ABSTRACT
A centrifuge at “Lucas AeroSpace” at Luton which had been built to test components for the abandoned “Blue Streak” project, was located. The machine was very basic, consisting of twin horizontal tubes of 5.6m diameter mounted on a vertical spindle enclosed in a pit down the floor of a shed. Professor Roscoe, however, was now firmly convinced of the potential of the centrifuge, particularly when run in parallel with the fundamental research on material properties and the newly devloping numerical versions of the “critical state” soil mechanics concepts. In many senses 1973–74 was a watershed year in the British Geotechnical centrifuge work; the three major centres had all come through a learning and hardware development period — each effectively from scratch. All three groups had started with slope or foundation stability and had subsequently developed an individual flavour. Both government and industrial funding had at last appreciated the potential of the three facilities and all the British groups have.
