Andrew Noel Schofield
FRS FREng
Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...
(born 1 November 1930) is a British
soil mechanics
Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...
engineer and an emeritus professor of
geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It als ...
at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
.
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. He retired from Cambridge University in 1997.
Career
Andrew Schofield studied engineering and graduated from
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
in 1951. He then worked in the Nyasaland Protectorate, Africa (now
Malawi
Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
) office of Scott and Wilson Ltd. where he performed research on lateritic soils and low cost road construction. He returned to Cambridge University to work with
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
Kenneth H. Roscoe
Kenneth Harry Roscoe (1914–1970) was a British civil engineer who made tremendous contributions to the plasticity theories of soil mechanics.
Early life
Roscoe was born in 1914, the son of Col. H. Roscoe, OBE, of Stoke-on-Trent. He was educat ...
on his
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** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
, which he completed in 1961. He became an Assistant Lecturer in 1961 and a Fulbright Fellow and a California Institute of Technology Fellow in 1963/4. He was elected Fellow of
Churchill College, Cambridge
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities.
In 1958, a trust was establish ...
in 1964. He was elected as a
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...
in 1986 and as a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1992.
With
Ken Roscoe and
Peter Wroth in 1958 he published "On the Yielding of Soils", which showed how
plasticity theory
Flow plasticity is a solid mechanics theory that is used to describe the plastic behavior of materials. Flow plasticity theories are characterized by the assumption that a flow rule exists that can be used to determine the amount of plastic defor ...
and
critical state soil mechanics
Critical state soil mechanics is the area of soil mechanics that encompasses the conceptual models that represent the mechanical behavior of saturated remolded soils based on the ''Critical State'' concept.
Formulation
The Critical State concept ...
could be used to describe the coupled volumetric and shear behavior of soils. This led to the development of a
constitutive model
In physics and engineering, a constitutive equation or constitutive relation is a relation between two physical quantities (especially Kinetics (physics), kinetic quantities as related to Kinematics, kinematic quantities) that is specific to a ma ...
known as 'Cam Clay' that was formalized in a text by Schofield and Wroth in 1968.
Schofield was influenced by work on
geotechnical centrifuge modeling
Geotechnical centrifuge modeling is a technique for testing physical scale models of geotechnical engineering systems such as natural and man-made slopes and earth retaining structures and building or bridge foundations.
The scale model is typi ...
by
G.I. Pokrovsky in the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
to study
geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It als ...
and
soil mechanics
Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...
problems. He developed a prototype
geotechnical centrifuge
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It al ...
in Cambridge and later adapted a centrifuge in the English Electric Company in Luton, UK, to be used for geotechnical modelling in 1966.
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. Following Roscoe's death in 1970, he returned to Cambridge in 1974 and was appointed as a Professor in the
Cambridge University Engineering Department
The University of Cambridge Department of Engineering is the largest department at the University of Cambridge and one of the leading centres of engineering in the world. The department's aim is to address the world's most pressing challenges wit ...
to lead the Soil Mechanics group. Working with the mechanical design engineer
Phillip Turner, he developed a 5-m radius
geotechnical centrifuge
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It al ...
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.
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.
K. H Roscoe, Andrew Schofield, C. P Wroth, 1958, On The Yielding of Soils, Géotechnique 8(1), 22-53
/ref>
Major Publications
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*
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*
References
Further reading
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External links
on Cambridge University's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schofield, Andrew N.
British civil engineers
1930 births
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal Society
Living people
Professors of engineering (Cambridge)
California Institute of Technology fellows