Welcome to the August issue of our journal. I was not able to take an active role in the lead up to the June issue and I'd like to thank Brian McGinnity for his editorial and for taking on some additional duties at that time. The panel is advised that there are papers in the production system sufficient for the next two issues and there have been a healthy number of new papers submitted. The panel has considered nominations for the role of two new international panel members and we shall advise these later in the year.
This issue of Geotechnical Engineering includes four papers. We have postponed the publishing of other selected papers in this issue with the kind understanding of the authors in order that we include the obituaries of two eminent engineers who died earlier this year.
Sir Alan Muir Wood and Dr. Victor Milligan each enjoyed long and distinguished careers in the civil engineering profession and, in particular, provided immense contributions to the furtherance of geotechnical engineering and tunnelling. Professor David Muir Wood1 and ICE Past President Adrian Long2 respectively reflect on the lives of these two engineers. You may have seen some obituaries posted for these gentlemen on the web or in weekly magazines earlier in the year; our time to publishing is a little longer, nevertheless we wish to pay tribute to them and share some of the detail of their lives and careers with our readership.
The four papers in this issue cover a variety of geotechnical engineering topics. In the first paper Abbireddy and Clayton3 provide a review of the methods available for particle size distribution. They then consider the potential for the replacement of current techniques with new technology. A fresh look at traditional technology is a feature of the second paper. Mundell et al.4 detail the development of a limit equilibrium analysis computer program during an investigation into the stability of drystone retaining structures. They carry out verification of the program utilising information from field trials undertake 175 years ago along with predictions made for new build drystone retaining wall tests. Sivakumar Babu and Singh5 in the third paper look at deformation and stability models for soil nail walls; they propose models for the estimation of lateral deformation and global factor of safety. Finally, prediction of uplift resistance of enlarged base piles is the subject of the paper by Xu et al.6 They present a theoretical model for predicting uplift resistance and compare this with results from field tests. They suggest that the method can provide an effective estimate of pile uplift capacity.
I trust you will find the papers interesting and reflect that the obituaries in this issue emphasize the value of maintaining both a depth and breadth of engineering knowledge along with a willingness to share this with others.
