Prof. COOP Matthew Richard
Adjunct Professor
Professor Photo

Professor Coop has over 30 years research experience, concentrating on the behaviour of soils and weak rocks as revealed through high quality laboratory testing. More recently his interests have turned towards the micro-mechanics of sand particles and their relationship to macroscopic behaviour. Following industrial experience in offshore foundations and his Doctorate on the behaviour of piles in clays at Oxford University under the supervision of C.P.Wroth he was instrumental in developing the soil element research laboratory at City University, London before moving to Imperial College in 2000, where he was promoted to Professor in 2007. In 2010 he moved to the City University of Hong Kong where he has established a laboratory specialising in soil element testing and the micro-mechanics of inter-particle contacts. His work has been awarded the British Geotechnical Society Prize in 1989 1999 and 2015, the UK Institution of Civil Engineers Geotechnical Research Medal in 1990 and 2008, a Telford Premium in 2002 and the George Stephenson Medal in 2005, both also from the ICE and a Ronbun Show of the Japanese Geotechnical Society in 2012. In 2003 he delivered the Geotechnique Lecture. He has supervised 19 completed PhDs, has examined about 30 PhDs internationally and is currently a member of the UK EPSRC Peer Review College. He has been on the editorial boards of seven international journals, four technical committees of the ISSMGE and was the founding editor of Geotechnique Letters from 2010-2013, establishing it as a leading international journal.

Selected Publications

  • Sandeep C.S., Todisco M.C., Nardelli V., SENETAKIS K, COOP MR and Lourenco S.D.N. (2018), A micromechanical experimental study of highly/completely decomposed tuff granules,  Acta Geotechnica,  13(6): 1355-1367. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11440-018-0656-3]

  • Wang W., COOP MR and SENETAKIS K (2018), The development of a micro-mechanical apparatus applying combined normal-shear-bending forces to natural sand grains with artificial bonds,  Geotechnical Testing Journal,  42(4) [GTJ20170453]

  • Todisco M.C., Wang W., COOP MR and SENETAKIS K (2017), Multiple contact compression tests on sand particles,  Soils and Foundations,  57(1): 126-140.

  • ROCCHI I and COOP MR (2015), The effects of weathering on the physical and mechanical properties of a granitic saprolite,  Geotechnique,  65(6): 482-493.

  • SHIPTON B and COOP MR (2015), Transitional Behaviour in Sands with Plastic and Non-plastic Fines,  Soils and Foundations,  55(1): 1-16.

  • GASPARRE A, HIGHT DW, COOP MR and JARDINE RJ (2014), The laboratory measurement and interpretation of the small strain stiffness of stiff clays,  Geotechnique,  64(12): 942-953.

  • HOSSEINI-KAMAL R, BROSSE A, COOP MR and JARDINE RJ (2014), The post-yield behaviour of four Eocene-to-Jurassic UK stiff clays,  Geotechnique,  64(8): 620-634.

  • SENETAKIS K, COOP MR and Todisco M.C. (2013), The inter-particle coefficient of friction at the contacts of Leighton Buzzard sand quartz minerals,  Soils and Foundations,  53(5): 746-755.

  • SENETAKIS K, COOP MR and TODISCO MC (2013), Tangential Load-Deflection Behaviour at the Contacts of Soil Particles,  Geotechnique Letters,  3: 59-66.