24.03.2022
By Charles John MacRobert 22 March 2022 Recently I have been researching past geotechnical engineers from South Africa and I would like to reflect on three: George Donaldson, Dereck Sparks and Tony Brink. Interestingly, George Donaldson and my grandfather George MacRobert graduated in the same civil engineerin class at the University of Cape Town in… View Article
30.11.2021
1939 Just before World War II the South African National Roads Board was created, and several young South African engineers visited the USA to study soil mechanics and its application in civil engineering practice 1947 an Informal National Committee on Soil Mechanics was formed among members of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE)… View Article
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… View Article
1961 Jennings and Brink asked that you remember Moisture, Color, Consistency, Soil type, Structure and Origin 1961 First course in Soil Mechanics at University of the Witwatersrand. It was proposed that a short course in soil mechanics should be given in South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand. The aim of the course was… View Article
1970s Construction of Standard Bank Centre in Johannesburg In 1973 two memorable courses were held: ‘The stability of rock slopes’ in February and ‘Tunnelling in rock’ in October. Got to here in main body text 1976 6th ARCSMFE held in Durban, South Africa 1977 P K le Roux Dam completed 1978 9th ICSMFE Tokyo and… View Article
1981 Jennings Award made to Gary A Jones and J A van Zyl 1983 Jennings Award made to Fritz Wagener 1985 Jennings Award made to Ken Schwartz 1986 Jennings Award made to Brian Hall 1987 Jenning s Award made to Terry Pidgeon 1987 9th ARCSMFE, Lagos, Nigeria 1988 Jennings Award made to Graham Plant, Gavin… View Article
1991 10th ARCSMFE, Lesotho: Geotechnics in the African Environment 1993 the Barry van Wyk Award was instituted to honour the memory of Dr Barry van Wyk, who had contributed significantly to geotechnical engineering in South Africa, both as a teacher and a practitioner. The award is presented to the author or authors of the best… View Article
2001 Jennings Award made to Gerhard Heymann and Chris Clayton 2002 Jennings Award made to SW Jacobz, RJ Mair, J R Standing, K Soga , T Sugi Yama and T Hagiwa 2003 Jennings Award made to Pierre van der Berg, Chris Clayton and DB Powell
14.12.2021
SOUTH ARCAN GOLD MEDAL AWARD The South African Geotechnical Medal was instituted by the Geotechnical Division in 1989 to honour members of SAICE who have made a significant contribution to geotechnical engineering in South Africa. Although the name of J E Jennings does not form part of the title of the medal, an inscription on… View Article
The J E Jennings Award is made annually by the Geotechnical Division to honour the late Prof. J E Jennings and the outstanding role played by him in the development of geotechnical engineering in South Africa. The award consists of a certificate which will be presented to a member of the Geotechnical Division who is… View Article
The Barry van Wyk award is presented annually to the author of the best final year dissertation on a geotechnical topic at a South African University. 2021 Ruan Murison for his thesis “Using Small-Strain Stiffness to Predict the Bearing Capacity of Strip Foundations on Sand”. 2020 Jason Barry for his thesis “Using Brillouin Frequency Shift in Fibre Optic Cables… View Article