Prof. Chris Clayton BSc MSc DIC PhD CEng FICE CGeol FGS
Emeritus Professor of Infrastructure Engineering
Prof. Chris Clayton is an Emeritus Professor of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Southampton.
After graduation, Professor Clayton's early career was spent in industry, working as a specialist geotechnical engineer in site investigation and civil engineering contracting. In 1972 he took a year out to study for his Master’s degree at Imperial College, which he completed with distinction. On his return to industry he combined commercial and academic research, and was awarded a collaborative PhD by the University of Surrey in 1978. On completion of his PhD he joined the University of Surrey as a Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering, becoming Professor of Geotechnical Engineering in 1992. He joined the University of Southampton in 1999.
Prestigious lectures
- British Geotechnical Association Géotechnique Lecture - 1999 - Institution of Civil Engineers Unwin Memorial Lecture - 2001 - South African Institution of Civil Engineering Jennings Memorial Lecture - 2006 - British Geotechnical Association 50th Rankine Lecture - 2010 - 2nd Korean Geotechnical Society Lecture - 2012
Books, national reports, and guidance documents
- Graduate textbooks on ‘Site Investigation’ and ‘Earth pressure and Earth-retaining Structures’ - CIRIA reports on procurement of ground investigation, engineering in chalk, and on the SPT - ICE / DTR report on ‘Managing Geotechnical Risk’ - Member of HSE board for the 1994 Heathrow Tunnel Collapse investigation.
Editorships
– Proc. ICE Geotechnical Engineering – 1993-1996 – Q. J. Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology – 1997-2000 – Géotechnique 2009-2011 – South African Inst. Civil Engineering J. (2000- present)
Research
Publications
Contact
Research interests
Chris Clayton’s research, focusing on geotechnical site and material characterisation, has been largely application driven, and has been backed up by research and development using field monitoring (for example of tunnels and retaining structures), advanced laboratory testing and instrumentation, and by investigations into the stiffness and strength behaviour of unusual geomaterials, such as the chalk.
Examples of recent and current research themes are:
Mechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sediment
Internal fluidisation of granular soils
Stiffness of unsaturated soil
Effects of particle shape on dilation
Cyclic strength of destructured chalk
Fig. 1
Effects of dissociation of methane hydrates on the mechanical properties of sea-floor sediment.
Methane hydrate dissociation has been associated with tsunami-triggered sea-floor slope instability. This research is also relevant for the design of hydrate “mining” methods, and to the interpretation of the seismic geophysics used to detect the presence of hydrates. Our research has shown major differences in stiffness (and therefore strength) of hydrates formed in different sediments. See Fig. 1.
Fig. 2
Mechanisms of Internal fluidisation of granular materials.
The mechanism of internal fluidisation exposed by this work has not previously been recognised in civil engineering. It has widespread application, for example in understanding leakage from water distribution pipes, through dams and sheet-pile retaining structures, maintenance of channels in ports, understanding the distribution of diamonds in pipes, and in chemical and process engineering. See Fig. 2.
Fig. 3
Stiffness of unsaturated soil.
Climate change won’t just change sea levels. We can expect that changes in rainfall magnitude and pattern will affect the strength and stiffness of the unsaturated ground that is near-surface. Advanced laboratory tests have shown that suctions can produce large changes in stiffness and permanent deformation under cyclic loading. This is important for all shallow infrastructure, and particularly for the design and performance of rail formations. See Fig. 3.
Fig. 4
Effects of particle shape on dilation.
Dilation, first demonstrated by Osborne Reynolds in 1885, makes a major contribution to the strength of dense granular materials. Reynolds believed that dilatancy occurred in all dense, regardless of particle shape, but our research has shown that while it exists in rotund materials it is suppressed in materials composed of platy particles. This finding is of particular importance in understanding and preventing the failure of gold tailings dams. See Fig. 4.
Fig. 5
The cyclic strength of de-structured chalk
The chalk underlies about 15% of the UK and a significant amount of the North Sea and Northern Europe. Undisturbed, it is a weak rock, but when crushed (for example during piling or highways earthworks, soft chalk can become a putty. Strength and stiffness changes as a result of de-structuring, consolidation and cyclic loading are being measured. These data are important when designing structures such as mono-piles foundations for offshore wind turbines. See Fig. 5.
Large-scale landslides can seriously threaten human life and infrastructure over extensive areas, by rapidly moving substantial volumes of material and even by causing catastrophic tsunamis. Better understanding their mechanics is key for predicting such events and protecting ourselves from their consequences.
