The shearing strength of rockfill for dams and dikes has been a subject of interest, concern and speculation among civil engineers for at least 120 yr. As noted by I. C. Steele (8), “the design of rockfill dams originated in California soon after the discovery there of gold in 1848. They were... generally of small proportions daringly designed.”
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Thomas M. Leps (1970) studied this question.