The national workshop on Ground Property Characterization using In-Situ Tests was held at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore on 26-27 April 2019 to further the agenda of the Technical Committee TC-102 of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Enginnering.

At this workshop, Mr. Ravi Sundaram presented a keynote lecture on "Plate Load Tests and Field Vane Shear Tests". His lecture highlighted the current IS code provisions and state of practice of these tests in India and discussed the changes that are required in the codes to make the tests more relevant and practical while appreciating the limitations of the code.

Mr. Ravi Sundaram is now part of a new committee set up by the Indian Geotechnical Society to propose revisions to the codes on these tests and recommend the changes to the Bureau of Indian Standards for updating the codes related to plate load tests and field vane shear tests.