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

SAICE Geotechnical Division, SAICE and SAIEG present:

ISC’8 Conference South Africa 2028

Date: 2028 (to be announced)
Venue: Cape Town, South Africa

The 8th International Conference on Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterisation brings together a global network of experts, researchers and industry leaders to share knowledge, innovation and practical approaches to ground characterisation.

Get updates