Plymouth Humanists

Talk: Wave loading on lighthouses

Lighthouses have stood along the British coastline for hundreds of years and still play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the global shipping industry. But in the face of the increasingly stormy conditions and rising sea levels resulting from climate change, how resilient are these structures – particularly when you consider they are already up to two centuries old. Our June talk is from Professor Alison Raby who is coming to speak to us about the engineering challenges of maintaining the lighthouses built on rocks around the south west coast

Alison is a Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics at the University of Plymouth, where she leads the COAST Engineering Research Group. Alison is an expert on the interactions of extreme waves with coastal structures, having obtained her doctorate in extreme wave overtopping at the University of Oxford. She has recently led the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and UK General Lighthouse Authority-funded STORMLAMP project, a collaboration with UCL and Exeter University that has shed light on the structural response of rock lighthouses to wave impacts. She also conducts international post-tsunami reconnaissance missions under the auspices of the Institution of Structural Engineers. She is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers

This event is free and all are welcome, although we do ask for a voluntary contribution (in cash please) to help cover speakers’ costs.

For accessability information on the venue (which is in the Barbican Theatre building) please see this link: https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/barbican-theatre