Croatian Geotechnical Society

Croatian Geotechnical Society
Berislavićeva 6
10 000 Zagreb
Croatia

Website: www.hgd-cgs.hr

President: Prof. Dr. sc. Leo Matesic  ([email protected])
Secretary: Prof. Dr. sc. Krunoslav Minazek ([email protected])

The Croatian Geotechnical Society (in Croatian: Hrvatsko geotehcniko drustvo, HGD-CGS) is a voluntary association of professionals involved in Geotechnical Engineering. At least once a year the Assembly is gathered to discuss the previous activities and to bring decisions on the future of the Association. In the meantime, the Board takes the responsibilities. The acts of HGD-CGS, the reports, the data on the activities, the proceedings of the conferences organized by HGD-CGS, as well as various interesting data are publicly presented on the HGD-CGS website, www.hgd-cgs.hr

The aims of the Croatian Geotechnical Society are the promotion and development of the profession and the related science; therefore, the following actions have been defined:

• to develop cooperation among engineers and scientists in the related fields;
• to provide support to the members in their activities;
• to promote ethical values in the profession;
• to support the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), as well as the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG), and other similar associations;
• to organize conferences, seminars, workshops, lectures etc.;
• to publish and to support the publishing of books and journals in the field of Geotechnical Engineering;
• to take part in working on the handbooks, standards, laws and other legal documents;
• to inform its members about its activities;
• to inform the public about its activities;
• to cooperate with similar organizations in Croatia and abroad.

The development of the Croatian Geotechnical Society followed the political changes and thus changed its name accordingly. However, while Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, the Croatian engineers were collaborating in the mutual association.

Only 13 years after the First International Conference at Harvard in the year 1936, the corresponding association was organized here, in the year 1949, one for the whole country of these days: the Yugoslavian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundations (Jugoslavensko drustvo za mehaniku tla i fundiranje). The first conference was held in Bled (Slovenia) in the same year, 1949. The second was held in Opatija (Croatia) in 1950. The third in Bled (Slovenia) in 1951, the fourth in Aranelovac (Serbia) in 1952, the fifth in Ilida (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1954, the sixth in Dubrovnik (Croatia) when Professor Ervin Nonveiller (Croatia) became the President. The seventh conference was held in Ohrid (Macedonia) in the year 1957, the eighth in Cortanovci (Serbia) in 1959, the ninth in Belgrade (Serbia) in 1963, the tenth in Portoroz (Slovenia) in 1966, the eleventh in Skopje (Macedonia) in 1968 when Ivo Kleiner (Croatia) became the secretary, the twelfth in Duilovo (Croatia) in 1971, the thirteenth in Budva (Monte Negro) in 1975 when Ivo Kleiner (Croatia) became the president, the fourteenth in Ilidza (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 1978, the fifteenth in Ohrid (Macedonia) in 1981, and the sixteenth in Arandelovac (Serbia) in 1986.

Already in the year 1983, the Association for Soil Mechanics and Foundations of Croatia (Drustvo za mehaniku tla i temeljenje Hrvatske) was founded. In 1990 it was renamed into the Croatian Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundations (Hrvatsko drustvo za mehaniku tla i temeljenje).

In the year 1992, as soon as Croatia became internationally recognized as a sovereign and independent state, the membership in the ISSMFE was requested and approved.

In the year 1997, the name was changed into the Croatian Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (Hrvatsko drutvo za mehaniku tla i geotehniko inzenjerstvo).

In 1998, the European-Danube-European Conference for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering was organized in Porec.

A moment of the big Danube-European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Professors Shamsher Prakash, Gábor Telekes, Atilla Ansal, Misko Cubrinovski, Mladen Vuceti, Sonja Zlatovic, Jiro Kuwano

At the Danube-European Conference in Porec, 1998: Professor Kenji Ishihara, ISSMGE President , with Zvonimir Lisac, the Secretary of the Croatian Society; Bozica Maric, the President of the Croatian Society with Dr. Suzanne Lacasse, the NGI manager.
 

In the year 2006, the Croatian Association for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering merged with the Croatian Association for Rock Mechanics (Hrvatsko drustvo za mehaniku stijena) into the Croatian Geotechnical Society.

Generally, once in three years the Croatian Society organizes national conferences recently with international participation and in coordination with ISSMGE or ISRM. The proceedings of all these conferences are available for free online on our web pages, www.hgd-cgs.hr. For the two conferences - the Danube-European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in 1998, and EUROCK in 2009, the publisher was Balkema; therefore, it is not possible to open the paper for free. However, the contents are available on our web pages.

The national conferences were organized in Opatija in 1989, in Varazdin in 1995, in Hvar in 2002, in Opatija in 2006, and in Osijek in 2009.