It is estimated that effective management of irrigated agriculture in the Aral basin could save up to 10% of the region’s water, doubling the flow to the severely degraded lower reaches and contributing significantly to the preservation of the region’s biodiversity and its human and natural ecosystems. This research aimed to provide a scientifically-proven methodology by which agricultural land use can be determined from multi-spectral satellite imagery. The method was then applied, in conjunction with an existing water resource management model for the Syr Darya river, to provide up-to-date information for calculation of crop water demand. The result is a cost-effective system that is capable of identifying the extent and location of wasted irrigation water, and of examining the effects of alternative management options. The overall goal was to provide practical tools that will allow rational planning and utilisation of the Aral basin's land and water resources.
A testing programme of short and long-term compression, tension and direct shear tests has been carried out on samples cut from SCL panels built up with a primary layer, sprayed waterproofing membrane and sprayed secondary layer. These tests have demonstrated the mechanical properties of the concrete-membrane-concrete interface for different surface roughness and membrane thickness. The degree of composite action available between the primary and secondary linings through the membrane interface has been validated through further laboratory tests on beam samples, the results of which have been used to calibrate a numerical model of the composite shell lining. This modelling approach has in turn been applied to typical full-scale tunnel geometry to examine the influence of the composite action between the lining layers on the behaviour of the tunnel as a whole. Parametric studies have been carried out with variation of interface parameters and secondary lining thickness, and preliminary results show it should be possible to achieve savings in overall lining thickness.The research is supported by Mott MacDonald, international consulting engineers, and by Normet (UK), construction (mining and tunnelling) products manufacturer.
Clayton, C. R. I., Fiumani, U., & Matthews, M. C. (2002). A flow slide in central Italy. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 35(1), 51-60.
Thomas, A. H., Bennett, E. C., MacDonald, M., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2002). Computer technology in tunnel design. Tunnels & Tunnelling, 34(6), 42-43.
Matthews, M. C., Clayton, C. R. I., & Rigby-Jones, J. (2000). Locating dissolution features in the chalk. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 33(2), 125-40.
Best, A. I., Priest, J. A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2010). A resonant column study of the seismic properties of methane-hydrate-bearing sand. In M. Riedel, E. C. Willoughby, & S. Chopra (Eds.), Geophysical Characterization of Gas Hydrates (pp. 337-347). (SEG Geophysical Developments Series; No. 14). Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Lindsell, P., Clayton, C. R. I., Xu, M., & Hewson, N. (2008). Substructures. In G. Parke, & N. Hewson (Eds.), The ICE Manual of Bridge Engineering: Second Edition (pp. 165-184). Thomas Telford Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1680/mobe.34525.0165
Clayton, C. R. I. (1994). Discussion on Session 1B - In-situ testing. In 10th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Florence (pp. 1252-1254). Balkema.
Matthews, M. C., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1993). Influence of intact porosity on the engineering properties of a weak rock. In A. Anagnostopoulos, F. Schlosser, N. Kalteziotis, & R. Frank (Eds.), Geotechnical Engineering of Hard Soils - Soft Rocks. International Symposium (pp. 693-702). Balkema.
Urlaub, M., Zervos, A., Talling, P. J., Masson, D. G., Clayton, C. R. I., & Laghrouche, O. (Ed.) (2011). Using finite element modelling to assess submarine slope stability. Paper presented at 19th UK National Conference of the Association for Computational Mechanics in Engineering, United Kingdom.
Bui, M. T., Clayton, C. R. I., & Priest, J. A. (2010). The universal void ratio function for small strain shear modulus. Paper presented at Fifth International Conference on Recent Advances in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics, United States.
Wojtowitz, G., Zervos, A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2009). Numerical modelling for the detection and quantification of deep-ocean methane hydrates using seismics. In M. Hamza, M. Shahien, & Y. El-Mossallamy (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 482-485). (The Academia and Practice of Geotechnical Engineering; Vol. 1B). Millpress Science Publications.
Powrie, W., Priest, J. A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2008). Recent research on railway track sub-base behaviour. 37-46. Paper presented at 1st ISSMGE International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics, United Kingdom.
Clayton, C. R. I. (2004). Designing earth retaining structures. 29-38. Proceedings of National Symposium on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (NSAGE-2004).
Theron, M., Heymann, G., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2004). The small strain stiffness of gold tailings. 575-580. Paper presented at Proceedings of the international conference on geotechnical and geophysical site characterisation (ISC-2).
