Professor Glenn McDowell DSc
MA PhD (Cantab) CSci CEng CPhys FInstP FIMMM FICE FHEA AIWS
CURRICULUM VITAE
Name
Glenn Richard McDowell
Date of Birth 8th April 1971
Present Appointment
Professor of Geomechanics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Jan 2007Previous Appointments
 Associate Professor and Reader in Geomechanics, School of Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham
(1 Aug 2005 -)
 Senior Lecturer, School of Civil Engineering, University of Nottingham (from 1 August 2003)
 1998 (May) – 2003 (Aug): Lecturer, University of Nottingham.
 1996 (Oct) - 1998 (May): Goldsmith’s Research Fellow, Churchill College, University of Cambridge.
 1993 (Oct) - 1997 (May): Research Student, Cambridge University Engineering Department and Churchill
College.
Qualifications

DSc, University of Nottingham (2013). This is the highest award that the University can bestow for
research excellence.

PhD in Civil Engineering, Churchill College, University of Cambridge (1997).

MA, Churchill College, University of Cambridge (1997).

BA (Hons.) in Engineering (1st Class Honours), Churchill College, University of Cambridge (1993); winner
of three prize scholarships for academic excellence.

CSci, Chartered Scientist (Science Council, Aug 2004-).

FICE, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (Institution of Civil Engineers June 2014-)

CEng, Chartered Engineer (Engineering Council, May 2001-).

FHEA (formerly ILTM), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (formerly Member of the Institute for
Learning and Teaching); (Institute for Learning and Teaching then Higher Education Academy, March
2001-).

CPhys, Chartered Physicist (Institute of Physics, Sept 2000-)

FInstP, Fellow of the Institute of Physics (Institute of Physics, July 2005-).

FIMMM, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (Institute of Materials, April 2006-).

AIWS, Associate of the Institute of Wines and Spirits (IWS, March 2011-).
Prizes

IOM3 Silver Medal, 2005: a “Premier Award” by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining for “an
outstanding contribution to the broad field of materials science, engineering and technology, including
promotion of my subject on a national / international basis”.

University of Cambridge John Winbolt Prize (£1000), 1996 for best paper on a civil engineering topic:
"The fractal crushing of granular materials".

Goldsmith’s Research Fellow in Materials, Churchill College, Cambridge, 1996-1998 (a post sought after
internationally).
Externally Funded Grants and Contracts
12 Major grants including:

EPSRC, ‘Discrete element modelling of critical state soil mechanics’, 07/2014-07/2018, Principal
Investigator, £518k fEC, (EP/L019779/1).

EPSRC Programme Grant, ‘Railway Track for the 21st Century’, 01/06/2009-31/05/2014, CoInvestigator (PI at Nottingham) - £850k fEC to Nottingham (EP/H044949/1).

EPSRC, ‘Discrete element modelling of geogrid reinforced railway ballast’, 05/2007-04/2010, Sole
Investigator, £261k, (EP/C523342/1).

EPSRC, ‘Discrete element modelling of kinematics of void collapse’, 04/2006-03/2008, Sole Investigator
£109k, (EP/D055989/1).

EPSRC, ‘Micro mechanics of railway ballast degradation’, 04/2003-03/2006, Principal Investigator (with
Prof A.C. Collop and Prof S.F. Brown) £399k, (GR/S14122/01).

Royal Society Mercer Award, ‘Geogrid reinforcement of railway ballast’, 10/2002-09/2005 (with Prof S.F.
Brown and Dr N.H. Thom), £250k.

EPSRC, ‘Mathematical models for the deformation and flow of soils and their application to soil
penetration problems’, 10/2002-09/2005, (with Prof H-S. Yu (University of Nottingham) and Dr D. Harris
(UMIST)), £180k (£90k to University of Nottingham), (GR/R85785/01).


