On 3 November 2017, MGS and GeoSS signed a Memorandum of Understanding, where both parties agreed to jointly organize a Geotechnical Conference every 2 years, hosted alternately. This 1st Malaysian Geotechnical Society - Geotechnical Society of Singapore Geotechnical Conference (1MGSSC) was held on 24 - 26 June 2019 at Hilton Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. It was well supported by academicians and practitioners. The Conference had opening address and keynote lectures delivered by distinguished geotechnical experts and eminent academicians including the ISSMGE president, the Associate Vice-President for Research and Development and a Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST, Prof Charles W W Ng, and Fellow of Academy of Engineering Singapore, the Distinguished Professor and Vice Provost (Academic Personnel), National University of Singapore, Prof Phoon KK. More than 40 contributed papers from Malaysia, Singapore, as well as overseas countries were presented at the Conference.

On 24^th June, Prof Zhang made the first presentation, titled as “Numerical Study of Groundwater Drawdown Effects on Ground Settlement for Braced Excavations in Singapore Bukit Timah Granitic Residual Soils” , which reported the cases of deep braced excavation in Singapore BTG residual soils. This study identified the critical parameters that influence the ground settlement performance and subsequently developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model to provide estimates of the maximum ground settlement. Validation of the performance of ANN model was carried out using additional data derived from finite element analyses as well as with measured data from a number of excavation sites. This report attracted extensive attentions from design engineering in Singapore geotechnical industry and hot discussion about the response characteristics for deep braced excavations in BTG residual soils.

On 25th June, Prof Zhang made the second presentation, titled as “Transparent Soil Model Testing on Arching Effect of Passive Piles Subjected to Lateral Soil Movement” , which is the research output supported by the national natural science foundation of China (NSFC). This study carried out a series of innovative model tests based on the combined use of transparent soil material and particle image velocimetry (PIV) to visualize and accurately measure the internal soil deformations around the passive piles in a non-intrusive way. It also captured extensive attentions from geotechnical experts and professors about the use of the transparent soil use.

The two presentations have fully demonstrated the theoretical and numerical works and foundations in geotechnical research and the advanced laboratory apparatus in School of Civil Engineering.