Department of
Civil Engineering
 

Image of Glenn McDowell

Glenn McDowell

Head of Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

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Biography

Professor Glenn McDowell is a member of the Nottingham Centre for Geomechanics research group.

Expertise Summary

Prof McDowell's research is in fundamental soil mechanics, focusing on micro mechanics and constitutive modelling, and he has 84 papers published or in press in international refereed academic journals. He is currently applying his knowledge of crushable soils to the problem of railway ballast degradation. He is also using discrete element modelling to further the understanding of micro mechanics of behaviour of granular materials, and of asphalt. He graduated from Churchill College, University of Cambridge in 1993 with a first class honours degree in Engineering, and stayed at Churchill College Cambridge to undertake a PhD in Clastic Soil Mechanics under the supervision of Prof Malcolm Bolton, and graduated in May 1997. He was awarded the University of Cambridge John Winbolt Prize in 1996 for his paper "The Fractal Crushing of Granular Materials". He became a Fellow of Churchill College in September 1996, having been a awarded the prestigious Goldsmith's Research Fellowship in materials. He was appointed as a Lecturer at Nottingham in May 1998, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003, Reader in Geomechanics in 2005 and Professor of Geomechanics from 1 January 2007. He was awarded the Silver Medal Awarded for 2005 by The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining: "a premier award awarded annually to a Younger Member in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the broad field of materials science, engineering and technology, including promotion of their subject on a national or international basis".

Research Summary

My research interests lie in the micro mechanics of soil behaviour. My aim is to understand the micro mechanical origins of soil parameters in order to produce new constitutive models for soil… read more

Recent Publications

Current Research

My research interests lie in the micro mechanics of soil behaviour. My aim is to understand the micro mechanical origins of soil parameters in order to produce new constitutive models for soil behaviour to aid geotechnical design.

Past Research

Micro mechanics, constitutive modelling, discrete element modelling

Future Research

Discrete element modelling, ballast mechanics, high pressure triaxial testing, centrifuge modelling, constitutive modelling

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates from Home, EU and international countries who are interested in the following research areas: Micromechanics of soil behaviour.

Department of Civil Engineering

The University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD


telephone: +44 (0) 115 95 14081