Geotechnical Engineering Group | Engineering Science Department | University of Oxford

The geotechnical engineering group works on a wide variety of onshore and offshore problems in Geomechanics. There is a particularly strong emphasis on applications to the offshore renewables industry (mainly offshore wind), and we also study problems in the wider offshore industry (e.g. pipelines, jack-ups, caisson foundations). Onshore applications include large-diameter open caissons, pipejacking and tunnelling, interactions between underground construction and adjacent structures, and geotechnical earthquake engineering (liquefaction and seismic soil-structure interaction). We are always open to the study of new industry-led applications.

The group employs a wide range of techniques including theoretical developments (constitutive modelling and numerical methods), numerical analysis, laboratory element testing, laboratory model testing (in which we are particularly strong), and field testing and monitoring, including the development of new equipment and analysis techniques.

The research group is based in the Department of Engineering Science, and collaborates widely with other research groups across Oxford, the United Kingdom and internationally. We work with a number of industrial partners, and have for instance particularly strong links with Ørsted (offshore wind) and Ward and Burke (onshore construction). We are part of the UK Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub, the Renewable Energy Marine Structures (REMS) and the Wind and Marine Energy Systems and Structures (WAMESS) Centres for Doctoral Training run jointly with the Universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde.