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Southampton University National Infrastructure Laboratory

Southampton University
Written by Roma Publications

Southampton University National Infrastructure Laboratory

The University of Southampton is now playing a role in helping to define the future of the UK’s transport infrastructure following the construction and build of a new National Infrastructure Laboratory.

Located at Boldrewood Innovation Campus, the Laboratory is situated adjacent to Lloyd’s Register’s Global Technology Centre and other cutting-edge resources. The Laboratory houses double and single-height facilities for testing large-scale structures, components and materials at a range of scales and under a range of environmental conditions and temperatures, with a major focus on transport infrastructure, particularly rail.

Southampton is part of the UK Collaboratorium for Research Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC), involving 14 universities carrying out world-leading research through a network of experimental facilities and urban laboratories. The National Infrastructure Laboratory in Southampton represents an investment of £47 million including funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) and project partners.

David Richards, Professor in Ground Engineering and Associate Dean (Infrastructure) in Engineering and the Environment previously said: “The new national laboratory in Southampton will be tasked with finding ways of improving the efficiency of maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure.

“We’ll also be developing more cost-effective ways of designing and constructing new infrastructure including the use of lightweight materials to meet the challenges of rail transport, for example to improve network resilience to the effects of climate change and increasing demands.

“Inadequacies in current UK infrastructure cost the UK an estimated £2 million a day. UKCRIC will allow academia, industry, government and end users to collaborate to upgrade infrastructure and reduce its cost to the nation. UKCRIC will lead to the development of new materials, techniques and novel technologies, as well as research into issues such as investment in rail systems and flood and waste management.”

The laboratory also includes a 6m diameter geotechnical centrifuge and associated sample and model preparation facilities, which will be used to undertake scaled physical model tests allowing ‘whole life’ long-term behaviour of infrastructure to be simulated and observed. Geotechnical centrifuges allow failure mechanisms and soil-structure interactions to be studied using real soil samples.

This important investment has also extended the University’s research capabilities into offshore engineering infrastructure resilience, where challenges such as pipeline cable stability in the North Sea, cost-effective renewable energy infrastructure, the exploitation of the UK’s remaining oil and gas reserves and the affordable decommissioning of redundant oil and gas infrastructure are major issues. To support the development of this important research theme, Professors Dave White and Susan Gourvenec, from the University of Western Australia, were appointed.

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