Andrew N. Schofield

Professor
Andrew N. Schofield
FRS FREng
Andrew Schofield in 2016
Born (1930-11-01) 1 November 1930 (age 94)
England
NationalityEnglish
Alma materCambridge University, UK
Known forCritical state soil mechanics, Cam Clay, Geotechnical centrifuge modelling
SpouseMargaret Green (m.1961)
AwardsUS Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award, 1979
20th Rankine Lecture, 1980
Fellow[1] of the Royal Academy of Engineering,[2] 1986
Fellow of the Royal Society, 1992
James Alfred Ewing Gold Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1993
Scientific career
FieldsSoil Mechanics, Geotechnical Engineering
InstitutionsCambridge University, UK
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)
Thesis The development of lateral force during the displacement of sand by the vertical face of a rotating model foundation  (1960)
Doctoral advisorKenneth H. Roscoe[3]
Notable studentsMalcolm D. Bolton, Robert Mair, Sarah Springman

Andrew Noel Schofield (born 1 November 1930) is a British soil mechanics engineer and an emeritus professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of Cambridge.

Life

Schofield was born on 1 November 1930, the son of Rev John Noel Schofield and Winifred Jane Mary Eyles in Cambridge, England. He married Margaret Eileen Green in 1961.[4] He retired from Cambridge University in 1997.

Career

Andrew Schofield studied engineering and graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1951.[5] He then worked in the Nyasaland Protectorate, Africa (now Malawi) office of Scott and Wilson Ltd. where he performed research on lateritic soils and low cost road construction.[6] He returned to Cambridge University to work with Professor Kenneth H. Roscoe on his PhD, which he completed in 1961.[6] He became an Assistant Lecturer in 1961 and a Fulbright Fellow and a California Institute of Technology Fellow in 1963/4.[7] He was elected Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge in 1964.[8] He was elected as a Fellow[9] of the Royal Academy of Engineering[10] in 1986 and as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1992.[11]

With Ken Roscoe and Peter Wroth in 1958 he published "On the Yielding of Soils", which showed how plasticity theory and critical state soil mechanics could be used to describe the coupled volumetric and shear behavior of soils.[12] This led to the development of a constitutive model known as 'Cam Clay' that was formalized in a text by Schofield and Wroth in 1968.[13]

Schofield was influenced by work on geotechnical centrifuge modeling by G.I. Pokrovsky in the USSR[5] to study geotechnical engineering and soil mechanics problems. He developed a prototype geotechnical centrifuge in Cambridge and later adapted a centrifuge in the English Electric Company in Luton, UK, to be used for geotechnical modelling in 1966.[6][5]

He accepted a chair at the Institute of Science and Technology in Manchester (UMIST) in 1968 and developed a 1.5-m radius geotechnical centrifuge there.[6][5] Following Roscoe's death in 1970, he returned to Cambridge in 1974 and was appointed as a Professor in the Cambridge University Engineering Department to lead the Soil Mechanics group.[6] Working with the mechanical design engineer Phillip Turner, he developed a 5-m radius geotechnical centrifuge at Cambridge University that continues to be heavily used as of 2010. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1992. Schofield retired from the university in 1997, but his continued work is evidenced by the publication of a book in 2005.[5]

Critique of The Mohr Coulomb equation as foundations in soil mechanics

By Professor Schofield the behaviour of remoulded soil (be it sand, silt or clay) is governed by friction and particle interlocking. By Professor Schofield, The Mohr Coulomb equation, popularised by Terzaghi, and underpinning developments in soil mechanics since the 1930s, is simply wrong. Terzaghi made soil mechanics a science, made a mistake when he said soil’s strength is provided by cohesion and friction.[14]

Major Publications

  • Roscoe, K. H.; Schofield, A. N.; Wroth, C. P. (1958), "On the Yielding of Soils", Geotechnique, vol. 8, pp. 22–53, doi:10.1680/geot.1958.8.1.22
  • Schofield, A. N.; Wroth, C. P. (1968), Critical State Soil Mechanics, McGraw-Hill, p. 310, ISBN 978-0641940484
  • Schofield, A. N. (2005), Disturbed soil properties and geotechnical design, Thomas Telford, p. 216, ISBN 978-0727729828
  • Schofield, A. N. (1980), "Cambridge geotechnical centrifuge operations", Geotechnique, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 227–268, doi:10.1680/geot.1980.30.3.227

References

  1. ^ "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  2. ^ "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  3. ^ Andrew N. Schofield at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^ Black 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e Schofield 2005.
  6. ^ a b c d e Rowe 1980.
  7. ^ Directory of Visiting Scholars in the United States 1963-1964, Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), Washington, DC, US
  8. ^ "Master, Fellows and By-Fellows". Archived from the original on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  9. ^ "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  10. ^ "List of Fellows". Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  11. ^ "Fellowship Directory".
  12. ^ Roscoe, Schofield & Wroth 1958.
  13. ^ Schofield & Wroth 1968.
  14. ^ K. H Roscoe, Andrew Schofield, C. P Wroth, 1958, On The Yielding of Soils, Géotechnique 8(1), 22-53

Further reading

  • Rowe, P. W. (1980), "The Rankine Lecture", Geotechnique, vol. 30, no. 3, p. 225
  • Black, A & C (2010), Who's Who 2011, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199572151, retrieved 6 December 2010