The 11^th Danube-European Conference for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Geotechnical Hazards was organized in Porec in 1998 with more than 300 participants, 60% of which from abroad: Italy, Japan, Canada, Norway, USA in parallel to the Danube countries: Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania etc. The proceedings were published by Balkema.

The envelope of the Bulletins for the Porec 1998 Conference in English, German, and Croatian, with the back cover of the Bulletin

EUROCK 2009, the ISRM Regional Symposium Rock Engineering in Difficult Conditions Soft Rocks and Karst was organized by the Croatian Society in Cavtat, near Dubrovnik in 2009. The proceedings were published by Balkema.

Participants of the European ISRM Conference EUROCK 2009 in Cavtat, near Dubrovnik

Conference in Zadar in 2013: Zeljko Sokolic, Branimir Muller and Ivan Vrkljan

Next national conferences were organized in Zadar in 2013, in Varazdin in 2016 with international participation, in Omis in 2019: 

Poster for the 7^th Conference of the Croatian Geotechnical Society with international participation in Varadin in 2016

Japanese group on the Varazdin Conference in 2016: Professors Fusanori Miura, Norikazu Shimizu, (Sonja Zlatovic), Motoyuki Suzuki, Hiroaki Matsugi

OMIS 2019: The 8^th National Conference with international participation and ISRM Specialized Conference Geotechnical Challenges in Karst:

The core of the organizing committee and the invited guests: Professors Ivan Vrkljan, key lecturer, Resat Ulusay, key lecturer, Predrag Mscievic, Conference President, Eda Quadros, ISRM President, Giovanni Barla, Nonveiller Lecturer, Natasa Stambuk Cvitanovic, Conference Vice-president, Goran Vlastelica, Conference Secretary, Nick Burton, key lecturer, Igor Sokoli, President of the Croatian Geotechnical Society

OMIS 2019

OMIS 2019

Participants of the excursion OMI 2019 to the Powerplant Zakuac near Split.
 

In 2020, two strong earthquakes shook Croatia and its capital: M5.0 in Zagreb on 22 March and M6.2 in Petrinja on 29 December. Great part of the Society took part in the damage recognition and reconstruction of the earthquake consequences.
In 2023, a conference dedicated to these two earthquakes was organized by the Society, the 9^th Conference of the Croatian Geotechnical Society with international participation and under the auspices of ISSMGE.

Guests at the conference SISAK 2023:  President of the Croatian Chamber of the Civil Engineers, Nina Drazin Lovrec, ISSMGE President Dr Marc Ballouz, and the invited lecturers, Professors Dietmar Adam, Josip Atalic and Davor Grandic

Guests at the SISAK Conference 2023: Professor Carlo Lai, architect Davor Salopek, Head of the Conservation Department in Sisak, Ivana Miletic Caksiran, Professor Marijan Herak, Vice-director of the Croatian Seismological Survey, Tomislav Fiket.

In the honour of our great Professor Ervin Nonveiller, from the year 2000, the Croatian Society generally organizes once a year, a lecture of a chosen important expert in Geotechnical Engineering under the title Nonveiller Lecture for which the invitations are sent through email, web, posters, etc. Regularly, the friends from the neighbouring countries attend these lectures.

Two photos of Professor Ervin Nonveiller

The 1^st Nonveiller Lecture on 7 Dec. 2000, was given by Professor Heinz Brandl, Technische Universität Wien: Deep and shallow compaction of soil and other granular materials.

The 2^nd Nonveiller Lecture on 4 Dec. 2001, was given by Professor Franjo Veric, University of Zagreb: Some experiences in design of embankments and Special problems in Foundations (Neka iskustva u projektiranju nasutih brana i Posebni problemi temeljenja).

The 3^rd Nonveiller Lecture on 3 Oct. 2002, was given by Professor William Van Impe, University of Ghent, ISSMGE President: Trends and expected developments in deep foundation engineering.

The 4^th Nonveiller Lecture on 13 Nov. 2003, was given by M. Alan Powderham, Mott MacDonald, UK: The observational method learning from project.

HGD guests who gave Nonveiller Lectures

The 5^th  Nonveiller Lecture on 17 Dec. 2004, was given by Professor Francois Schlosser, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees CERMES, France:  The foundations of the Millau viaduct in France.

The 6^th Nonveiller Lecture on 27 Jan. 2006, was given by Professor Antun Szavits-Nossan on the new study programmes in Civil Engineering.

The 7^th Nonveiller Lecture on 5 Oct. 2006; was given by Professor Pedro Seco e Pinto, ISSMGE President:  New trends in tunnelling engineering

The 8^th Nonveiller Lecture on 7 March 2008, was given by Professor Roger Frank, ISSMGE Vice-president for  Europe, later ISSMGE President:  French practice and theory for pile design.

