2020 BGA Medal Winning Paper announced
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to announce that the 2020 BGA Medal has been awarded to the paper “PISA design model for monopiles for offshore wind turbines: Application to a stiff glacial clay till” by Byron Byrne, Guy Houlsby, Harvey Burd, Kenneth Gavin, David Igoe, Righard JHardine, Chris Martin, Ross McAdam, Dave Potts, David Taborda and Lidija Zdravkovic of Oxford University, Imperial College, Delft University of Technology and Trinity College Dublin.
The full reference for the paper is:
B.W.Byrne, G.T.Houlsby, H.J.Burd, K.G.Gavin, D.J. P.Igoe, R.J.Jardine, C.M.Martin, R.A.McAdam, D.M.Potts, D.M. G.Taborda & L.Zdravkovic (2020) PISA design model for monopiles for offshore wind turbines: Application to a stiff glacial clay till. Géotechnique 70, No. 11, 1030–1047 [https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.18.P.255]
The paper can be accessed via the ICE Virtual Library here.
There were six entries to the competition this year and all were of exceptionally high standard, making the selection of the winner by the prizes sub-committee a difficult task.
The Judges highlighted how the paper contained world leading work and that the simplified methodology it proposed provided a way forward for assessing monopile design in the growing wind energy environment. As a methodology that can and is being used as the basis for design of foundations it was felt to be a particularly influential paper.
The BGA Medal is awarded annually (each calendar year) by the BGA to a paper substantially authored by a BGA member or BGA members published in an international journal and from BGA, ISSMGE and ISRM conferences, and submitted for consideration of the award.
