Profile

Professor David Toll, BSc PhD DIC Eur Ing MICE CEng

Chair of Engineering in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 42388

Room number: E370 (Higginson)

Biography

David Toll is a Professor in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Durham University, UK. He graduated with a BSc in Civil Engineering from Cardiff University before going on to work for Soil Mechanics Ltd and Engineering Resources Consultants (ERCON). He then joined Imperial College, London as a Research Assistant where he gained his PhD. He joined Durham University in 1988. He has been Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore and held Research Fellowships at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, University of Western Australia and Newcastle University, Australia.

David Toll's research encompasses two highly relevant areas of civil engineering: (i) the application of information technology to geotechnical engineering and (ii) the engineering behaviour of unsaturated and tropical soils. His research in information technology involves work on knowledge-based (expert) systems, databases, data exchange, data acquisition and computer control systems and computer-aided learning. The primary focus for his work on unsaturated soils is to find engineering solutions for natural hazards, particularly landslides, including the impacts of climate change.

He is chair of Joint Technical Committee 2, the international committee responsible for defining standards for geo-engineering data (a joint committee of three international learned societies: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) and International Society for Rock Mechanics). He is a member of both UK working parties addressing the issue of geo-engineering data exchange (Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists and Construction Industry Research and Information Association).

He is Research Supervisor for the European Research Training Network Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Engineering (MUSE) and a partner in the major EPSRC funded project, Biological and Engineering Impacts of Climate Change on Slopes (BIONICS). He is a core member of the Technical Committee on Unsaturated Soils of ISSMGE and has been a member of the Commission on Collapsible Soils of IAEG. He has been a member of the organising/technical committee for many international conferences on unsaturated soils: Singapore, 2000; Recife, 2002; Weimar, 2003; Trento, 2005; Nanjing, 2007; Barcelona, 2010; Pattaya, 2011; Naples 2012 and organised the First European Conference on Unsaturated Soils in Durham, 2008.

He was the founding editor for the international journal, Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, published by Springer, and remains a member of the editorial board. He is a member of the editorial board of the Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering and has served on the editorial advisory board of Geotechnique.

He is Director of Education and International Coordinator for the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences. He has been Course Director for the MSc programme in Geo-Engineering (incorporating Engineering Geology, Geo-Environmental Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering) and Secretary of the Board of Studies in Engineering. He teaches Mechanics, Geotechnical Engineering and Surveying on the undergraduate MEng course in Engineering.

Research Groups

Mechanics Research Group

Research Interests

Geotechnical engineering
Engineering geology
Artificial intelligence
Information technology

Selected Publications

Books: edited

Huat, B.B.K, Toll, D.G. & Prasad, A. (2012). Handbook of Tropical Residual Soils Engineering. CRC Press, Leiden.
Toll, D.G., Zhu, H. & Li, X. (2010). Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. 1st International Conference on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering, Shanghai. The Netherlands: IOS Press (Millpress).
Liong, S.Y., Phoon, K.K. & Toll, D.G. (2007). Climate Change: Modelling, Impacts and Adaptions. Singapore: Research Publishing Services.
Toll, D.G. & Chen, Z.Y. (2007). Rock Mechanics Data: Representation and Standardisation. Proc. Specialized Session S02 of 11th Congress of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, Lisbon.
Toll, D.G. (2006). Proc. Geo-Singapore 2006: International Conference on Geotechnical Engineering. Singapore: Ci-Premier.

Conference papers

Mendes, J, Toll, D.G. & Evans, F. (2012), A Double Cell Triaxial System for Unsaturated Soils Testing, in Mancuso, C., Jommi, C. & D'Onza F. eds, Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications 1: 2nd European Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Naples, Italy, Springer, 5-10.
Asquith, J.D., Toll, D.G. & Johnson, K.L. (2012), Design and Construction of Large Lysimeters for Monitoring Unsaturated Transport of Contaminants, in Mancuso, C., Jommi, C. & D’Onza F. eds, Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications 2: 2nd European Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Naples, Italy, Springer, 447-453.
Hossain, A.T.M.S. & Toll, D.G. (2012), Geotechnical Behaviour of Unsaturated Tropical Clay Soils of Dhaka, Bangladesh, in Mancuso, C., Jommi, C. & D’Onza F. eds, Unsaturated Soils: Research and Applications 1: 2nd European Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Naples, Italy, Springer, 309-316.
Lourenço, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D.G., Augarde, C.E. & Evans, F.D. (2011), Advances in tensiometer-based suction control systems, in Alonso, E. & Gens, A. eds, Unsaturated Soils 1: 5th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Barcelona, Spain, CRC Press/Balkema, The Netherlands, 695-700.
Javadi, A.A., Johari, A., Ahangar-Asr, A., Faramarzi, A., Toll, D.G. & Khalili, N. (2011), Prediction of the behaviour of unsaturated soils using evolutionary polynomial regression: An incremental approach, in Alonso, E. & Gens, A. eds, Unsaturated Soils 2: 5th International Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Barcelona, Spain, CRC Press/Balkema, The Netherlands, 837-842.
Javadi, A.A., Johari, A., Ahangar-Asr, A., Faramarzi, A. & Toll, D.G. (2010), A New Approach to Constitutive Modelling of Unsaturated Soils Using Evolutionary Polynomial Regression, in Buzzi, O., Fityus, S. & Sheng, D. eds, Unsaturated Soils: Theoretical and Numerical Advances in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics 2: 4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Newcastle, Australia, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 661-666.
Toll, D.G & Ali Rahman, Z. (2010), Engineering Behaviour of Unsaturated Structured Soils, in Cameron, D. & Kaggwa, W. eds, Proc. 3rd International Conference on Problematic Soils 3rd International Conference on Problematic Soils. Adelaide, Australia, CI-Premier, Singapore, 25-34.
Toll, D.G., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C.E., De Gennaro, V., Mancuso, C., Tarantino, A., Vaunat, J. & Wheeler, S.J. (2010), The MUSE Network: Research Outcomes, in Buzzi, O., Fityus, S. & Sheng, D. eds, Unsaturated Soils: Theoretical and Numerical Advances in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics 2: 4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils. Newcastle, Australia, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 935-943.
Toll, D.G. (2009), International Data Standards for Geotechnical Engineering, in Hamza, M., Shahien, M. & El-Mossallamy, Y. eds, Proc. 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Alexandria, Egypt 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Alexandria, Egypt, IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2690-2693.
Toll, D.G. (2009), Management of Geotechnical Data and Processes, in Hamza, M., Shahien, M. & El-Mossallamy, Y. eds, Proc. 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Alexandria, Egypt 17th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Alexandria, Egypt, IOS Press, Amsterdam, 3360-3365.
Javadi, A. A., Johari, A., Ahangar-Asr, A., Faramarzi, A. & Toll, D. G. (2009), Using Evolutionary Polynomial Regression in Modelling of Unsaturated Soils, Proc. 17th. Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACME-UK) 17th. Conference on Computational Mechanics (ACME-UK). Nottingham, UK, 353-356.

