Papers published in Geotechnical Engineering are eligible for awards from the Institution of Civil Engineers. Papers from any of the ICE journals can be nominated for several awards. In addition, each journal has awards dedicated to their specific subject area.
On Friday 4 October 2019, ICE president Andrew Wyllie presented an award to the following paper published in Geotechnical Engineering in 2018. The editorial panel nominated their best papers and an awards committee chaired by Robert Armitage allocated the awards.
Crampton Prize
The Crampton Prize, presented for the best paper on geotechnics practice, was awarded to Simpson (2018).
Abstract
In basement excavations it is common practice to employ ground-bearing slabs that are restrained from significant vertical movement by piles or surrounding retaining walls. For the structural design of these slabs, it is necessary to assess the upward pressure, known as heave pressure, from the ground beneath the slab that will develop in the long term. This paper examines two different processes in current use for the calculation of long-term heave pressures beneath basement slabs, concluding that one of them is fundamentally flawed. For a very simple situation, it is shown that the final effective heave pressure is largely independent of the magnitude of ground stiffness, but is significantly dependent on other properties of ground behaviour. Estimation of long-term heave pressures is very difficult and field observations of long-term heave pressures and groundwater pressures at the time slabs are constructed are very much needed.
