Geotechnical Observations
We specialise in geotechnical monitoring.
- Date
- 21 April 2026
- Time
This event has now ended
Overview
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Join us to explore recent design and testing studies on laterally loaded railway overhead line equipment mast foundations, as William Powrie and David Richards from the University of Southampton share insights from their award‑winning work presented for the 2025 British Geotechnical Association Case Histories Award.
One of the reasons for the escalation in railway electrification costs that occurred around 2010 was the specification of pile foundations that were longer than had previously been used in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
The talk will explore the reasons for this, with reference to limit equilibrium, empirical and elastic soil-structure interaction calculations and design philosophy with regard to ultimate and serviceability limit states.
Results of careful field tests carried out to determine appropriate mechanisms of pile behaviour to inform the basis of analysis and design philosophy will be presented, and some conclusions drawn for future railway electrification schemes.
Sponsored by:
Organised by
British Geotechnical Association
The BGA is the UK's main association for geotechnical engineers, organising key events annually.
Speakers
Professor William Powrie CBE
University of Southampton
professor of geotechnical engineering
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Professor William Powrie CBE
William Powrie is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Southampton and geotechnical consultant to international groundwater specialists WJ.
At Southampton, he has served variously as head of department, head of school and executive dean of the faculty of engineering and the environment. He is known for his contributions in transportation and environmental geotechnics, for which he was elected a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering in 2009.
He delivered the 3rd ISSMGE Ralph Roscoe Proctor Honor Lecture in 2021 and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to engineering in 2025.
Prof David Richards
University of Southampton
professor of ground engineering
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Prof David Richards
Serving as head of the University of Southampton’s School of Engineering in 2018-23, Professor David Richards has technical interests including the geotechnical aspects of ageing infrastructure, the engineering behaviour of landfill waste and the mechanical characterisation of chalk.
He has conducted detailed studies into the rate loading effects of electricity transmission tower footing systems. More recently, he has addressed the costly foundation design problems affecting the delivery of overhead lines on Network Rail’s Great Western electrification project.
Richards was principal investigator for the government-backed £26m National Infrastructure Laboratory for the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities. He worked on a networked suite of national test facilities studying infrastructure performance, resilience and renewal.
He is a co-recipient of the ICE’s Telford Premium, Bill Curtin Medal and Geotechnical Research Medal.
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