Emeritus Professor Richard Chaplin appointed to ASCE Hall of Fame

Monday, 24 July 2017

Professor Chaplin with his glass trophy symbolising a droplet of oil

At a recent Gala Dinner in Houston Texas, Emeritus Professor of Engineering Science Richard Chaplin was appointed to the Hall of Fame of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), one of the world's most prestigious professional engineering societies.

The award was for the paper "Appraisal of Light Weight Moorings for Deep Water", jointly written with his research student Cesar Moraes Del Vecchio (on secondment from Petrobrás SA, Brazil).

It was made on the recommendation of a panel of experts reviewing research from 25 years ago, which judged that this was the paper from 1992 having the greatest impact on the Offshore Oil Industry.

The presentation of this paper, which made both the economic and the technical cases, triggered the industry to adopt ropes based on high tenacity polyester fibre for mooring floating oil production systems in deeper waters than had previously been accessible using all-steel components.

In a short space of time this had the effect of significantly increasing the world's accessible reserves of offshore oil and gas.

Professor Chaplin said: “It was a great honour to receive the award, and to have the contribution of my whole research team recognised in this way.”