News

Durham University Geo-Engineers lead international MUSE project

(12 May 2005)

Durham University Geo-Engineers have been awarded €1,250,000 by the EU to lead an international research project over the next four years. The project is named MUSE (Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils for Engineering) and it aims to provide research training for European civil engineers in the area of unsaturated soil mechanics.

Dr. Domenico Gallipoli, Dr. David Toll and Dr. Charles Augarde at the School of Engineering are leading the MUSE “Marie Curie” research training network linking the leading European institutions that study unsaturated soils.

The Durham trio will work together with academic colleagues from several universities on the continent and the United Kingdom: the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in France, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Spain, the Universities of Trento and Naples “Federico II” in Italy and the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom. These academics will work in association with 5 companies from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Switzerland.

The MUSE Network will address key environmental engineering issues of importance for governments around the world, including pollution in the ground, management of landfill waste, underground disposal of nuclear waste, prediction of landslides induced by heavy rainfall and monitoring of flood defence embankments.

All these issues are closely related to the hydro-mechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils (soils whose pores are partly filled by water and partly filled by air). Understanding the engineering principles at the heart of these matters will help to improve the environment and living conditions for millions of people around the world and even contribute towards saving lives.

The MUSE Network will also organise annual schools specifically targeted to young researchers in civil engineering. These schools will offer lectures from academic and industrial experts on specific geotechnical themes as well as training sessions on complementary research skills.

Dr Domenico Gallipoli, the MUSE Network Coordinator, said: “The University of Durham is proud to be leading this initiative. This is an ambitious project requiring contributions of different types of expertise from different institutions across Europe. It is multidisciplinary research involving laboratory and in-situ testing of soils, development and validation of computer models for soil behaviour and applying the knowledge gained to a range of practical problems. The project also promotes international transfer of knowledge by fostering trans-national mobility of researchers, which is the key for the establishment of a true European Research Area”

Dr David Toll, the MUSE Network Research Supervisor, added: “The research and training of the MUSE network demonstrates real international collaboration. The individual institutions in the Network are already recognised as world leaders and by working together we can create a step change in our understanding of these important areas of engineering that have major impacts on society. Our role is to train the European engineers of the future so they can go on to improve the quality of life for ordinary people all around the world. This is an exciting time for geo-engineering at Durham.”

ends

Further details of the MUSE activities can be found at the MUSE website http://muse.dur.ac.uk/).

For more information contact: Joy Davis, Public Relations Office, Durham University, Tel 0191 334 6803 e-mail: joy.davis@durham.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

1. In addition to the MUSE Network, the Geo-Engineering group at Durham University is currently a partner in the BIONICS project investigating the effect of climate change on the road/rail/waterway infrastructure. This is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) with a budget of £900,000 and forms part of the Building Knowledge for Climate Change programme.

The project is undertaken by a national consortium of 6 leading research universities in the UK and 12 companies, including Highways Agency, Network Rail, and British Waterways as well as civil engineering companies Skanska Construction and Mott Macdonald. Coordinated through the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, BIONICS will build a full-scale embankment (90m long by 6m high) in the North East.

This unique research facility will inform civil engineering construction and place the North East at the focus of world attention on civil engineering. Further details of the BIONICS project can be found at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/bionics

2. The Geo-Engineering Group at Durham University is led by Dr David Toll and it has a longstanding tradition of working with industrial partners on key developments in civil engineering. An example is the recent collaboration with Wykeham Farrance Ltd, an international supplier of soil testing equipment. This partnership is developing innovative equipment for the measurement of soil suction. Measurement of soil suction is vital in all civil engineering applications where assessment of soil strength is required.

A prototype suction probe has been developed and early tests in the Geo-Engineering laboratory at Durham have shown it to be successful. It is hoped that the new equipment will be available for commercial purposes in the near future.