John McDougall
John McDougall

Dr John McDougall

Reader

 0131 455 2533

  J.McDougall@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

I came to Edinburgh Napier in 1996, as a research fellow, following a masters degree in Geotechnical Engineering at Bolton University (1993) and a PhD from the University of Manchester (1996). I became a lecturer here in 2004 and a reader in 2008. When I get round to sorting out my application, I will apply to become an Assoc. Prof.

I began my research career with the development of an innovative geomechanical model - the HBM model, which combined hydraulic, biodegradation and mechanical behaviours for the analysis of the long-term behaviour of landfilled waste. The model was able to predict settlement, leachate discharge and gas production under specified field conditions.

Because the landfill process model focussed on a partially saturated medium, my research shifted towards the measurement of unsaturated states in waste and soils more generally.

More recently, with my colleague, Daniel Barreto, I have been researching the dynamic properties shredded car tyres-soil mixtures with the aim of utilising this mixture as a means of improving the seismic resistance of building foundations.

School

Research Groups

Research Areas

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Dutch Sustainable Landfill Management Project

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • UK Session Co Chair, XVI European Conference in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Edinburgh
  • Conference Organiser & Chair, 5th International Workshop, HPM5 Hydro-physico-mechanics of landfills, 2013
  • Hydro-Physico-Mechanics 3, Technical University Braunschweig, Session Chair

 

Editorial Activity

  • Environmental Geotechnics Special Issue Editorial
  • Geotechnique Symposium in Print, 2009 & 2011
  • Geotechnique Editorial Panel, 2007 - 2010

 

External Examining/Validations

  • Professorial Panel, King Saud University, 2016

 

Invited Speaker

  • "From MSW to Waste Tyres", Indian Institute Science, Bangalore, 2018
  • "Earthquake Resilience by Rubber Soil Mixtures", Fukuoka University, Japan, 2016
  • Dissolution and Precipitation, KAUST, Saudi Arabia, 2016
  • Coupled Phenomena in Environmental Geotechnics, Politecnico di Torino
  • GeoFlorida 2010, ASCE Geo-Institute Annual Congress, "Advances in Analysis, Modeling and Design"
  • 1st Middle European Landfill Conference, Keynote, Budapest, 2008
  • US NSF Workshop on Sustainable Landfills, University of Delaware, 2008
  • "Research and Practice in Waste Mechanics" Panel Member, GeoCongress, New Orleans, 2008

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • PhD External Examiner - Indian Institute Science, Bangalore (2022)
  • PhD External Examiner - Heriot Watt (2022)
  • PhD Exam Cardiff University (2020)
  • PhD External Examiner, University of Southampton
  • PhD Examination Jury, Universidad de Cantabria
  • MRes, University of Bristol
  • PhD Technical University of Delft
  • PhD University of Southampton
  • PhD Strathclyde University
  • PhD University of Dundee
  • PhD University of Southampton
  • PhD University of Southampton
  • PhD Strathclyde University
  • PhD University of Liege
  • MPhil Heriot-Watt University
  • PhD University of Southampton
  • PhD Imperial College

 

Visiting Positions

  • Incoming: Prof Claudio Mahler, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 9 months
  • Incoming: Dr Marina Miranda, University of Cantabria, 2 months
  • Incoming: Joan Esteban, University Jaume I, Spain, 6 months

 

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41 results

Phase relations for decomposable soils

Journal Article
McDougall, J. R., & Pyrah, I. C. (2004)
Phase relations for decomposable soils. Géotechnique, 54(7), 487-493. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.54.7.487.46750
Expressions describing the phase composition and interphase relations for a decomposable soil are derived by distinguishing between inert and decomposable fractions. A relatio...

Extended phase relations and load effects in MSW.

Journal Article
McDougall, J., Pyrah, I. & Yuen, S. T. S. (2004)
Extended phase relations and load effects in MSW. Waste Management. 24, 251-257. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2003.10.009. ISSN 0956-053X
The moisture retention and compression characteristics of municipal solid waste under self-weight are likened to those of an unsaturated soil. By assuming that the solid organ...

Moisture retention curve in landfilled waste.

Conference Proceeding
Kazimoglu, Y. K., McDougall, J., & Pyrah, I. (2003)
Moisture retention curve in landfilled waste. In Unsaturated Soils: Experimental Studies, 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-26736-0_5
Moisture content and moisture movement are key factors in controlling the progress and rate of biodegradation within a landfill as it is the aqueous environment that facilitat...

Effect of enhanced biodegradation on settlement of municipal solid waste landfills.

Journal Article
Yuen, S. T. S. & McDougall, J. (2002)
Effect of enhanced biodegradation on settlement of municipal solid waste landfills. Australian geomechanics. 38, 17-28. ISSN 0818-9110

Predicting long-term settlement of landfills using a fundamental model of waste behaviour.

Conference Proceeding
Needham, A., Fownes, G. J., McDougall, J. & Braithwaite, P. (2007)
Predicting long-term settlement of landfills using a fundamental model of waste behaviour

A biodegradacios hulladektarolas.

Journal Article
Imre, E., McDougall, J., Farkas, J., Kovacs, M., Czap, Z., Monteiro, V. E. D. & Trang, P. (2002)
A biodegradacios hulladektarolas. Journal of the Hungarian Hydrological Society. 83, 374-379

Assessment of landfill settlement data for evaluation of a hydro-bio-mechanical settlement model.

Conference Proceeding
Needham, A., Jones, D. R. V., McDougall, J., Dixon, N., Braithwaite, P. & Rosevear, A. (2006)
Assessment of landfill settlement data for evaluation of a hydro-bio-mechanical settlement model
A hydro-bio-mechanical (HBM) model of waste degradation has been under development for several years to simulate the actual processes involved in the settlement of landfilled ...

Modelling load, creep and biodegradation settlement in landfill.

Conference Proceeding
McDougall, J. & Pyrah, I. (2002)
Modelling load, creep and biodegradation settlement in landfill

Mass loss and landfilled waste mechanics.

Conference Proceeding
McDougall, J. (2008)
Mass loss and landfilled waste mechanics
The impact of mass loss on a particulate medium is investigated. Through a series of laboratory tests on a partly soluble sand, the quantitative impact of mass loss is measure...

Hydro-bio-mechanical modelling of landfilled waste: formulation and testing.

Conference Proceeding
McDougall, J. & Hay, J. (2004)
Hydro-bio-mechanical modelling of landfilled waste: formulation and testing

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