Find quick answers to common questions about the SAICE Geotechnical Division — from membership and events to professional development and publications. This section helps clarify the most frequent queries from our members and partners. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Geotechnical engineers are responsible for structures’ foundations. Work includes assessing data from the field, finding ways to ensure foundations or slopes are stable, designing foundations, and overseeing work on a construction site. They often work for consultancies.
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behaviour of earth materials. … A typical geotechnical engineering project begins with a review of project needs to define the required material properties.
Geologists are students of the planet – its processes and make-up. Geotechnical engineers are civil engineers who utilize their knowledge of geology to aid in the design and construction of structures, depending on the mechanics of the surrounding geology
The extent of a geotechnical investigation depends largely on the type of structure. If you are designing a road it may be possible to use test pits (<1.5m) unless unfavourable conditions are encountered. For single and double storey houses/commercial buildings a standard backacter excavator investigation will be required to expose soils to depths of at least 3m. For larger structures imposing significant loads on the ground and supported on large foundations a more detailed investigation would be required.
Soil mechanics mainly deals with Soil microstructure and its property. Foundation engineering related to design of foundation and pressure distribution deals with engineering properties of soil. Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behaviour of earth materials.
Bachelor’s degree programs in civil, geotechnical, geological, and environmental engineering typically last four years and include general education courses in English, social science, and the humanities, as well as courses in advanced mathematics, structural geology, and fluid mineralogy.
Under normal circumstances it is reasonable to expect the conditions within 20 to 40 m of a site to be similar. However, this can never be guaranteed. It is regardless a requirement for all developments to have a site specific geotechnical investigation carried out.
SAIGE Geotechnical Division presents:
Young geotechnical professionals under 35 working in geotechnical engineering, engineering geology, mining, or civil construction will have the opportunity to showcase their work at the 11th South African Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference (SAYGEC), taking place in September 2026 in the Central Drakensberg.
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