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Current research activity

RAINDROP: Doctoral training cluster focused on improving the management of ageing earthwork infrastructure in a changing climate. The programme brings together researchers from multiple disciplines to develop new approaches for monitoring, forecasting and maintaining engineered slopes.

National Engineered Slope Simulator (NESS): NESS is a large-scale experimental facility for investigating the long-term behaviour of clay slopes under environmental cycles. The facility enables controlled studies of slope deterioration, climate impacts, monitoring technologies and mitigation strategies, helping to improve understanding and management of earthwork infrastructure.

Recently completed research projects

ACHILLES: UKRI-EPSRC Programme Grant that investigated the deterioration of transport earthworks and the impacts of climate change. Working with university, industry and government partners, the project advanced understanding of weather-driven deterioration processes and developed new tools for assessing and forecasting long-term infrastructure performance.

Listening to Infrastructure: UKRI-EPSRC Fellowship and Philip Leverhulme Prize that developed acoustic emission monitoring for geotechnical infrastructure systems, including buried pipelines. The research combined laboratory testing and numerical modelling to improve understanding of the relationship between soil behaviour, energy dissipation and acoustic emission generation.

Slope ALARMS and Community Slope SAFE: This research developed acoustic emission-based landslide monitoring and early warning systems. The work progressed from laboratory research to field deployment in a range of international environments and contributed to improved approaches for monitoring slope movement and supporting risk management.

• Li S and Smith A (2024) Pipeline–Soil Interaction Behavior: Acoustic Emission and Energy Dissipation. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 10.1061/JGGEFK.GTENG-12913
• Helm P, Svalova A, Morsy A, Rouainia M, Smith A, El-Hamalawi A, Wilkinson D, Postill H and Glendinning S (2024) Emulating long-term weather-driven transportation earthworks deterioration models to support asset management. Transportation Geotechnics, 10.1016/j.trgeo.2023.101155
• Briggs K, Helm P, Smethurst J, Smith A, Stirling R, Svalova A, Trinidad Gonzalez Y, Loveridge F and Glendinning S (2023) Evidence for the weather-driven deterioration of ageing transportation earthworks in the UK. Transportation Geotechnics, 1016/j.trgeo.2023.101130
• Li S and Smith A (2023) Acoustic emission and energy dissipation in soils during triaxial shearing. Computers and Geotechnics, 10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105639
• Wang H, Barone G and Smith A (2023) A novel multi-level data fusion and anomaly detection approach for infrastructure damage identification and localisation. Engineering Structures, 1016/j.engstruct.2023.116473
• Morsy A, Helm P, El-Hamalawi A, Smith A, Hughes P, Stirling R, Dijkstra T, Dixon N and Glendinning S (2023) Development of a Multi-Phase Numerical Modeling Approach for Hydromechanical Behavior of Clay Embankments Subject to Weather-Driven Deterioration. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 10.1061/JGGEFK/GTENG-11213

My teaching focuses on linking fundamental geotechnical principles with engineering practice through lectures, tutorials, fieldwork and project-based learning.

I have held a number of leadership roles, including Deputy Associate Dean (Research & Innovation), Director of the National Engineered Slope Simulator (NESS), University Lead for REF Unit C13, and Programme Leader for the Civil Engineering programmes.

I currently serve as Associate Editor of the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, on the Editorial Board of Engineering Geology, and as a member of ISSMGE Technical Committee TC208 on Slope Stability in Engineering Practice.

I have been honoured to receive a number of awards for my work, including the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Engineering, the Worshipful Company of Engineers’ Hawley Award for Engineering Innovation, and the ICE Thomas Telford Premium.