This research includes environmental geomechanics, foundation and offshore engineering, in situ properties of soil and mining mechanics.

Geohazards: Submarine slide – pipeline interaction 

To recover oil and gas from deepwater fields it is often necessary to route pipelines up steep slopes, where submarine slides present a major geohazard.

The Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems has a project underway to establish new techniques for quantifying the hazard that submarine slides present to offshore pipelines and other seabed infrastructure.

The project involves:

• Centrifuge modelling - Simulation of submarine slides, and the interaction of slides with pipelines.
• Numerical modelling - Development of new modelling techniques for simulating the large-deformation process associated with slide run-out.

Other projects

• The effect of anchor piles on test pile response 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane 
  Funded by Arup
• Liquefaction assessment of Perth sands 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane 
  Funded by Golder Associates
• Scale effects for interface friction in piles 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Res/Assoc/Prof Christophe Gaudin 
  Funded by ARC
• Development of a revised Schmertmann method for shallow foundations on sand 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Conleth O'Loughlin 
  Funded by ARC
• Rate effects for piezocone testing in silt 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Fernando Schnaid 
  Funded by ARC
• Transmission tower foundations 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Res/Assoc/Prof Christophe Gaudin 
  Funded by the University of Southampton
• Modelling pipe pile in clay 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Xiangtao Xu 
  Funded by HoHai University, China
• 1-D and shear induced creep in soft soils 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Conleth O'Loughlin 
  Funded by ARC
• Sand stiffness for foundation design using vs and DMT data 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Prof Martin Fahey 
  Funded by ARC
• Cyclic behaviour of pile groups in sand 
  A/Prof Barry Lehane and Res/Assoc/Prof Christophe Gaudin 
  Funded by Arup