Highlights (1950 – 1960)

1955 1st African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering
(ARCSMFE), Pretoria
1956 first Dynamic Compaction carried out and documented in South Africa. Documented in issue 5 of the newsletter “Down to Earth” noted that N B Hobbs has recently used a 5 ton concrete block dropped from a height or 12ft for compacting the loose sand on the site for a large oil tank in Durban. The average settlement of the site was 7 inches and the maximum 13 inches. Deep soundings before and after the treatment indicated that the effect penetrated to a depth of 40 ft and that considerable improvement was made to the cone resistance of the sand.
1959 2nd ARCSMFE held in Lourenzo Marques, Mozambique

SAIGE Geotechnical Division presents:

Call for Abstracts: 11th South African Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference (SAYGEC) 2026

Date: September 2026
Venue: To be announced

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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