Winner announced of 2017 BGA MSc/MEng Prize

The British Geotechnical Society (BGA) is pleased to announce that Jack Templeman of the University of Oxford is the winner of the 2017 MSc/MEng prize for his Masters’ thesis on ‘Numerical modelling of lateral buckling of subsea pipelines’.

The MSc/MEng Prize is awarded annually by the BGA for the best Masters’ degree dissertation on a geotechnical topic. Four Masters’ degree dissertations on a geotechnical topic were submitted to the BGA for consideration for the 2017 MSc/MEng prize.

The submitted dissertations were:

• ‘Ground movement due to shaft construction’ by Joe Newhouse (Imperial College London, now with Mott MacDonald).
• ‘Ground model development for the A35 between Charmouth and Morecombelake, interpreting geological, morphometric and geotechnical alongside slope stability to help mitigate against mass movements’ by Jane Kelsey of the University of Portsmouth.
• ‘Environmental Site Assessment of Farlington Marshes & Baker's Island: The Legacy of Defence Activities & Consequences for Coastal Management’ by Sean Feist of the University of Portsmouth.
• ‘Numerical modelling of lateral buckling of subsea pipelines’ by Jack Templeman of the University of Oxford.

Joe Newhouse’s MSc dissertation describes the method of predicting ground movements induced by the construction of circular shafts, which can result in unacceptable damage to surrounding structures and utilities. Overestimation of movement can lead to the implementation of unnecessary and costly mitigation measures. The dissertation summarizes existing empirical derived ground movement prediction methods. Joe won the BGA’s 2017 Cooling Prize for a presentation based on his Masters studies.

Jane Kelsey’s MSc dissertation describes the development of a ground model for the A35 between Charmouth and Morecombelake which is constructed across a suite of relict and active landslides. Geomorphological mapping, LiDAR data, followed by fieldwork, were used to develop the ground model. The model included a 3D conceptual ground model to describe the complex periglacial influenced setting.

Sean Feist’s MSc dissertation addresses a geoenvironmental problem considering the geological model, site history and contaminant legacy in the environmentally sensitive area of Langstone Harbour in Portsmouth. Sediment sampling, geochemical analysis integrated with a desk study was used to develop a conceptual ground model with a site contamination project to assess potential or harm to potential receptors.

Jack Templeman’s MEng dissertation builds upon previous PhD work at Oxford to present sophisticated 3D pipeline buckling analyses by extending this work to model two of the methods commonly used to initiate/control thermal buckling of subsea pipelines, namely sleeper and buoyancy modules and to consider the effect of pipe self-weight. His interpretation of the results provide novel insights into a complex soil-structure interaction problem that is of great interest in offshore engineering.

The judges agreed that all four Master’s degree dissertations were of a very high standard. However, they were unanimous in selecting Jack Templeman’s dissertation as the winner of the 2017 MSc/MEng prize, with Joe Newhouse’s dissertation being highly commended.