Department of Engineering / News / Professor Robert Mair will give the 2006 Rankine Lecture

Department of Engineering

Professor Robert Mair will give the 2006 Rankine Lecture

Professor Robert Mair will give the 2006 Rankine Lecture

8m diameter tunnelling machine

This year's Rankine Lecture entitled 'Tunnelling and Geotechnics - New Horizons', will be given by Professor Robert Mair.

Professor Robert Mair

Significant advances in the techniques of bored tunnel construction in soft ground have led to an increasing number of tunnelling projects worldwide, often in urban areas. This lecture highlights the important relationship between tunnelling and geotechnics, and describes recent advances in research and practice, drawing on model studies, theoretical developments and case histories from around the world.

The lecture will discuss simplified models that can be used by designers to assess ground movements and tunnel lining loads in complex ground conditions, together with the important role of pilot tunnels and in-situ measurements to validate such models. Technical advances in tunnel construction processes will be considered, and factors influencing their control to ensure small volume losses will be described. Time-dependent ground movements and tunnel lining behaviour will also be discussed. The effects of tunnelling-induced settlements on buried structures such as piles, pipes and other tunnels will be considered, with examples drawn from centrifuge model studies and field measurements. The lecture will discuss compensation grouting as a technique for mitigating the effects of potential settlement, illustrated by recent case histories. Finally, the lecture will present innovative applications of fibre optic technology to field monitoring.

The lecture is named in honour of the distinguished engineer and academic, Professor William John Maquorn Rankine (1820-1872), who held the Chair of Civil Engineering and Mechanics at Glasgow University. A Scotsman, he is considered the first British engineer to make a major contribution to the field of soil mechanics in his 1857 Paper to the Royal Society, On the Stability of Loose Earth.

The lecture is a free event open to all on 22nd March 2006
Time: 17:30 To 19:15
Registration Time: 17:00
Venue: Main Lecture Theatre, Sherfield Building, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ
For a map of Imperial College South Kensington campus and Sherfield Building see the website www.ic.ac.uk.

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