Mundane passion anchors $20 billion industry

An engineer has credited a passion for the mundane as the driving force behind his geotechnical solutions that have influenced nearly all the oil and gas developments in north-west Western Australia.

Mark Randolph is providing engineering solutions to support offshore oil rigs.

The industry is expanding rapidly to meet the demand for natural gas in the growing Asian economies. Mark Randolph has contributed to anchoring the essential infrastructure as the industry moves offshore and into deep waters. He provides the analysis and design of piled foundations and solutions for offshore foundations, anchoring systems and pipelines.

“I make no apology for being first and foremost an engineer working at the very applied end of science,” he says. “And it’s primarily for my passion to see the rather mundane—and I might say the rather grubby—world of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering elevated in this way.”

Mark won the 2013 Western Australian Scientist of the Year. He is based at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems at the University of Western Australia.

Photo:  Mark Randolph is providing engineering solutions to support offshore oil rigs.