Thomas, A. H., Powell, D. B., & Clayton, C. R. I. (2002). Ein Beitrag zur Simulation von Spritzbetontunnelschalen. In W. Kusterle (Ed.), Spritzbeton-Technologie 2002 : Berichtsband der 7. Internationalen Fachtagung Alpbach (pp. 113-122). University of Innsbruck.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Power, P. (2002). Managing geotechnical risk in deep water. Paper presented at Proceedings of the Conference on Offshore site investigation and geotechnics – diversity and sustainability.
Clayton, C. R. I., Matthews, M. C., & Heymann, G. (2002). The Chalk. In T. S. Tan, K. K. Phoon, D. W. Hight, & S. Leroueil (Eds.), Characterisation and Engineering Properties of Natural Soils: Proceedings of the International Workshop (pp. 1402-1434). A.A. Balkema.
Clayton, C. R. I. (2001). Modelling sprayed concrete tunnel linings. In Underground Construction 2001 (International tunnelling conference) (pp. 462-473). Brintex Ltd.
Clayton, C. R. I. (2001). Satellite remote sensing of landfills. In T. H. Christiensen, R. Cossu, & R. Stegmann (Eds.), Proceedings of 8th International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium (pp. 437-446). IWWG.
Hadjimitsis, D. G., Clayton, C. R. I., Hope, V. S., & Retalis, A. (1999). A new method of removing atmospheric effects using pseudo-invariant targets. Paper presented at 25th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Remote Sensing Society: Earth Observations - From Data to Information, United Kingdom.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1999). Assessing the stiffness of soils and weak rocks. In G. R. Wardle, G. E. Blight, & A. B. Fourie (Eds.), Geotechnics for Developing Africa. Proceedings of the Twelfth Regional Conference for Africa on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 303-314). A.A. Balkema.
Heymann, G., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1999). Block sampling of soils: Some practical consideration. In G. R. Wardle, G. E. Blight, & A. B. Fourie (Eds.), Geotechnics For Developing Africa: Proceedings Of The 12th Regional Conference For Africa On Soil Mechanics And Geotechnical Engineering, Durban, Sout (pp. 331-340.). Taylor & Francis.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Heymann, G. (1999). Stiffness from small strain triaxial and field geophysical tests. In M. Jamiolkowski, R. Lancellotta, & D. L. Presti (Eds.), Pre-Failure Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Pre-Failure Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials (pp. 62-72). A.A. Balkema.
Van der Berg, J. P., Heymann, G., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1999). The use of embedded pressure cells to monitor geotechnical structures. In G. R. Wardle, G. E. Blight, & A. B. Fourie (Eds.), Geotechnics for Developing Africa: Proceedings of the 12th Regional Conference for Africa on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Durban, South Africa, 25-27 October 1999 (pp. 421-428). Balkema.
Siddique, A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1998). Numerical prediction of tube sampling strains for realistic samplers. In H. Murakami, & J. E. Luco (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th Engineering Mechanics Conference, La Jolla, California, 17-20 May 1998 (pp. 558-561). American Society of Civil Engineers.
Formoso, M. T., Bica, A. V. D., Bressani, L. A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1995). Development of a hall effect inclinometer. Paper presented at 4th International Symposium on Field Instrumentation in Geomechanics, Italy.
Atkinson, J. H., Anagnostopoulos, A. G., Clayton, C. R. I., Bonnechere, F., & Head, K. H. (1995). Incremental loading oedometer test on water-saturated soil. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (pp. 45-62). International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.
Clayton, C. R. I., Matthews, M. C., Gunn, M. J., Foged, N., & Gordon, M. A. (1995). The re-interpretation of a surface-wave test for the Øresund crossing. In Proceedings of the Eleventh European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Fondation Emgineering , 28 May-1 June 1995 : The Interplay between Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology (pp. 141-147). Danish Geotechnical Society.
Bica, A. V. D., Bressani, L. A., Clayton, C. R. I., Soares, J. M. D., & Formoso, M. T. (1994). Algumes aplicações de sensores de efeito Hall em instumentaçãõ geotécnica. In Proceedings of the X Brazilian Congress on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (pp. 327-334). Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1994). Discussion on session 3A. In Deformation of Soils and Displacements of Structures, Volume 4: Proceedings of the Tenth European Conference on Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering, Florence, 26-30 May 1991 (pp. 1321). Taylor & Francis (CRC).
Clayton, C. R. I., Gordon, M. A., Matthews, M. C., & International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (1994). Measurements of stiffness of soils and weak rocks using small strain laboratory tests and field geophysics. In S. Shibuya, T. Mitachi, S. Miura, & D. Kōgakkai (Eds.), Pre-failure deformation of geomaterials : Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pre-Failure Deformation Characteristics of Geomaterials, Sapporo, Japan 12-14 September 1994 (pp. 229-234). Balkema.