Lafarge Aggregates, ‘The importance of ballast quality in minimising waste from rail trackbed renewals’,
05/2002-09/2003, Principal Investigator (with Prof A.C. Collop, Prof S.F. Brown and Dr N.H. Thom),
£80k.
SRIF2 Funding, 2003: £950k to upgrade the laboratories of the Nottingham Centre for Geomechanics and
purchase a state of the art geotechnical centrifuge – co-investigator.
Research Supervision
Completed PhDs

Mechanics of Railway ballast behaviour

Application of a three-surface kinematic hardening model to the repeated loading of thinly surfaced
pavements

Geogrid reinforcement of railway ballast

A laboratory study of railway ballast behaviour under traffic loading and tamping maintenance

Discrete element modelling of idealised asphalt mixture

Discrete element modelling or railway ballast

Discrete element modelling of compression tests for an idealised asphalt mixture

Discrete element modelling of cavity expansion in granular materials

Discrete element modelling of constant strain rate and creep tests on a graded asphalt mixture

Discrete element modelling of geogrid-reinforced railway ballast and track transition zones

Discrete element method (DEM) modelling of rock flow and breakage within a cone crusher

Discrete element modelling of cemented sand and particle crushing at high pressures

Discrete element modelling of cone penetration testing in granular materials
Publications
81 papers published in refereed international journals
Esteem Indicators

Former Member of Géotechnique Editorial Board

Former Chairman, ICE East Midlands Geotechnical Group

Member of Institute of Physics CEng Panel

Former member of EPSRC Peer Review College

Co-ordinator of the GM3 International Travelling Workshop on Geomechanics: Micro to Macro, 2008.
Invited Presentations

Yamaguchi University, Japan, 1995.

Kyushu University, Japan, 1995.

University of Bradford, 1996.

University of Oxford, 1996.

Yamaguchi University, Japan, 1997.

Fugro Ltd., Hemel Hempstead, UK, 1997.

Novartis UK (International symposium on granular materials), London, 1998.

Keynote lecturer at 2nd International Workshop on Soil Crushability, Yamaguchi University, Japan 1999.

Workshop on soil crushability, Cambridge University, 2000.

Satellite workshop on micro-geomechanics, 15th international conference on soil mechanics and
geotechnical engineering, Istanbul, Turkey, 2001.

City University, London, 2002.

Railway Trackbed Investigation Services Workshop (Scott Wilson Pavement Engineering), Derby, 2002.

University of Oxford, 2002.

University of Sheffield, 2003.

University of Cambridge, 2004

EPSRC-NSF International Workshop on “Micro-geomechanics across multiple strain scales”, Cambridge,
March 2005.

Modern Trends in Geomechanics, Vienna, 27-29 June 2005
Reviews for International Academic Journals

Géotechnique (published by Thomas Telford, London, for the Institution of Civil Engineers); the world’s
leading geotechnical journal.

Soils and Foundations (published by the Japanese Geotechnical Society); a leading international
geotechnical journal.

ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (published by the American Society of
Civil Engineers); a leading international geotechnical journal.

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Geotechnical Engineering (published by Thomas Telford,
London, for the Institution of Civil Engineers); a leading international geotechnical journal.




