Staff profile

Professor Osman obtained an MPhil in 2002 and a PhD in 2005 from Cambridge University, both in geotechnical engineering. Professor Osman’s research focuses on ensuring resilience and sustainability of geo-infrastructure. His research has been funded by UKRI, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Council. He is the PI for 8 GCRF and Newton Fund grants. He is leading the £1.27M GCRF/EPSRC (EP/P029434/1) project “Developing performance-based design for foundations of WIND turbines in AFRICA (WindAfrica)”. This project aims to accelerate the deployment of wind turbines in Africa by designing foundations suitable for African unsaturated soils. He is also leading the Newton Fund international consortium on Unsaturated Soils Mechanics for Engineering Practice (UnsatPractice).

Professor Osman is a member of two Technical Committees (TCs) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE): TC219 System Performance of Geotechnical Structures and TC308 Energy Geotechnics. Professor Osman was a past member of the editorial board of the ICE  proceedings- Geotechnical Engineering (Nov 2014- Oct 2020), the Géotechnique Advisory Panel (Jan 2011-Jan 2014) and the Executive Committee of the UK Association for Computational Mechanics (2012-2014). 

• Perfomance-based design methods
• Soil-structure-atmosphere interaction
• Large-strain deformation analysis

Conference Paper

• Toll, D., & O’Dea, J. (2014, December). An XML data format for geotechnical data: AGSML4. Presented at 2nd International Conference on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering, Durham
• Zhou, S., Zhang, W., & Osman, A. (2024, April). Estimate end bearing resistance of a circular foundation using small strain and large deformation finite element modelling. Presented at 2024 UK Association for Computational Mechanics Conference, Durham, UK
• Rana, A., Kumar Sharma, A., Kumar, A., Azizi, A., Muguda, S., Osman, A., & Toll, D. G. (2023, July). An Apparatus to Monitor Suction Evolution and Water Migration within a Soil Mass for Climate-Adaptive Infrastructure. Presented at Geo-Risk 2023, Arlington, Virginia
• Moghaddasi, H., Osman, A., Toll, D., & Khalili, N. (2022, December). Rainfall induced deformation on unsaturated collapsible soils. Presented at Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics, Chicago, Illinois, on 23-26 May 2021
• Alhaj, K., Biscontin, G., Elshafie, M., & Osman, A. (2020, December). Water retention and characteristic curves representing tropical clay soils from Africa. Presented at 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020), ONLINE CONFERENCE
• Smit, G., Jacobsz, S., Gaspar, T., & Osman, A. (2019, December). Centrifuge modelling of pile pull-out tests in expansive soil. Presented at Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering ECSMGE, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Alhaj, K., Biscontin, G., Elshafie, M., & Osman, A. (2019, December). Soil water retention curves representing tropical clay soils from Africa. Presented at 17th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Cape Town, South Africa
• Gaspar, T., Jacobsz, S., Smit, G., & Osman, A. (2019, December). An expansive clay for centrifuge modelling. Presented at Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering ECSMGE, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Osman, A., Jacobsz, S., & Purchase, C. (2019, December). Numerical analysis of cavity propagation in deep trapdoor experiments. Presented at Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering ECSMGE, Reykjavik, Iceland
• da Silva, T., Haigh, S., Elshafie, M., Jacobsz, S., Day, P., & Osman, A. (2019, December). Preparations for field testing for the performance validation of piled wind turbine foundations in expansive clays. Presented at Proceedings of the 17th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering., Cape Town, South Africa
• Leung, A., Anastasopoulos, I., Augarde, C., Barreto, D., Brennan, A., Brown, M., Connolly, D., Coombs, W., Davies, T., Gao, Z., Ivanovic, A., Kenny, M., Knappett, J., Lombardi, D., McDougall, J., Medero, G., Muir Wood, D., El Mountassir, G., Osman, A., Pytharouli, S., …Zielinski, M. (2015, September). An overview of research activities and achievement in Geotechnics from the Scottish Universities Geotechnics Network (SUGN). Presented at 16th European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Edinburgh, UK