The 9^th Nonveiller Lecture on 9 Nov. 2010, was given by Professor Ivan Vrkljan, Secretary, later President of the Croatian Society, and ISRM Vice-president at large: Engineering Rock Mechanics in Croatia (Inenjerska mehanika stijena u Hrvatskoj).

The 10^th Nonveiller Lecture on 03 June 2011, was given by dr. Nick Barton, Nick Barton & Associates,: Pre-grouting for water control and for rock mass property improvement.  

The 11^th Nonveiller Lecture on 11 June 2012, was given by Professor Dobroslav Znidarcic, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder: First century of the Soil Mechanics: from the consolidation theory to the mechanics of unsaturated soils (Prvo stoljece mehanike tla: od teorije konsolidacije do mehanike nezasienih tala).

The 12^th Nonveiller Lecture on 14 June 2013, was given by Professor Kenji Ishihara, Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, ISSMGE President from 1997 to 2001: Characteristics of Waterfront Landslides.

Professor Kenji Ishihara as the 12th Nonveiller Lecturer

The 13^th Nonveiller Lecture on 21 May 2014, was given by Professor Mladen Vucetic, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles: The influence of the shearing velocity on the dynamic and cyclic behaviour of soil and on the parameters for local soil response during earthquake (Utjecaj brzine smicanja na dinamicko i ciklicko ponasanje tla i na parametre za odziv lokalnog tla pri potresu).

The 14^th Nonveiller Lecture on 5 Oct. 2016, was given by Professor Paul W. Mayne, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering: GeoCharacterization by Seismic Piezocone in 2016 and Beyond.

The 15^th Nonveiller Lecture on 25 Oct. 2017, was given by Professor Atilla Ansal, President of the European Association of Earthquake Engineering, Chairman of the Civil Engineering Department, Özyein University, editor of the Springer series Geotechnical, Geological and Earthquake Engineering, and main editor of the Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering.

The 16^th Nonveiller Lecture on 15 May. 2018, was given by Professor Kerry Rowe: Past advances and future directions in geoenvironmental engineering: a personal perspective.

The 17^th Nonveiller Lecture on 12 Apr. 2019, was given by Professor Giovanni Barla, Politecnico di Torino: Novel Investigative Tools of Rock Slopes and Tunnels in View of Realistic Modelling in Engineering Applications.

President of the Society, Professor Igor Sokolic, the 17^th  Nonveiller Lecturer, Professor Giovanni Barla, and the Conference President, Professor Predrag Miscevic.

The 18^th Nonveiller Lecture on 27 Sept. 2022, was given by Professor Dietmar Adam, TU Wien:   Soil compaction and compaction control state of the art, innovations and developments.

Professor Dietmar Adam, during his 18th Nonveiller Lecture, shows the relations between TU Wien and geotechnical engineering in Croatia.

From the 12th Nonveiller Lecture, which was given by Professor Kenji Ishihara, the transcript or the record of the lecture are available on the web pages of the Croatian Geotechnical Society.

In the Croatian Geotechnical Society, we organize also Geotechnical Round Tables the discussions with prepared introduction, workshops, lectures, excursions.

In 2007, in Cavtat, we had a series of lectures dedicated to the application of Eurocode 7 which was new for us the lectures were given by the European experts who were working on the development of Eurocode 7. In 2011 in Zagreb, we organized another workshop on Eurocode 7.

In 2011, in Dubrovnik, the Technical Meeting of the TC207 ISSMGE was organized with the Workshop on Soil-Structure Interaction and Retaining Walls.

In 2011, in Zagreb, Dr. Nick Barton held a workshop Rock engineering for tunnels (drill-and-blast and TBM), pre-grouting, caverns, dam abutments, rock slopes and rockfill.

In 2016, in Zagreb, the meeting of the ISRM Board was extended with a series of lectures, given by the members of the ISRM Board and the experts from Croatia and the neighbouring countries.

On these and other workshops and excursions the details and materials are available on the website, https://www.hgd-cgs.hr/.

Professor Ivan Vrkljan presents the members of the ISRM Board who came to the meeting in Zagreb and gave lectures in the subsequent workshop, together with some lecturers from Croatia and the neighbouring countries.

The Croatian Geotechnical Society publishes its own Newsletter, Glasnik, with overviews of interesting events and important news it is printed and published online.

 (https://www.hgd-cgs.hr/glasnik)

The HGD-CGS website presents news, proceedings of the national conferences, records of lectures, materials used, and such: https://www.hgd-cgs.hr.