Matthews, M. C., Clayton, C. R. I., & Russell, C. S. (1993). Assessing the mass compressibility of chalk from visual description. In J. C. Cripps, J. M. Coulthard, M. G. Culshaw, A. Forster, S. R. Hencher, & C. F. Moon (Eds.), The Engineering Geology of Weak Rock: Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society (pp. 337-346). Geological Society of London.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1993). Chairman's introduction to Session 1a. In The Engineering Geology of Weak Rock.Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the Engineering Group of the Geological Society, Leeds, September 9-13, 1990 (pp. 19-20). Balkema.
Gunn, M. J., Satkunananthan, A., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1993). Finite element modelling of installation effects. In Retaining Structures: Proceedings of the Retaining Structures Conference held at Robinson College, Cambridge, July 1992 (pp. 46-55). Thomas Telford.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Bica, A. V. D. (1993). O comportamento de cortinas em solo não-ancoradas. In Proceedings of the XXVI Jornadas Sudamericanas de Ingenieria Estructural (pp. 97-108). University of the Republic.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Serratrice, J. F. (1993). The mechanical properties and behaviour of hard soils and soft rocks. In A. Anastasopoulos, R. Frank, N. Kalteziotis, & F. Schlosser (Eds.), Geotechnical Engineering of Hard Soils - Soft Rocks (pp. 1839-1877). Taylor & Francis.
Clayton, C. R. I., Gunn, S., & Hope, V. S. (1993). The prediction of ground geometry and stiffness using seismic tomography. In G. T. Houlsby, A. N. Schofield, & P. Wroth (Eds.), Predictive soil mechanics : proceedings of the Wroth Memorial Symposium held at St. Catherine's College, Oxford, 27-29 July 1992 (pp. 173-185). Thomas Telford.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1991). Discussion on session 4B - Retaining structures. In Deformation of soils and displacements of structures. Proceedings of the tenth European conference on soil mechanics & foundation engineering, Florence, 26-30 May 1991 (pp. 1366-1368). Taylor & Francis.
Clayton, C. R. I., Edwards, A., & Webb, M. J. (1991). Displacements within the London clay during construction. In Deformation of Soils and Displacements of Structures. Proceedings of the Tenth European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Florence, May 27-30 (pp. 791-796). Taylor & Francis.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1990). The mechanical properties of the chalk. In Chalk : proceedings of the International Chalk Symposium held at Brighton Polytechnic on 4-7 September, 1989. (pp. 213-232). Thomas Telford.
Clayton, C. R. I., Simons, N. E., & Instone, S. J. (1988). Research on dynamic penetration testing of sands. Paper presented at 1st International Conference on Penetration Testing, United States.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Matthews, M. C. (1985). Discussion on 'geologic aspects of slope stability problems'. In Proceedings of the 11th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering - San Francisco, 12-16 August 1985 (pp. 2819-2820). Taylor & Francis.
Rickard, C. E., Manie, B., Price, G., Simons, N. E., Wardle, I., & Clayton, C. R. I. (1985). Interaction of a piled raft foundation at Basildon, U.K. In Proceedings of the 11th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering - San Francisco, 12-16 August 1985 (pp. 2235-2238). Taylor & Francis.
Clayton, C. R. I., Simons, N. E., Carvalho, L. J. L., & Thorne, C. (1984). Differential settlements across a heavily loaded silo foundation slab. In D. E. Beskos, T. Krauthammer, & I. Vardoulakis (Eds.), Dynamic soil-structure interaction: proceedings of the International Symposium on Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction, Minneapolis, 4-5 September 1984 (pp. 9-32). Balkema.
Clayton, C. R. I., Milititsky, J., Carvalho, L. J. L., & Thorne, C. (1984). Foundation design and construction for a large mill complex. In proceedings: First International Conference on Case Histories in Geotechnical Engineering, St Louis, Missouri, May 6-11, 1984 (pp. 157-164). Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Clayton, C. R. I., & Dikran, S. S. (1982). Pore water pressures generated during dynamic penetration testing. In F. L. Beringen, A. Verruijt, & E. H. De Leeuw (Eds.), Penetration Testing: Proceedings of the Second European Symposium on Penetration Testing, Esopt II, Amsterdam, 24-27 May 1982 (pp. 245-250). A.A. Balkema.
Clayton, C. R. I. (1977). Some properties of remoulded Chalk. Paper presented at 9th Institute Conference of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering.