• Osman, A., & Birchall, T. (2014, August). Modelling tertiary creep in geomaterials using a continuum damage mechanics approach. Presented at International Symposium on Geomechanics from Micro and Macro, Cambridge, UK
• Toll, D., & Hassan, A. (2014, July). Data Acquisition and Control Software for Automated Resistivity Measurements. Presented at 2nd International Conference on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering, Durham, UK
• Asquith, J., & Toll, D. (2014, July). Data Acquisition Software for Controlling Serial Ports with Cloud Data Storage. Presented at 2nd International Conference on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering, Durham, UK
• Birchall, T., & Osman, A. (2013, March). On the formulation of thermodynamically-consistent viscoplastic-damage constitutive models. Presented at CM13: International Conference on Computational Mechanics., Durham, UK
• Ullah, Z., Augarde, C., & Coombs, W. (2013, December). Three-dimensional FE-EFGM adaptive coupling and its applications in the nonlinear adaptive analysis. Presented at CM13, Durham, UK
• Birchall, T., & Osman, A. (2012, December). Modelling creep in rocks using hyper-plasticity approach. Presented at Annual conference of the Association for Computational Mechanics in Engineering, Manchester, England
• Osman, A., & Rouainia, M. (2011, December). Numerical simulation of an axially loaded rigid sphere subject to harmonic load. Presented at Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing
• Panayides, S., Rouainia, M., & Osman, A. (2010, December). Numerical investigation of the behaviour of suction caissons in structured clays. Presented at Second International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG II), University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth
• Birchall, T., & Osman, A. (2010, December). Three-dimensional finite element analysis of opening interaction in squeezing ground. Presented at 18th Annual Conference of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering (ACME-UK), Southampton, England
• Osman, A., & Hussein, M. (2010, December). Dynamic response of a laterally-loaded infinite rigid cylinder embedded in a saturated poroelastic medium. Presented at The International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE), Nottingham, England
• Bolton, M., Lam, S., & Osman, A. (2008, December). Supporting excavations in clay - from analysis to decision-making, Keynote Paper. Presented at Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground: Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium (IS-Shanghai 2008), Shanghai, China
• Klar, A., & Osman, A. (2008, December). Predicting undrained displacement of piles under lateral loading. Presented at 2nd BGA International Conference on Foundations- ICOF, Dundee, Scotland
• Osman, A. (2008, December). Displacement of a circular surface foundation on non-linear soil. Presented at 16th Annual conference of the Association for Computational Mechanics in Engineering, Newcastle, England
• Osman, A., Bolton, M., & Mair, R. (2007, December). Modelling ground displacements around tunnels in clay. Presented at the XIV European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Madrid, Spain
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2006, December). Modelling ground displacements around tunnels in clay. Presented at 4th International Conference on Soft Clay Engineering, Vancouver, Canada

Edited book

• Higgins, K., Ainsworth, Y., Toll, D., & Osman, A. (Eds.). (2021). Piling 2020. ICE Publishing
• Osman, A., & Toll, D. (Eds.). (2015). Proceedings of the 24th European Young Geotechnical Engineering. Durham University
• Toll, D., Zhu, H., Osman, A., Coombs, W., Li, X., & Rouainia, M. (Eds.). (2014). Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. IOS Press
• Toll, D., Zhu, H., Osman, A., Coombs, W., Li, X., & Rouainia, M. (Eds.). (2014). Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Information Technology in Geo-Engineering. IOS Press
• Osman, A., Coombs, W., & Koziara, T. (Eds.). (2013). CM13: Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Mechanics. Durham University

