SW Jacobsz graduated from the University of Pretoria with B Eng and M Eng degrees and then worked at Jones & Wagener Consulting Civil Engineers as a geotechnical engineer. After three years he left for the United Kingdom to study towards a PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Cambridge.
He investigated the effects of tunnelling near piled foundations by means of centrifuge modelling. Thereafter he worked for Arup for one year on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project in London and carried out post-doctoral research on the development of wireless displacement transducers for use in tunnels in a UK government funded collaboration between the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to South Africa in 2003 and again working for Jones & Wagener before joining the University of Pretoria in 2010. He is a rated researcher with the South African National Research Foundation.
He is currently collaborating with the Australian Centre for Geomechnics at the University of Western Australia, modelling cave mining in the geotechnical centrifuge.
He is lead SA researcher in a PhD exchange program between Durham University in the United Kingdom, lead by Dr Ashraf Osman, and five South African universities (the Universities of Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Johannesburg and the Central University of Technology) funded by the Newton Fund (UK). The collaboration allows 10 PhD students from the SA partner institutions to spend 6 months at Durham University and students from Durham to spend time at a SA partner institution. The research topic is broad and covers any aspect related to unsaturated soil behaviour.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC - UK) is funding the Wind-Africa project into the design of foundations of wind turbines on unsaturated swelling soils in collaboration with the Universities of Durham, Cambridge and Khartoum. Centrifuge models of wind turbine foundations in expansive soils are currently being tested at the University of Pretoria as part of the project to complement large scale field testing of prototype foundations in expansive soils which will be tested in 2019 near Steelpoort in the Limpopo province. Numerical modelling and laboratory testing are carried out by the other research partners.
A project supported by the South African Water Research Commission investigating the use of fibre optic instrumentation to detect leaks in pipelines is nearing completion. The first phase of the project investigating leak detection using Fibre Bragg Gratings measuring strains and temperature on pipelines and in the ground adjacent to pipelines has been completed and will be followed up by a study investigated distributed fibre optic strain and temperature sensing. A patent is being filed.
Current teaching duties
Current research interests
Publications list (Google Scholar profile) (Researchgate Profile)
Current research students:
Previous students:
Theses of students who have completed their studies can be downloaded below:
Louis Geldenhuys - Comparing failure mechanisms of Ultra-Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements (UTCRCP) under cycling and monotonic loading
Fabianus Gomachab - Effect of structural stiffness on the response of portal frames to groundwater extraction-induced ground movements
Sebastian Jahnke - Pipeline leak detection using in-situ soil temperature and strain measurements
Sachin Ravjee - Discrete element modelling investigating the effects of particle shape on backfil response behind integral bridge abutments
Benjamin Oberholser - Investigating cavity propagation in dense sand using centrifuge trapdoor experiments
Dawie Marx - The optimal placement of geogrid reinforcement in landfill clay liners
Tiago Gaspar - Investigating the tensile behaviour of unsaturated soils using the Brazilian Disc Test
Jean Potgieter - Finite element versus limit equilibrium stability analyses for surface excavations
Stephan van Eeden - Electricity generation as a beneficial post closure land use option for dormant tailings storage facilities.
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