Deadline: Applications will be accepted at any time until the position is filled.

Electrification of a substantial part of the UK’s railway network over the next 5-10 years will require the construction of tens of thousands of posts and gantries to support power cables and associated overhead line equipment (OLE). In addition to vertical loads, these structures must resist lateral loads and moments due to wind etc. The foundations of the support structures have traditionally been designed on the basis of empirical formulae based on field tests carried out in the 1950s under the auspices of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The application of the more analytical approach adopted in modern design codes (principally Eurocode 7; BSI, 2004) has led to apparently much more conservative designs. A particular issue is the allowable deformation of the structure, given that its dynamic behaviour must be matched to some extent to that of the ground, train and track. In addition to the hugely increased cost of construction, the larger and deeper foundations may be too stiff in terms of their dynamic response to train passage.

The aim of the project, which will be sponsored by Network Rail, is to explore the real behaviour of OLE foundations by means of full-scale measurements in the field and advanced dynamic analyses of the soil-structure interaction response; and to incorporate this into improved methods and appropriate assumptions for their effective and efficient design.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact William Powrie, Infrastructure research group, Email: W.Powrie<στο>soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 593214.

This integrated PhD project will be funded through the Center for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems http://cdt-sis.soton.ac.uk. The studentship comprises support from both EPSRChttp://www.epsrc.ac.uk and an industrial sponsor.