Journal Article

• You, Y., Yang, J., Zheng, X., Xie, Y., Lyu, J., & Osman, A. S. (2025). A 3D material point discretization approach for complex terrain and geological body: Numerical implementation and application. Computers and Geotechnics, 177, Article 106884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2024.106884
• Zhang, L., Zhang, W., Wang, Y., & Osman, A. (online). Approximate upper- and lower-bound analyses of translational rainfall-induced landslides in curvilinear hillslopes. Géotechnique, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.23.00263
• Zhou, S., Zhang, W., & Osman, A. S. (2024). Effect of soil stiffness on end bearing resistance of foundations in clay from large deformation numerical modelling. Computers and Geotechnics, 173, Article 106515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2024.106515
• Zheng, X., Seaid, M., & Osman, A. S. (2024). A fully coupled dynamic water-mooring line system: Numerical implementation and applications. Ocean Engineering, 294, Article 116792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2024.116792
• Zheng, X., Qin, A., Yang, F., Wang, S., Yang, J., & Osman, A. (2024). Towards an error indicator-based h -adaptive refinement scheme in kinematic upper-bound limit analysis with the presence of seepage forces. Computers and Geotechnics, 166, Article 106005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.106005
• Zheng, X., Seaid, M., Pisanò, F., Hicks, M. A., Vardon, P. J., Huvaj, N., & Osman, A. S. (2023). A material point/finite volume method for coupled shallow water flows and large dynamic deformations in seabeds. Computers and Geotechnics, 162(October), Article 105673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105673
• Mehravar, M., Osman, A., Harireche, O., Faramarzi, A., Rahimzadeh, F., & Dirar, S. (2023). Installation performance of structurally enhanced caissons in sand. Computers and Geotechnics, 159, Article 105464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2023.105464
• Gaspar, T., Jacobsz, S., Smit, G., Gens, A., Toll, D., & Osman, A. (2023). Centrifuge modelling of an expansive clay profile using artificial fissuring to achieve realistic swell magnitudes in a short timeframe. Engineering Geology, 312, Article 106928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106928
• Selamat, S. N., Majid, N. A., Taha, M. R., & Osman, A. (2022). Application of geographical information system (GIS) using artificial neural networks (ANN) for landslide study in Langat Basin, Selangor. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 1064(1), https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1064/1/012052
• Gaspar, T., Jacobsz, S., Heymann, G., Toll, D., Gens, A., & Osman, A. (2022). The mechanical properties of a high plasticity expansive clay. Engineering Geology, 303, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106647
• Selamat, S. N., Majid, N. A., Taha, M. R., & Osman, A. (2022). Landslide Susceptibility Model Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Approach in Langat River Basin, Selangor, Malaysia. Land, 11(6), Article 833. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11060833
• da Silva Burke, T. S., Jacobsz, S., Elshafie, M. Z., & Osman, A. S. (2022). Measurement of pile uplift forces due to soil heave in expansive clays. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 59(12), https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2021-0079
• Al-Ghosoun, A., Osman, A., & Seaid, M. (2021). A Computational Model for Simulation of Shallow Water Waves by Elastic Deformations in the Topography. Communications in computational physics, 29(4), 1095–1124. https://doi.org/10.4208/cicp.oa-2020-0098
• Al-Ghosoun, A., Osman, A., & Seaid, M. (2021). A hybrid finite volume/finite element method for shallow water waves by static deformation on seabeds. Engineering Computations, 38(5), 2434-2459. https://doi.org/10.1108/ec-05-2020-0275
• Hashem Ali, S., & Osman, A. (2020). Analysis of a laterally loaded rigid cylinder embedded in an elastoplastic. Results in engineering, 5, Article 100062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2019.100062
• Osman, A., Birchall, T., & Rouainia, M. (2020). A simple model for tertiary creep in geomaterials. Geotechnical Research, 70(1), 3-59. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgere.19.00025
• Osman, A. S. (2019). Upper bound solutions for the shape factors of smooth rectangular footings on frictional materials. Computers and Geotechnics, 115, Article 103177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.103177
• Osman, A. S., & Jacobsz, S. (2019). Analysis of maximum arching conditions in active plane-strain trapdoors in sand. Computers and Geotechnics, 113, Article 103089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2019.05.004
• Alghosoun, A., Osman, A., & Seaid, M. (2018). A Finite Element/Finite Volume Method for Dam-Break Flows over Deformable Beds. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1474968
