News & Activities
Welcome to our Geotechnics research group's news & activities page.
Here, we share updates, news, and insights into our ongoing projects and activities.
Hosts Lecture on Economic Foundation Design
14 May 2024Our group coordinated a lecture by the Yorkshire Geotechnical Group on 14th May 2024, at the University of Sheffield. The event featured Tony O’Brien and Alan Willoner from Mott MacDonald discussing updates from the ICE Manual of Geotechnical Engineering on the economic design of foundations. Topics included shallow foundations and pile rock sockets, attracting substantial interest from the geotechnical engineering community. For more details, visit ICE.
Participation to EGU 2024
15 April 2024We participated in this year's EGU 2024 conference. Andrea Pasqua presented a talk titled "The Impact of Debris Flow on Mitigation Structures: A Novel Depth-Averaged and Three-Dimensional Coupled Model for the Flow Dynamic Simulation," focusing on our latest research in debris flow dynamics and mitigation strategies. Additionally, we showcased a poster on "Kinematics and Scaling of Granular Flows within a Centrifugal Acceleration Field," detailing our work on granular flow behaviour in the geotechnical centrifuge.
New project: Hole Erosion Test design & construction
1 April 2024The ICE Research and Development Enabling Fund have funded the design and construction of a Hole Erosion Test (HET) for UK conditions at the University of Sheffield. The HET is designed to help assess the risk of seepage induced failure of dams and levees. It is expected to have the apparatus tested and validated for use by industry and for research by March 2025.
Visit of Prof. Kerry Rowe
21-22 March 2024It was a pleasure to have Prof. Kerry Rowe, from Queen's University, Canada, visiting the group as a guest of Dr. Bowman. This visit aimed at strengthening our ties with the global research community working on dams and embankments. Prof. Rowe gave a departmental seminar: "Some challenges with old and new dams" that examined climate change threats to legacy dams, and to the design of new infrastructure in Canada and elsewhere.
YGG Early Career Presentation competition winner
12 March 2024Former PhD student, Rowena Stevenson (recently "Dr"), won first prize at the 2024 Yorkshire Geotechnical Group (YGG) early career presentation and poster competition for her presentation on "Investigating the influence of seepage path length and effective stress on internal erosion using a geotechnical centrifuge. The event was hosted in the Diamond at the University of Sheffield on 12th March. Congratulations Rowena!
Kick-start of EPSRC-funded project on offshore geohazards
4-7 March 2024The EPSRC-funded project "Submarine mass movements and their interaction with critical offshore infrastructure" has been kick-started by a visit by Dr Cabrera, during which he shared his expertise and exchanged ideas with the local team. This cements the partnership between The University of Sheffield and TU Delft in the Netherlands in understanding offshore geohazards. Dr Cabrera delivered a departmental seminar titled "Grains at Play: Does the grain size distribution matter in soil resistance?".
Visit of Dr Darren Russell
15 February 2024Dr Darren Russell, AI Development Director at Mott MacDonald and alumnus of the Department visited the group, guest of Prof. Smith. Darren provided a valuable insight into the latest use of AI in industry, informing ongoing AI developments in our teaching and research. He also gave a departmental seminar on "Reshaping the Infrastructure Sector with Digital and AI: Opportunities and Implications".
Hosting of GM3 Workshop 2023
19 December 2023The Geotechnics group, with the coordination of Lis Bowman, hosted the 2023 "Geomechanics from Micro to Macro" traveling workshop. The event featured talks from British and international experts, covering the fascinating journey across scales in granular media.
Dr John Cripps gives 2023 Glossop Medal Lecture
23 November 2023Dr John Cripps, Emeritus Senior Lecturer in Engineering Geology, delivered this year's Geological Society Glossop Medal Lecture: "Mud to Rock and Back" at the Royal Institution, London.
The geo group very much enjoyed the visit to London to see John being awarded this prestigious honour!
Unlocking the potential of biopolymer soil stabilisation
1 April 2023This EPSRC-funded project , under the New Horizons call, aims to evaluate novel approaches to enhancing the water and biodegradation resistance of biopolymer stabilised soils, thus extending the potential scope of application of this promising low-carbon technique that can replace the use of conventional materials such as cement and lime .
New insights into plasticity theory
1 June 2022Dr Colin Smith's recent paper "The stress function basis of the upper bound theorem of plasticity" published in the International Journal of Solids and Structures, addresses a number of long standing issues in plasticity analysis that have been unresolved for over 50 years. It provides a new perspective on the upper bound theorem of plasticity describing an interpretation via stress functions and an alternative derivation of the theorem. 