Granular Matter (published by Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany; Editors-in-chief: R.P. Behringer,
Duke University, USA; H.J. Hermann, Stuttgart University, Germany); a leading international journal in
physics and engineering.
International Journal of Pavement Engineering (published by Taylor and Francis; Editors: V. Janoo,
USACRREL, Hanover, USA; A.C. Scarpas, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands); a leading
international journal in pavement engineering.
Canadian Geotechnical Journal (published by National Research Council of Canada Research Press,
Ottawa, Canada; Editor: Arun Valsangkar, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada); a leading
international journal in geotechnical engineering.
International Journal of Engineering Education (published by Tempus Publications; Editor: Michael Wald,
Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland); a leading international journal in engineering education.
Refereed Journal Publications
1. McDowell, G.R., Bolton, M.D. and Robertson, D. (1996) The fractal crushing of granular materials. J.
Mech. Phys. Solids 44, No. 12, 2079-2102.
2. Robertson, D., Bolton, M.D. and McDowell, G.R. (1997) A numerical representation of fracturing granular
materials. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 21, 825-843.
3. McDowell, G.R. and Bolton, M.D. (1998) On the micro mechanics of crushable aggregates. Geotechnique
48, No. 5, 667-679.
4. McDowell, G.R. and Bolton, M.D. (1999) A micro mechanical model for isotropic cyclic loading of
isotropically clastically compressed soil. Granular Matter 1, No. 4, 183-193.
5. McDowell, G.R. and Bolton, M.D. (2000) Reply to discussion on: On the micro mechanics of crushable
aggregates. Geotechnique 50, No. 3, 315-318.
6. McDowell, G.R. and Bolton, M.D. (2000) Effect of particle size distribution on pile tip resistance in
calcareous sand in the geotechnical centrifuge. Granular Matter 2, No. 4, 179-187.
7. McDowell, G.R. and Amon, A. (2000) The application of Weibull statistics to the fracture of soil particles.
Soils and Foundations 40, No. 5, 133-141.
8. McDowell, G.R. (2000) A family of yield loci based on micro mechanics. Soils and Foundations 40, No. 6,
133-137.
9. McDowell, G.R. and Daniell, C.M. (2001) Fractal compression of soil. Geotechnique 51, No. 2, 173-176.
10. McDowell, G.R. (2001) Discussion on: A probabilistic approach to sand particle crushing in the triaxial
test by Y. Nakata, A.F.L. Hyde, M. Hyodo, M. and H. Murata. Geotechnique. 51, No. 3, 285-287.
11. McDowell, G.R. (2001) A a student-centred learning approach to teaching Soil Mechanics. The
International Journal of Engineering Education 17, No.3, 255-260.
12. McDowell, G.R. (2001) Statistics of soil particle strength. Geotechnique 51, No.10, 897-900.
13. McDowell, G.R. and Bolton, M.D. (2001) Micro mechanics of elastic soil. Soils and Foundations 41, No.6,
147-152.
14. Yu, H., Brown, S.F. and McDowell, G.R. (2001) Dynamic coupled analysis for rutting in flexible pavement
foundations under cyclic loading. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 23, No.6, 757-762.
15. McDowell, G.R. (2002) On the yielding and plastic compression of sand. Soils and Foundations 42, No.
1, 139-145.
16. McDowell, G.R. and Humphreys, A. (2002) Yielding of granular materials. Granular Matter 4, No. 1, 1-8.
17. McDowell, G.R. and Harireche, O. (2002) Discrete element modelling of soil particle fracture.
Geotechnique 52, No. 2, 131-135.
18. McDowell, G.R. and Harireche, O. (2002) Discrete element modelling of yielding and normal compression
of sand. Geotechnique 52, No. 4, 299-304.
19. McDowell, G.R., Nakata, Y. and Hyodo, M. (2002) On the plastic hardening of sand. Geotechnique 52,
No. 5, 349-358.