• Osman, A. (2016). Discussion of “Undrained Stability of Dual Circular Tunnels” by Daniel W. Wilson, Andrew J. Abbo, Scott W. Sloan, and Andrei V. Lyamin. International Journal of Geomechanics, 16(5), https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29gm.1943-5622.0000512
• Osman, A., & Randolph, M. (2015). On the calculation of cumulative strain around full-flow penetrometers in steady-state conditions. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 39(4), 368-387. https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.2312
• Osman, A., & Rouainia, M. (2014). A Semi-analytical solution for consolidation around a spherical cavity in an elasto-plastic medium and its potential application for tunneling. International Journal of Computational Methods, 11(02), Article 1342010. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0219876213420103
• Birchall, T., & Osman, A. (2012). Response of a tunnel deeply embedded in a viscoelastic medium. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 36(15), 1717-1740. https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.1069
• Osman, A., & Randolph, M. (2012). An Analytical Solution for the Consolidation around a Laterally Loaded Pile. International Journal of Geomechanics, 12(3), 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29gm.1943-5622.0000123
• Osman, A., & Rouainia, M. (2012). Dynamic response of an axially loaded rigid sphere embedded in a saturated poroelastic medium. Archive of Applied Mechanics, 82(3), 407-421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00419-011-0564-6
• Osman, A., & Randolph, M. (2010). Response of a solid infinite cylinder embedded in a poroelastic medium and subjected to a lateral load. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 47(18-19), 2414-2424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2010.05.001
• Osman, A. (2010). Comparison between coupled and uncoupled consolidation analysis of a rigid sphere in a porous elastic infinite space. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 136(8), 1059-1064. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%29em.1943-7889.0000149
• Osman, A. (2010). Stability of unlined twin tunnels in undrained clay. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 25(3), 290-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2010.01.004
• Klar, A., & Osman, A. (2008). Continuous velocity fields for the T-bar problem. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 32(8), 949-963. https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.653
• Klar, A., & Osman, A. (2008). Load-displacement solutions for piles and shallow foundations based on deformation fields and energy conservation. Géotechnique, 58(7), 581-589. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2008.58.7.581
• Klar, A., Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2007). 2D and 3D upper bound solutions for tunnel excavation using 'elastic' flow fields. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 31(12), 1367-1374. https://doi.org/10.1002/nag.597
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2007). Discussion: Design of braced excavations to limit ground movements. Authors' reply. Geotechnical Engineering, 160(1), 55-56
• Osman, A., White, D., Britto, A., & Bolton, M. (2007). Simple prediction of the undrained displacement of a circular surface foundation on non-linear soil. Géotechnique, 57(9), 729-737
• Osman, A., Mair, R., & Bolton, M. (2006). On the kinematics of 2D tunnel collapse in undrained clay. Géotechnique, 56(9), 585-595. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2006.56.9.585
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2006). Ground movement predictions for braced excavations in undrained clay. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 132(4), 465-477. https://doi.org/10.1061/%28asce%291090-0241%282006%29132%3A4%28465%29
• Osman, A., Bolton, M., & Mair, R. (2006). Predicting 2D ground movements around tunnels in undrained clay. Géotechnique, 56(9), 597-604. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2006.56.9.597
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2006). Disscussion on Simple plasticity-based prediction of the undrained settlement of shallow foundations on clay, Authors' reply. Geotechnique 55, No 6.,435-477. Géotechnique, 56(5), 355-356
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2006). Design of braced excavations to limit ground movements. Geotechnical Engineering, 159(GE3), 167-175. https://doi.org/10.1680/geng.2006.159.3.167
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2005). Simple plasticity-based prediction of the undrained settlement of shallow circular foundations on clay. Géotechnique, 55(6), 435-447. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2005.55.6.435
• Osman, A., & Bolton, M. (2004). A new design method for retaining walls in clay. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 41(3), 451-466

Report

• Toll, D., Abedin, Z., Buma, J., Cui, Y., Osman, A., & Phoon, K. (2012). The impact of changes in the water table and soil moisture on structural stability of buildings and foundation systems: Systematic review CEE10-005 (SR90). [No known commissioning body]