News Archive

The Faculty congratulates Associate Professor Britta Bienen from the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems for winning a UWA Research Collaboration Award (RCA).

RCA’s provide funding to support new and developing research initiatives that will expand UWA’s external research collaborations, both nationally and internationally.

Assoc/Prof Bienen’s research, Unlocking the mechanisms governing foundation penetration into carbonate sand, is being conducted in collaboration with two researchers from the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) – Dr. Sascha Henke and Tim Pucker. The RCA will inject $10,000 into the project, helping to further strengthen the ongoing international collaboration between COFS and TUHH.

Since its inception in 2009, the partnership between COFS and TUHH has been extremely fruitful, investigating a number of aspects relating to offshore geotechnical engineering. Projects of note include:

• The performance of ‘winged’ pile foundations under lateral loading
• Load-penetration behaviour of flat and conical footings in silica sand
• Centrifuge modelling of pile foundations under cyclic lateral loading from varying directions

Congratulations Assoc/Prof Bienen and team for your ongoing contribution to this important area of research!