Pipejacking Research

Pipejacking research at Oxford University has been supported since 1986 by the Pipe Jacking Association, a consortium of water service companies and the EPSRC. The long-term research program has been managed by the Pipe Jacking Research Group, which meets quarterly to review progress. the PJRG includes representatives of the PJA, the water service companies and Oxford University, plus co-opted members as necessary.

Much of this work was co-ordinated by Dr George Milligan at Oxford University. Dr Milligan now works for the Geotechnical Consulting Group, and acts as industrial liaison officer for the project. The research at Oxford is now run by Prof. Guy Houlsby and Dr Harvey Burd.

The research has involved a number of phases:

• Laboratory testing of model jacked pipes
• Field testing of performance of pipes (phase 1)
• Field testing (phase 2)
• Finite element analysis of concrete jacking pipes
• Full scale testing of concrete pipes
• Soil conditioning and lubrication materials
• Field testing of soil conditioning and lubrication methods

Publications on the Oxford research

State-of-the-art report on soil conditioning and lubrication