Biography
Dr. Bryan McCabe graduated with a first class Honours Degree (and Gold Medal) in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in 1997. He was awarded his PhD entitled "The behaviour of pile groups in Belfast soft clay" by TCD in 2002. Bryan joined the Department of Civil Engineering at NUI Galway in 2001 and is now at Senior Lecturer level specialising in geotechnical engineering, and a former Head of Discipline (2014-2017). He is also a Chartered Engineer (2006) and Fellow (2014) of Engineers Ireland.
Bryan’s primary research interests lie in mainstream geotechnical engineering, and to date have included the behaviour of deep foundations, various means of improving weak/compressible soils (e.g. Vibro-Replacement stone columns and Dry Soil Mixing) to enable the use of shallow foundations and pipe-jacking/microtunnelling.
Active iCRAG projects:
Technical description
Buried limestone valleys have been identified between Galway City and Lough Corrib, some reaching depths greater than 100 m. These geomorphological features, possibly resulting from karstification, are infilled with unconsolidated sediments, including material of likely glacial, fluvial and lacustrine origin. A minimum age of the infilling material is estimated as Upper Pleistocene, given the depth of fill and previous research. Mapping and logging will be conducted as part of a detailed geological investigation of the Viséan bedrock in an aim to discriminate the currently ‘undifferentiated’ limestones. A geophysical study using 2D resistivity along with some targeted drilling will delineate the extent and morphology of one or more of these valley features. A detailed laboratory analysis will examine the unconsolidated sediments to determine their likely age and origin whilst concluding their geotechnical and hydrological properties and sedimentological characteristics.
The results and findings of this project will inform further geotechnical investigation during the development of the Galway City bypass, and will also improve our understanding of Cenozoic landscape in this part of western Ireland.
Role
- Funded Investigator
Institution
- NUIG
Research Area
- Earth Science in Society
Expertise
- Geohazards and Geoengineering
