50g-Tonne 4m Diameter Civil Engineering Centrifuge: Centre for Energy & Infrastructure Ground Research

Ground Engineering is of critical importance to society through the provision of infrastructure and underpins key challenges relating to energy provision, dealing with the impact of climate change on our infrastructure and manufacturing the future through the use of novel material in construction.

The extent of Civil Engineering infrastructure and variable ground conditions frequently preclude full-scale field trials placing high value infrastructure assets at risk due to uncertainty in performance. The stress dependent strength and stiffness behaviour of soil prevent small bench scale model tests to effectively capture full-scale behaviour unless stress levels are artificially enhanced. Gravitational acceleration produced by an engineering centrifuge enhances stresses and therefore enables observations of small scale models tested at elevated gravity to represent full-scale conditions. Distinct advantages of this method are that it (i) offers a more cost effective approach compared to full scale testing for validating behaviour, (ii) enables new designs to be safely evaluated, (iii) enables us to learn from previous failures to provide improved engineering design, and (iv) offers the ability to predict future performance of our infrastructure to extreme climate change events, thus enabling prevention strategies to be adopted.

The University of Sheffield, Department of Civil and Structural Engineering will establish a flagship research centre, 'The Centre for Energy and Infrastructure Research' targeted specifically at developing connectivity between Ground Engineering and key areas of strategic national importance in Energy, Living with Environmental Change and Manufacturing the Future, to deliver modern infrastructure and inform management strategies for existing assets to prolong their life cycle. Central to this facility will be a 50g-tonne 4m diameter beam centrifuge, capable of rotating a mass of 500kg at 150g, equipped with the latest technological advancements, instrumentation and robotic actuator control, to unlock vital scientific knowledge that will enable enhanced understanding of complex construction problems.

The centre will be embedded at the heart of one of the UK's premier engineering faculties and will capitalise on a portfolio of multi-disciplinary research to explore new innovative scientific discovery. We will work with academics in other institutions by operating the centrifuge as a shared resource which will establish a hub of expertise to deliver interdisciplinary research providing fundamental understanding and applied guidance to government and industry stakeholders to optimise investment in infrastructure management and development.

Operating as a shared resource for academic researchers at 11 partnering institutions: Belfast, Bolton, Bradford, Dublin (UCD), Durham, Galway, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle Salford and Sheffield; the centrifuge will have an immeasurable impact on academia. Our proposal clearly outlines the unique state-of-the-art scientific capabilities the centrifuge will provide; and the impact these will have in allowing the academic community to unlock new scientific understanding. This proposal will unite academic experience, foster new relations and trigger innovative cross-institution multi-disciplinary research over many decades.Training of high quality early career researcher will be an important output of our programme to develop the next generation of future research leaders.

There will be an immediate benefit to challenges areas of national importance (Energy, Living with Environmental Change and Manufacturing the Future) and thematic research subjects identified to be of 'Maintain' or 'Grow' status. Technology translation to cognate engineering disciplines (Materials, Mechanical & Aerospace Eng.) provides an interesting juxtaposition for wider academic impact beyond the traditional field of ground engineering. This application will deliver impact regionally by mitigating inadequate provision of similar facilities in the North of England; nationally through the integration of partners beyond the geographical region and our ambition to enable national access via entry to EPSRC's facility database; and translated internationally via high quality publications which will demonstrate the investment and strength of UK research on the world stage, thus supporting economic recovery and stimulating growth.

Industry (consultants and contractors) will benefit as centrifuge modelling has played a pivotal role in developing understanding of complex geotechnical problems. Notable contributions include: foundation design, retaining structures and offshore geomechnics. The unrivalled capability of recreating full scale ground stress conditions have made centrifuge technology a cost effective approach to generate vital scientific evidence of prototype performance though observation of realistic failure mechanics which are not possible at full scale. There is increasing demand for this service from the construction industry to enhance design for competitive advantage, revise industry standards, validate numerical models and de-risk multi-million infrastructure projects. Industrial relevant output will be highly beneficial to government authorities (i.e. Dept. of Transport, Environment, Energy & Climate Change) concerned with formulating infrastructure investment policies, asset management and risk mitigation strategies to deliver resilience infrastructure that is vital to the UK's future prosperity.

The general public and society will ultimately benefit through the delivery of nationally important research that will provide superior resilient new infrastructure and extended life of existing assets which in turn will minimise public expenditure. We will target public engagement to help change the current 'taken for granted' attitude to infrastructure, informing the next generation of the need to alter societal habits regarding energy usage and the need for renewable/carbon neutral strategies.

Lastly, there will be direct benefits for the environment and the economy as the equipment will be specifically targeted at areas of immediate and high impact such as renewable energy or assessing the impact of climate change on infrastructure.