Infrastructure
Head of Division: Professor William Powrie
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 3214
Email: wp@soton.ac.uk
Website: http://www.soton.ac.uk/engineering/research/groups/infrastructure_group.page
We carry out research in the areas of geomechanics, structures and construction. We have contributed to fundamental knowledge in the areas of groundwater control, retaining walls, landfill engineering, soil behaviour, structural repair techniques and the safety of offshore structures. Our research results are consistently disseminated to industry through authorship of guidance documents and reports, and the incorporation of our research into codes and standards.
We currently hold more than £3.6 million in research funding, from EPSRC sources, charities, industry and government, supporting over 30 researchers. We collaborate extensively with the construction and waste management industries, and have research links worldwide.
Staff
Dr Alan Bloodworth: Concrete structures; soil–structure interaction; integral bridges; masonry structures and numerical modelling by finite elements
Dr Mike Byfield: Design and analysis of steel and composite structures
Professor Chris Clayton: Soil mechanics; fundamental behaviour of soils and sediments; methane hydrates; offshore geotechnics; foundation and geotechnical engineering; site investigation; undisturbed sampling and in situ testing; earth pressure and retaining walls; cuttings and embankments; railway track systems; geotechnical risk management, NATM tunnels, satellite remote sensing in civil engineering; field instrumentation and monitoring
Professor Marcus Lee: Design and analysis of steel and reinforced concrete structures; fatigue, fracture and strength of offshore tubular connections; fracture behaviour of welded joints; behaviour and strength of fibre composite structures; structural repairs and refurbishment
Professor William Powrie (Head of Research Division): Soil mechanics; geotechnical engineering; embedded and masonry retaining walls; cuttings and embankments; pile-stabilised slopes; groundwater; impacts of vegetation and climate change; railway track systems; waste mechanics; landfill engineering; groundwater pollution control
Dr David Richards: Numerical analyses of retaining structures; geotechnical centrifuge testing; barrier technology; determination of geotechnical properties and long-term environmental geotechnics; structural monitoring systems and data processing; shallow foundation systems
Professor David Sanderson: Tectonics (rock fracture, faulting and crustal strain); geomechanics (coupled deformation and fluid flow); applications to hydrocarbon reservoirs, mineral deposits and sub-surface construction
Dr Antonis Zervos: Constitutive and numerical modelling of strain localisation and scale effects; modelling the coupled thermo-poro-mechanical behaviour of soils; modelling gas hydrate-bearing sediments; petroleum geomechanics