20. McDowell, G.R. (2002) A simple non-associated flow model for sand. Granular Matter 4, No. 2, 65-69.
21. McDowell, G.R., Lim, W.L. and Collop, A.C. (2003) Measuring the strength of railway ballast. Ground
Engineering 36, No. 1, 25-28.
22. McDowell, G.R. and Hau, K.W. (2003) A simple non-associated three surface kinematic hardening model.
Geotechnique 53, No. 4, 433-437.
23. McDowell, G.R. and Khan, J.J. (2003) Creep of granular materials. Granular Matter 5, No. 3, 115-120.
24. Harireche, O. and McDowell, G.R. (2003) Discrete element modelling of cyclic loading of crushable
aggregates. Granular Matter 5, No. 3, 147-152.
25. McDowell, G.R. (2003) Micro mechanics of creep of granular materials. Geotechnique 53, No. 10, 915916.
26. McDowell, G.R. and Hau, K.W. (2004) A generalised Modified Cam clay model for clay and sand
incorporating kinematic hardening and bounding surface plasticity. Granular Matter 6, No. 1, 11-16.
27. McDowell, G.R., Lim, W.L., Collop, A.C., Armitage, R. and Thom, N.H. (2004) Comparison of ballast
index tests for railway trackbeds. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Geotechnical
Engineering 157, No. GE 3, 151-161.
28. Collop, A.C., McDowell, G.R. and Lee, Y. (2004) Use of the distinct element method to model the
behaviour of an idealised asphalt mixture. The International Journal of Pavement Engineering 5, No. 1,
1-7.
29. McDowell, G.R. (2004) Reply to discussion on: Micro mechanics of creep of granular materials.
Geotechnique 54, No. 6, 427-428.
30. McDowell, G.R., Lim, W.L. and Buchanan, J. (2004) Performance of ballast mixtures. Ground Engineering
37, No. 10, 28-31.
31. Hau, K.W. and McDowell, G.R. (2004) The use of a kinematic hardening model for estimating subgrade
stiffness in layered-elastic analyses. The International Journal of Pavement Engineering 5, No. 2, 53-59.
32. Lim, W.L., McDowell, G.R. and Collop, A.C. (2004) The application of Weibull statistics to the strength of
railway ballast. Granular Matter 6, No. 4, 229-237.
33. Hau, K.W. and McDowell, G.R. (2005) Evaluating permissible subgrade rut depth in pavement design.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Geotechnical Engineering 158, No. GE1, 45-56.
34. Lim, W.L. and McDowell, G.R. (2005) Discrete element modelling of railway ballast. Granular Matter 7,
No. 1, 19-29.
35. McDowell, G.R., Lim, W.L., Collop, A.C., Armitage, R. and Thom, N.H. (2005) Laboratory simulation of
train loading and tamping on ballast. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Transport 158,
No. TR2, 89-95.
36. Lim, W.L., McDowell, G.R. and Collop, A.C. (2005) Quantifying the relative strengths of railway ballasts.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Geotechnical Engineering 158, No. GE2, 107-111.
37. Hau, K.W., McDowell, G.R., Zhang, G.P. and Brown, S.F. (2005) The application of a three-surface
kinematic hardening model to repeated loading of thinly surfaced pavements. Granular Matter 7, No. 23, 145-156.
38. McDowell, G.R. (2005) A physical justification for log e - log s based on fractal crushing and particle
kinematics. Geotechnique 55, No. 9, 697-698.
39. McDowell, G.R., Harireche, O., Konietzky, H., Brown, S.F. and Thom, N.H. (2006) Discrete element
modelling of geogrid-reinforced aggregates. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers:
Geotechnical Engineering 159, No. GE1, 35-48.
40. McDowell, G.R. and Stickley, P. (2006) Performance of geogrid-reinforced ballast. Ground Engineering
39, No. 1, 26-30.
41. Collop, A.C., McDowell, G.R. and Lee, Y.W. (2006) Modelling dilation in an idealised asphalt mixture
using discrete element modelling. Granular Matter 8, No. 3-4, 175-184.
42. Lu, M. and McDowell, G.R. (2006) Discrete element modelling of ballast abrasion. Geotechnique 56, No.
