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. He is known for his textbook Soil mechanics concept and applications, and for his foundational research in environmental and transportation geotechnics.
He has delivered key international honour lectures including the 3rd and 4th BGA Géotechnique lectures (1996 and 1999), the ICE James Forrest Lecture (2013), the Zeng Gui-Xi Lecture 2016), the ICE Unwin Lecture (2018), the 3rd ISSMGE Ralph Roscoe Proctor lecture (2021), and the 64th BGA Rankine Lecture (2026).
He was elected Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering in 2009, and made 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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