David Hight

{{Infobox scientist

| name = David Hight

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FREng|FICE}}

| image = Dr David Hight FREng FRS (cropped).jpg

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| caption = Hight in 2016

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|08|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Maidenhead, England

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| fields = {{Plainlist|

Soil mechanics{{cite book |vauthors=Baldi G, Hight DW, Thomas GE |veditors=Donaghe RT, Chaney RC, Silver ML |title=Advanced Triaxial Testing of Soil and Rock |year=1988 |pages=219–45 |doi=10.1520/STP29080S |chapter=State-of-the-Art Paper: A Reevaluation of Conventional Triaxial Test Methods |isbn=978-0-8031-0983-4}}
Geotechnical engineering}}

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| alma_mater = Imperial College London (BSc, MSc, PhD)

| thesis_title = Laboratory investigations of sea-bed clays

| thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.308735

| thesis_year = 1983

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors = Alan W. Bishop
John Burland

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| awards = Rankine Lecture (1998)

| website = {{URL|gcg.co.uk}}

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David William Hight (born 17 August 1943){{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Hight, David William | id = U287291 | year = 2017 | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U287291 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}}{{cite web|author=Anon|year=2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501213032/http://www.gcg.co.uk/CVs/DWH.pdf|archive-date=2016-05-01|url=http://www.gcg.co.uk/CVs/DWH.pdf|title=David William Hight CV|publisher=gcg.co.uk|location=London}} is a senior consultant at the Geotechnical Consulting Group, a company providing high-level expertise in the field of geotechnical engineering and well known for bridging the gap between research and engineering practice.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429121319/https://royalsociety.org/people/david-hight-12877/|archive-date=2016-04-29|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/david-hight-12877/|author=Anon|year=2016|publisher=Royal Society|location=London|title=Dr David Hight FREng FRS}} One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: {{blockquote|“All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” --{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |title=Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies |access-date=2016-03-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925220834/https://royalsociety.org/about-us/terms-conditions-policies/ |archive-date=September 25, 2015 }}}}{{Scopus id}}

Education

Hight was educated at Imperial College London, where he was awarded Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees followed by a PhD in 1983{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=Imperial College London (University of London)|title=Laboratory investigations of sea-bed clays|first= David William|last=Hight|date=1983|url=https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/handle/10044/1/7370|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.308735}}|hdl=10044/1/7370|oclc=557389112|website=imperial.ac.uk}} {{free access}} carried out in the soil mechanics section of the civil engineering department, headed by Alan W. Bishop and John Burland.

Career

Hight served as a lecturer at Imperial College between 1975 and 1983, and has been visiting professor at Imperial College (1993–2012), at the National University of Singapore (2000) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1983).

He has synthesised the causes and effects of disturbance to soil samples and introduced methods to minimise sample disturbance and to assess sample quality. This has enabled him to become an expert in characterising the real behaviour of natural soils, including quantifying their scale of anisotropy of strength and stiffness.

Using this expertise Hight has specialised in forensic engineering, investigating geotechnical failures of tunnels, embankments, road pavements, and port constructions; work that has opened up new avenues of research and led to new approaches to design and construction, including participating in the introduction of compensation grouting. He has carried out technical audits on the foundations of numerous engineering projects including Hong Kong International Airport, the Rio–Antirrio bridge in Greece and Heathrow Terminal 5.{{cite journal|last1=Hight|first1=D. W.|last2=Gasparre|first2=A.|last3=Nishimura|first3=S.|last4=Minh|first4=N. A.|last5=Jardine|first5=R. J.|last6=Coop|first6=M. R.|title=Characteristics of the London Clay from the Terminal 5 site at Heathrow Airport|journal=Géotechnique|volume=57|issue=1|year=2007|pages=3–18|doi=10.1680/geot.2007.57.1.3|bibcode=2007Getq...57....3H }}

=Awards and honours=

Hight was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2001 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016.

References

{{CC-notice|cc=by4|url= https://royalsociety.org/people/david-hight-12877/}}

Category:Living people

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Category:1943 births

Category:Alumni of Imperial College London