EngD student awarded two prizes
EngD student Jonathan Dewsbury has recently been awarded a bronze medal at SET for Britain and the 2012 Cooling Prize.
At the beginning of the month Jonathan attended the 2012 SET for Britain event, presenting his poster: ‘Improving Urban Regeneration' for which was awarded the bronze medal for engineering winning £1000 and a certificate.
SET for BRITAIN is an annual, national competition which seeks out the country's top early stage scientists, engineers and technologists and gives them the opportunity to present their research to members of parliament.
Jonathan comments: "The SET for Britain Competition is a great platform for getting your work in front of key decision makers. So I was just happy to get to the final at the House of Commons, and have the opportunity to pitch my research to those involved in Parliament. To win an award was brilliant, the academic community is fully aware of the role of innovative research driving the economy, it is reassuring when those outside the academic environment also recognise it."
When redeveloping city centre sites, designers have to consider the presence of old foundations from previous buildings. It is more sustainable to try and reuse some of the old foundations.
Jonathan's research developed a numerical meshing tool that has allowed the effects of pre-existing foundations or reusing them to be quantified. The tool has also been developed in a way that allows practising engineers to easily assess the effects of pre-existing foundations on building performance during design.
This tool presents a major contribution to sustainable construction as it allows practising engineers to determine viable foundation solutions for cluttered city sites. If the proposed foundation solution reuses pre-existing foundations it will reduce CO 2 emissions as less material is required, lower construction cost, and decrease programme time for urban regeneration projects.
Jonathan has also been announced as the winner of the 2012 Cooling Prize this month.
The Cooling Prize is held in honour of Dr Leonard Cooling, one of the founders of British Geotechics/Soil Mechanics, and is aimed at those in the Geotechnical/Ground engineering industry under the age of 30. This is the third Cooling prize that has been awarded to a University of Southampton student. The prize includes £200, two books, a cut glass decanter, and sponsorship to the European Young Geotechnical Conference later this year.
Jonathan entered a paper which reviewed the ground stiffness parameters used for the foundation design of a 330m tall tower (72 storeys) in the Middle East. The tower was designed by Buro Happold Ltd Jonathan's EngD sponsors.
The review was conducted using state of the art ‘three dimensional soil-pile-structure finite element analysis' that was developed as part of his thesis. This work will help designers to make more informed decisions about ground stiffness parameters when designing foundations in similar geology in the future. Ultimately, this will lead to more efficient design.
"I was particularly pleased with winning the Cooling prize, as I think the work demonstrates the key benefits of an Engineering Doctorate to both the University and the industrial sponsor." Comments Jonathan; " The innovative research was a result of using a numerical tool developed at the University on a building being designed, built and monitored by Buro Happold."
