14th Géotechnique Lecture

Thursday 21st November 2019 at 18:30

Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AA

Designing infrastructure for an evolving seabed

Prof David White
University of Southampton
Synopsis

Offshore infrastructure is an essential element of our

energy system and our communication networks. This
infrastructure rests on a seabed that evolves with time –
due to environmental processes, and due to the action of
the infrastructure itself. The design of cables, pipelines,
foundations and anchoring systems is made complex by
the evolution in soil properties caused by the whole-life
loading history – from installation, through in-service loads,
to the end-of-life solution. In addition, ocean-seabed-
infrastructure interaction can cause sediment transport and
scour, altering the seabed geometry and causing changes
in embedment and support.
This Geotechnique lecture tackles the geotechnical challenge of designing infrastructure for an evolving
seabed, examining ‘whole-life’ changes in seabed strength and geometry.
Meanwhile, in both coarse-grained and fine-grained soils, excitation from the ocean or the infrastructure
can lead to sediment transport, scour and subsidence. These effects are often, but not always,
detrimental to design. Examples of this fluid-structure-seabed interaction are described, from the
laboratory and the field.
The lecture will close by showing how these whole-life effects can be harnessed through innovative
technologies, such as
- New types of robotic penetrometer test that simulate whole life effects
- Foundations that deliberately slide across the seafloor
- Anchoring systems that rely on whole-life changes in strength
Modern numerical techniques, such as finite element limit analysis, now provide definitive solutions for
the stability and bearing capacity of structures, if the geometry and strength of the surrounding soil are
known. The examples in this lecture highlight the remaining uncertainties for offshore infrastructure, which
are the changing soil properties and geometry.

Please join us afterwards in the ICE Café Bar for drinks

PTO for Prof White’s biography

Lecture details: https://www.ice.org.uk/events/designing-infrastructure-

evolving-seabed-london
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 Biography – Professor David White

David White is Professor of Infrastructure Geotechnics at the University

of Southampton, based at the UKCRIC National Infrastructure
Laboratory. He completed MEng and PhD degrees at the University of
Cambridge then remained in Cambridge as a Research Fellow and then
University Lecturer. In 2007 he was appointed Professor at the
University of Western Australia in Perth, holding an ARC Future
Fellowship (2009-2012) and then the Shell Chair of Offshore
Engineering (2013-2017).

His research is primarily concerned with offshore energy facilities,

ranging across cable, pipeline, foundation and anchoring systems as well as soil characterisation. He
collaborates across disciplines with experts in fluid mechanics, sediment transport and fixed and floating
structures, exploring the challenges of coupled problems. The real work has been done by a cohort of 25
PhD students that he has supervised, and many talented post-doctoral researchers. He has been an
investigator in research projects supported by the EPSRC, ARC and the EU, with parallel support
provided by industry operators, contractors and consultants.

During his PhD he co-developed an image analysis system for deformation measurement in geotechnical
testing. The latest freeware incarnation of this technology – GeoPIV-RG – continues to grow in popularity
for applications across civil engineering.

He was the Founding Director of the ARC Research Hub for Offshore Floating Facilities
(offshorehub.edu.au) and is now a Co-Director of the EPSRC Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy Hub
(supergen-ore.net). He is active in engineering practice, consulting for the offshore industry to support the
transfer of research into practice, and he has been elected a Fellow of the ICE, the Royal Academy of
Engineering and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

His research has led to >300 publications, which have received 9 best paper awards, including the BGA
Award three times. He has authored 45 contributions to Geotechnique over the past 17 years, with the
most recent publications forming the basis of the 2019 Geotechnique Lecture.

Please join us in the ICE Café Bar for drinks

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed on any matters by the presenters or participants during or in connection with any presentation are solely the views of the authors
of the respective comments and/or opinions and must not be taken to be the views of ICE or the British Geotechnical Association or any other organisation. ICE and the BGA
make no representations, warranties or assurances concerning any information provided in these presentations and accept no responsibility for the content and/or accuracy

Lecture details: https://www.ice.org.uk/events/designing-infrastructure-

evolving-seabed-london
Not a BGA member? Join today at http://www.britishgeotech.org.uk
The BGA is a
member of the In case of any query please contact BGA Co-ordinator
Ground Forum 020 7665 2007 or email: bga@britishgeotech.org.uk
Follow us @BritishGeotech or join us on LinkedIn :
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5061912