9, 651-655.
43. Lu, M. and McDowell, G.R. (2007) The importance of modelling ballast particle shape in DEM. Granular
Matter 9, No. 1-2, 71-82.
44. Brown, S.F., Brodrick, B.V., Thom, N.H. and McDowell, G.R. (2007) The Nottingham Railway Test
Facility. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers:Transport 160, No. TR2, 59-65.
45. Collop, A.C., McDowell, G.R. and Lee, Y. (2007) On the use of discrete element modelling to simulate
the viscoelastic deformation behaviour of an idealised asphalt mixture. Geomechanics and
Geoengineering 2, No. 2, 77-86.
46. Lu, M. and McDowell, G.R. (2007) Reply to discussion on: Discrete element modelling of ballast
abrasion. Geotechnique 57, No. 5, 479-480.
47. Lackenby, J., Indraratna, B, McDowell, G.R. and Christie, D. (2007) Triaxial behaviour of ballast and the
role of confining pressure under cyclic loading. Geotechnique 57, No. 6, 527-536.
48. Lim, W.L. and McDowell, G.R. (2007) The importance of co-ordination number in using agglomerates to
simulate crushable particles in the discrete element method. Geotechnique 57, No. 8, 701-705.
49. Lim, W.L. and McDowell, G.R. (2007) A limit analysis of the kinematics of void collapse using the
discrete element method. Geomechanics and Geoengineering 3, No. 1, 31-48.
50. Ferellec, J-F. and McDowell, G.R. (2008) A simple method to create complex particle shapes for DEM.
Geomechanics and Geoengineering 3, No. 3, 211-216.
51. Lu, M. and McDowell, G.R. (2008) Discrete element modelling of railway ballast under triaxial conditions.
Geomechanics and Geoengineering 3, No. 4, 257-270.
52. McDowell, G.R., Collop, A.C. and Wu, J. (2009) A dimensional analysis of scaling viscosity and velocity in
DEM of constant strain rate tests on asphalt. Geomechanics and Geoengineering 4 , No. 2, 171-174.
53. Aursudkij, B., McDowell, G.R. and Collop, A.C. (2009) Cyclic loading of railway ballast under triaxial
conditions and in a Railway Test Facility. Granular Matter 11, No. 6, 391-401.
54. Wu, J., Collop, A.C. and McDowell, G.R. (2010) Discrete Element Modelling of Constant Strain Rate
Compression Tests on an Idealised Asphalt Mixture. ASCE J Materials in Civil Engineering 23, No. 1, 211.
55. Ferellec, J-F. and McDowell, G.R. (2010) Modelling realistic shape and particle inertia in DEM.
Geotechnique 60, No. 3, 227-232.
56. Lu, M. and McDowell, G.R. (2010) Discrete element modelling of railway ballast under monotonic and
cyclic triaxial loading. Geotechnique 60, No. 6, 459-467.
57. Geng, Y, Yu, H-S and McDowell, G.R. (2010) Simulation of granular behaviour using DEM. Procedia Earth
and Planetary Science 1, No. 1, 598-605.
58. Ferellec, J-F and McDowell, G.R. (2010) A method to model realistic particle shape and inertia in DEM.
Granular Matter 12, No. 5, 459-467.
59. McDowell, G.R., Li, H. and Lowndes, I. (2011) The importance of particle shape in discrete element
modelling of particle flow in a chute. Geotechnique Letters 1, No. 3, 59-64. doi:
10.1680/geolett.11.00025.
60. Li, H., McDowell, G.R. and Lowndes, I. (2012) A laboratory investigation and discrete element modelling
of rock flow in a chute. Powder Technology 229, 199-205.
61. Chen, C., McDowell, G.R. and Thom, N.H. (2012) Discrete element modelling of cyclic loads of geogridreinforced ballast under confined and unconfined conditions. Geotextiles and Geomembranes 35, 76-86.
62. McDowell, G.R., Falagush, O. and Yu, H-S. (2012) A particle refinement method for simulating DEM of
cone penetration testing in granular materials. Geotechnique Letters 2, 141-147. doi:
10.1680/geolett.12.00036.
63. Ferellec, J-F. and McDowell, G.R. (2012) Modelling of ballast/geogrid interaction using DEM.
Geosynthetics International 19, No. 6.
