and
they sold for $112 for CGS-members,
$127 for non-members and $64 for
students.
1994 Second French Edition of
the CFEM (MCIF)
The
1992 Third Edition
of the
CFEM
was translated primarily by, and
under the leadership of, Pierre Morin
(Memorial University of Newfound-
land). Published by the CGS (SCG) in
1994 and distributed by BiTech Pub-
lishers, this 558-page document (SCG,
1994, Figure 3) was titled the
MCIF
Second Edition
, even though it was a
translation of the
1992 Third Edition
of the
CFEM
. This has caused some
confusion, because no ‘Third Edition’
of the
MCIF
was ever produced.
Approximately 1,100 copies of the
1994 Second French Edition
were
printed. The selling price is not
known.
To be continued….
Part 4, the last of this series, will cover
the
‘2006 Fourth Edition’
(in English)
and the
‘2013 Fourth French Edition’
,
and will look forward towards the
future edition of the CFEM/MCIF.
Acknowledgements
Many individuals assisted the author
in locating the older editions of the
manual, providing valuable additional
information, and providing excellent
review comments on numerous drafts.
They will be appropriately acknowl-
Figure 2: Cover of the 1992 Third
Edition.
Figure 3: Cover of the 1994 Second
French Edition.
