MEMBER PROFILE Paul Doherty: A Remarkable Young Engineer Doherty has had an exceptional career so far. His education includes a Bachelor of Engineering degree with honors, a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering, chartered status, and last year he received another impres- sive honor, the “Emerging Professional Consulting Engineer Award” from the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland. “At age 31, he has achieved more than most engineers do in a lifetime… Doherty has built the firm into a leading consultancy, and is sought out to resolve complex engineering problems.” The managing director of Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions grew up in a small town near Dublin, Ireland, one of four children. Paul Doherty comes from a long line of barrel makers — coopers for the famous Guinness brewery. He describes his interest in engineering as an ad hoc process. He liked math and enjoyed solving “practical” problems, rather than theoretical ones, which, he says led him to choose engineering as a profession. Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions In 2011, Doherty started his company with his Ph.D. thesis advisor, Kenneth Gavin. The then two-person firm focused on providing geotechnical engineering services to the international market. The firm has grown, and now employs 35 highly- qualified technical staff whose collective aim is to solve challenging projects with innovative engineering solutions. Doherty actively manages the business, including offices in both the U.K. and Ireland. The co- founder, Kenneth Gavin, takes a more hands-off role and is now professor of subsurface engineering at Delft Technical Uni-versity in the Netherlands, but maintains an “active interest” and consults for the firm’s more challenging projects. Doherty says he enjoys working on marine and offshore projects because of the technical challenges and the scale of the work involved. The risk profile of offshore projects compared to their onshore counterparts is significantly higher and so, he says, accurate and reliable geotechnical design is essential for the project to succeed. Risky projects offer opportunities, says Doherty. Designers are told to design both a robust and a conservative structure. Engineers and contractors can place longer piles, but, offshore, this means designing to depth, which is hard to target, he says. If one is overly conservative, there are fewer risks, but conservatism can lead to a costly solution. The challenge is to figure out how to be efficient, adds Doherty. “Nothing is Generic” Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions has worked all over the world, including Asia and Africa. Clients approach the firm, according to Doherty, because it fills a niche: that of innovation in soil-structure interaction analysis and timely delivery of complex solutions. The firm’s design approach is tailored for each project to meet a specific need, while working on tight schedules. Doherty says the company’s approach is always flexible; nothing is generic. The firm’s project for the Irish Rail Authority is an example of its ability to develop novel and innovative solutions. The scope of this work involved dev- eloping a high-end Decision Support Tool for the Irish Railway Network. That network has over 2,800 km (1,740 mi) of track, supported by earthwork comprising thousands of cutting and embankment components. The Decision Support Tool assists in managing these assets through quantitative risk analysis. The firm ranked all the slope assets according to risk and achieved a scientific means of supporting maintenance and remediation decisions. The railway infrastructure contains cuttings and embankments that include naturally variable soils and slopes. The safe operation of the railway relies on ensuring slope stability and, therefore, says Doherty, “it is critical to manage the risk of slope failure.” The Irish Rail earthworks are more than 100 years old and are subject to landslides and rockfalls that sometimes result in expensive remediation, such as derailments, train damages and temporary line closures. AUTHOR Virginia Fairweather DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2017 • 63