64. de Bono, J.P., McDowell, G.R. and Wanatowski, D. (2012) Discrete element modelling of a flexible
membrane for triaxial testing of cemented sand at high pressures. Geotechnique Letters 2, 199-203.
doi: 10.1680/geolett.12.00040.
65. Geng, Y., Yu, H-S. and McDowell, G.R. (2012) Discrete element modelling of cavity expansion and
pressuremeter test. Accepted for publication in Geomechanics and Geoengineering .
66. McDowell, G.R. and de Bono J.P. (2013) On the micro mechanics of one-dimensional normal
compression. Geotechnique. doi: 10.1680/geot.12.P.041.
67. Cil, M.B., Alshibli, K.A., McDowell, G.R. and Li, H. (2013) Discussion: 3D assessment of fracture of sand
particles using discrete element method. Geotechnique Letters 3, 13-15. doi:
10.1680/geolett.13.00004.
68. Cai, W., McDowell, G.R. and Airey, G.D. (2013) Discrete element modelling of uniaxial constant strain
rate tests on asphalt mixtures. Accepted for publication in Granular Mattter 15, No. 2, 163-174. doi:
10.1007/s10035-013-0396-x.
69. Chen, C., McDowell, G.R. and Thom, N.H. (2013) Investigating geogrid-reinforced ballast: experimental
pull-out tests and discrete element modelling. Accepted for publication in Soils and Foundations 54,
No.1, 1-11. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2013.12.001.
70. Chen, C., McDowell, G.R. and Thom, N.H. (2013) A study of geogrid-reinforced ballast using laboratory
pull-out tests and discrete element modelling. Accepted for publication in Geomechanics and
Geoengineering 8, No. 4, 244-253. doi: 10.1080/17486025.2013.805253.
71. Cai, W., McDowell, G.R. and Airey, G.D. (2013) Discrete element visco-elastic modelling of a realistic
graded asphalt mixture. Soils and Foundations 54, No. 1, 12-22. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sandf.2013.12.002.
72. Li, H., McDowell, G.R. and Lowndes, I. (2013) Discrete element modelling of rock breakage using dense
random packing agglomerates. Geotechnique Letters 3, 98-102. doi: 10.1680/geolett.13.00040.
73. McDowell, G.R. and de Bono J.P. (2013) A new creep law for crushable aggregates. Geotechnique
Letters 3, 103-107. doi: 10.1680/geolett.13.00030.
74. McDowell, G.R., de Bono, J.P., Yue, P and Yu, H-S. (2013) Micro mechanics of isotropic normal
compression. Geotechnique Letters 3, 166-172. doi: 10.1680/geolett.13.00050.
75. de Bono, J.P. and McDowell, G.R. (2014) Discrete element modelling of one-dimensional compression of
cemented sand. Granular Matter 16, No. 1, 79-90. doi: 10.1007/s10035-013-0466-0.
76. Chen, C., McDowell, G.R. and Thom, N.H. (2014) An investigation of dynamic behaviour of track
transition zones using discrete element modelling. Accepted for publication in Journal of Rail and Rapid
Transit.
77. de Bono, J.P. and McDowell, G.R. (2014) Discrete element modelling of triaxial tests on crushable
sand. Accepted for publication in Granular Matter . doi: 10.1007/s10035-014-0500-x.
78. de Bono, J.P., McDowell, G.R. and Wanatowski, D. (2014) Discrete element modelling of triaxial tests on
crushable cemented sand. Accepted for publication in Granular Matter . doi: 10.1007/s10035-014-0501x.
79. Li, H., McDowell, G.R. and Lowndes, I. (2014) Discrete element modelling of rock comminution in a cone
crusher using a bonded particle model. Geotechnique Letters 4, No. 2, 7982. doi: 10.1680/geolett.14.00006.
80. Li, H., McDowell, G.R. and Lowndes, I. (2014) Discrete element modelling of a rock cone
crusher. Powder Technology 263, 151-158. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2014.05.004.
81. Laryea, S. Baghsorkhi, M.S., Ferellec, J-F, McDowell, G.R. and Chen, C. (2014) Comparison of
performance of concrete and steel sleepers using experimental and discrete element methods. Accepted
for publication in Transportation Geotechnics.doi: