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Professor William Powrie

Professor of Geotechnical Engineering

Research interests

  • Railway track and trackbed behaviour and performance
  • Geotechnical transportation infrastructure (earthworks, retaining walls, tunnels)
  • Groundwater and groundwater control

More research

Accepting applications from PhD students.

Connect with William

Profile photo 
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Name 
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Job title 
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Research interests (for researchers only) 
Add up to 5 research interests. The first 3 will appear in your staff profile next to your name. The full list will appear on your research page. Keep these brief and focus on the keywords people may use when searching for your work. Use a different line for each one.

In Pure (opens in a new tab), select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.

Contact details 
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You can link to your Google Scholar, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts through Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’.  In the 'Links' section, use the 'Add link' button. 

ORCID ID 
Create or connect your ORCID ID in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’ and then 'Create or Connect your ORCID ID'.

Accepting PhD applicants (for researchers only) 
Choose to show whether you’re currently accepting PhD applicants or not in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. In the 'Portal details' section, select 'Yes' or 'No' to indicate your choice. 

About

William Powrie is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Southampton.

He is the author of the internationally-acclaimed textbook Soil Mechanics: Concepts and Applications, now in its third edition.

A particular focus of his work is the application of soil mechanics principles to "difficult" soils and soil-like materials, including landfilled waste, strongly interlocked sands, and railway ballast.

He works closely with industry. He has been involved in a variety of major civil engineering projects including the Conwy and Medway immersed tube tunnels, Jubilee Line stations at Canary Wharf and Canada Water and HS1; and he chairs HS2's Independent Geotechnical Expert Panel.

He is well known for his founding contributions to Environmental and Transportation Geotechnics, in recognition of which he was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2009.

He has been Convenor of the 15-university UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) since 2018, and leads the UK Rail Research and Innovation Network (UKRRIN) Infrastructure Centre of Excellence.

You can update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘About’.

Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.

You’ll be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.