Journal papers: academic

Toll, D.G., Lourenço, S.D.N. & Mendes, J. (2012). Advances in suction measurements using high suction tensiometers. Engineering Geology Available online 9 May 2012.
Lourenco, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C.E., Toll, D.G., Fisher, P.C. & Congreve, A. (2012). Formation and evolution of water menisci in unsaturated granular media. Geotechnique 62 (3): 193-199.
Javadi, A.A., Ahangar-Asr, A., Johari, A., Faramarzi, A. & Toll, D. (2012). Modelling stress–strain and volume change behaviour of unsaturated soils using an evolutionary based data mining technique, an incremental approach. Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Lourenço, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D.G., Augarde, C.E. & Evans, F. (2011). A new procedure for the determination of the Soil Water Retention Curves by continuous drying using high suction tensiometers. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 48(2): 327-335.
Tarantino, A., Gallipoli, D., Augarde, C.E., De Gennaro, V., Gomez, R., Laloui, L., Mancuso, C., McCloskey, G., Munoz, J., Pereira, J-M., Peron, H., Pisoni, G., Romero, E., Raveendiraraj, A., Rojas, J.C., Toll, D.G., Tombolato, S. & Wheeler, S. (2011). Benchmark of experimental techniques for measuring and controlling suction. Géotechnique 61(4): 303–312.
Toll, D.G., Lourenço, S.D.N. Mendes, J. Gallipoli, D. Evans, F.D., Augarde, C.E. , Cui, Y.J. Tang, A.M. Rojas Vidovic, J.C. Pagano, L. Mancuso, C. Zingariello, C. & Tarantino, A. (2011). Soil suction monitoring for landslides and slopes. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 44: 23-33.
Lourenço, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D.G., Evans, F.D., Leong, E.C., Rahardjo, H. & He, L. (2010). Calibration of high suction tensiometers - Discussion. Geotechnique 60(3): 233-234.
Ali Rahman, Z., Toll, D.G., Gallipoli, D. & Taha, M.R. (2010). Micro-structure and Engineering Behaviour of Weakly Bonded Soil. Sains Malaysiana 36(6): 989–997.
Hughes, P.N., Glendinning, S., Mendes, J., Parkin, G., Toll, D.G., Gallipoli, D. & Miller, P. (2009). Full-scale testing to assess climate effects on embankments. Engineering Sustainability: Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers 162(2): 67-79.
Lourenço, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D.G. & Evans, F.D. (2009). On the Measurement of Water Pressure in Soils with High Suction Tensiometers. Geotechnical Testing Journal 32(6): 565-57.
Jaquin, P.A., Augarde, C.E., Gallipoli, D. & Toll, D.G. (2009). The Strength of Unstabilised Rammed Earth Materials. Géotechnique 59(5): 487-490.
Lourenço, S.D.N., Gallipoli, D., Toll, D.G., Augarde, C., Evans, F. & Medero, G. (2008). Calibrations of a high-suction tensiometer. Géotechnique 58(8): 659-668.
Fyson, M. & Toll, D.G. (2008). Case-Based System for Slope Design. Computers and Geotechnics 35(3): 468-478.
Tarantino, A., Ridley, A.M. & Toll, D.G. (2008). Field measurement of suction, water content, and water permeability. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 26(6): 751-782.

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Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

Geological hazards: Landslides, particularly rainfall-induced landslides in tropical areas
Computers: International Data Exchange (XML)
Asia (excluding Middle East): Tropical Soil Engineering with experience in Singapore, Malaysia, China
Mechanics: Geotechnical engineering i.e. the engineering properties of the ground with relevance to roads, landslides, foundations