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Research project

Railway Track for the 21st Century

Staff

Lead researcher

Professor William Powrie

Professor of Geotechnical Engineering

Research interests

  • Railway track and trackbed behaviour and performance.
  • Geotechnical transportation infrastructure (earthworks, retaining walls, tunnels).
  • Groundwater and groundwater control.
Connect with William

Email: W.Powrie@soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor John Preston

Professor in Rail Transport

Research interests

  • Demand, capacity and cost modelling for sustainable transport infrastructure.
  • The design, monitoring and evaluation of transport interventions designed to promote sustainable choices.
  • The determination of pathways for future mobility transitions to net zero carbon.
Connect with John

Email: J.M.Preston@soton.ac.uk

Professor David Thompson MA PhD CEng FIMechE FIOA FHEA

Professor of Railway Noise and Vibration

Research interests

  • Low noise design in railways
  • Ground vibration and ground-borne noise
  • Aerodynamic noise from high-speed trains
Connect with David

Email: djt@isvr.soton.ac.uk

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Dynamics Group

The group's research covers a range of topics including fundamental theoretical studies, the development of numerical tools and experimental measurement techniques.

Research outputs

Modelling of stress transfer in root-reinforced soils informed by four-dimensional X-ray computed tomography and digital volume correlation data
Daniel Bull, Joel Smethurst, Gerrit Meijer, Ian Sinclair, Fabrice Pierron, Tiina Roose, William Powrie & Glyn Bengough, 2021, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 478(2257)
DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2021.0210
Type: article
Measurements of the high frequency dynamic stiffness of railway ballast and subgrade
Xianying Zhang, David Thompson, Hongseok Jeong, Martin Toward, David Herron, Chris Jones & Nicolas Vincent, 2019, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 468
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2019.115081
Type: article
An engineering model for the prediction of the sound radiation from a railway track
Xianying Zhang, David Thompson, Erika Quaranta & Giacomo Squicciarini, 2019, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 461
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2019.114921
Type: article
Behaviour of under-track crossings on ballasted railways
William Powrie, Louis Le Pen, David Milne, Geoff Watson & John Harkness, 2019, Transportation Geotechnics, 21
DOI: 10.1016/j.trgeo.2019.100258
Type: article
The use of the hollow cylinder apparatus to study stress paths relevant to railway track foundations
Anna Mamou, William Powrie, Jeff Priest & Christopher Clayton, 2019
DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/20199202013
Type: conference