PhD in Soil Mechanics

Supervisors: /nDr Angus Pettey/nand/nDr Charles Heron/nOne lesser considered challenge of the shift towards renewable energy is the need for reliable and robust energy storage facilities. A popular method of doing so is to create vast battery storage facilities which require incredible sums of upfront capital and relies on lithium, one of - if not - the most intensively mined resources of the modern age./nWhat if there was another way? What if we could use the very land that lies at the foot of wind or solar farms? By pumping water into a sealed flexible membrane under a mass of soil we can convert solar energy into pressure potential energy, akin to pumping water up to an elevated reservoir but without the need for large natural elevation changes. A great idea in principle but one which presents a number of geotechnical challenges. By modelling this storage facility in one of the UK’s leading geotechnical centrifuge testing laboratories, this project will overcome these issues - such as cyclical loading and interface effects - and rationalise the use of this method on various scales which society requires./nLocation: Nottingham