Andrew Clennel Palmer (26 May 1938 – 21 December 2019) was a British engineer who worked on
offshore geotechnical problems of
submarine pipeline design and the study of the properties of
ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
. He spent much of his career as a teacher and academic researcher, at the
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
,
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, the
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and the
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
, punctuated by work in industry, while also serving as an
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
and as a member of various industrial and academic committees.
Early life and education
Born in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''.
Colchester occupies the ...
, Palmer was the son of
Gerald Basil Coote Palmer, headmaster of
Mark Hall Comprehensive School in
Harlow
Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...
, and Muriel née Howes. After attending the
Royal Liberty School in
Gidea Park, he became the first student from his school to go on to study at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, reading Mechanical Sciences at
Pembroke College and completing his undergraduate degree in 1961. He achieved
first-class honours in his first two years (the third being unclassed).
Academia
Daniel C. Drucker was visiting Cambridge while Palmer was a student and was sufficiently impressed to extend an invitation to return to
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
and perform research there, which Palmer accepted after graduation, receiving a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in 1965. Drucker said that his work could have been worth three doctorates. His work at Brown included
plasticity,
glacial creep and
ice lensing.
After his doctorate, Palmer spent two years as a lecturer at the
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
, but was dissatisfied with the university's engineering curriculum and returned to Cambridge in 1967, where he became a fellow of
Churchill College. His initial research there was on the
physical properties of soil and how
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...
affected
soil plasticity; he was able to analogise from the
stress–strain relationships in metals, which were more understood.
These topics led to his involvement with
BP's
trans-Alaska pipeline project, beginning in 1970 with the company seeking an expert in
permafrost
Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
; Palmer had no specific understanding of
oil pipelines, but the company was seeking a new perspective on its engineering problems, and he would follow up his initial work by contributing to the
Forties and
Ninian pipelines. He solved the problem of predicting the shape of the curve of a pipeline, and thus the
mechanical stress it suffers, as it is being laid by an
S-lay barge by building a
physical model and
dimensional analysis, avoiding the need for numerically-laborious calculation of
finite element analysis
Finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical models, mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural ...
.
In industry and at UMIST
In 1975, after his engagement with BP, Palmer left Cambridge and joined
R. J. Brown & Associates as an industrial engineer. He worked on the first under-ice pipelines in the
arctic
The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
in
Northern Canada
Northern Canada (), colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada, variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, terr ...
, the
Polar Gas pipeline and the
Panarctic Drake F-76 flowline, serving as the project manager of the latter. Having physically modelled laying the pipeline, the physical model was used to optimise the process and the actual installation went very smoothly. After this success, Palmer stayed with the company and worked in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
and
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
, rising to the role of head of the London office, as well as travelling around Europe on business.
Palmer left R. J. Brown & Associates following other departures and conflict at the company. After a period of unemployment—the petroleum industry being in a slump—Palmer joined the
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and began a course to train practitioners in submarine pipeline design; the course would be repeated many times over the next forty years. Despite enjoying his tenure at the university, it was not long, spending only three years there before leaving during turmoil around budgets, job losses, and a merger with
Victoria University.
Andrew Palmer & Associates
Returning to industry, Palmer established a company, Andrew Palmer & Associates Limited (APAL). As well as consulting on various projects, APAL developed a modular software suite for oil engineers, PLUSONE. The company was successful and earned a reputation for high-quality engineering work, expanding from its original office in London to sites in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
and
Newcastle and also becoming involved in
project management
Project management is the process of supervising the work of a Project team, team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project initiation documentation, project documentation, crea ...
, eventually employing over 55 people. The company had a high proportion of young and female employees, and practiced
employee stock ownership
Employee stock ownership, or employee share ownership, is where a company's employees own shares in that company (or in the parent company of a group of companies). US employees typically acquire shares through a share option plan. In the UK, Em ...
and equally
shared profits between employees—though the latter was not entirely a success. Palmer did not enjoy the role of being a manager, preferring to be involved in the engineering process, and the company was sold in 1993, with Palmer staying on until 1996 as part of the sale agreement.
Return to academia
Palmer returned to Cambridge in 1996 as a professor of
petroleum engineering, with a remit for cross-disciplinary collaboration. He flourished in this role, introducing students to a variety of the problems faced by practitioners, as well as in university administration and benefactor relations, soliciting donations from industry. During a
sabbatical, he spent a year as a
visiting professor at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
He retired from Cambridge in 2005 and, in 2006, moved to the
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
to a chair sponsored by
Keppel Corporation, where he continued to teach and supervise graduate students.
Research
Palmer's initial topic of study was
soil mechanics
Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and ...
, particularly at low temperature; he would later investigate
ice flow and the mechanical properties of
ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
, which would remain a recurrent, long-term interest of his.
He would deploy
dimensional analysis, which he described as 'a magical way of finding useful results with almost no effort,' as well as physical models of systems that, while simple, nevertheless captured a relevant aspect of the problem and allowed for experimentation and optimisation cheaply, which was especially important before
digital computers were powerful enough to simulate complex systems. Sometimes, the models were not so small: Palmer realised that the 1:20 scale modelling of storm hazards near
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
were insufficient, and instead was involved in building a large 1:6
flow cell.
His contribution to understanding how pipelines
buckle form the basis of modern pipelines are designed to avoid this hazard, and he introduced a new way of laying pipelines in deep water partly-filled with seawater (previously, they had been laid empty), so that the walls did not need to be as thick (significantly reducing costs) to stop the pipelines buckling under the pressure.
Other work
Palmer made himself available as an
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
, and enjoyed working with lawyers, who he found quick-witted (though forgetful once a case was over). He testified for the Crown at the
Piper Alpha disaster inquest and at various other investigations. He served on several committees and editorial boards, including as president of the
Pipeline Industries Guild from 1998 to 2000.
Personal life
Palmer met Jane Evans, an artist, on an American holiday while they were both
volunteering
Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...
to construct schools; they married in 1963, and had a daughter, Emily. The two shared many interests and hobbies, including art and travel.
As an undergraduate, Palmer was keenly
left wing and debated at the
Cambridge Union. He was elected president of his college's
Junior Combination Room. He spoke many languages: as well as his native English, he learnt Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. Colleagues found him kind, if quirky, and he was well-liked.
Awards
*
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
, 1994
*
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
*
Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers
*
Clarkson University,
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
, 2007
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Andrew Clennel
1938 births
2019 deaths
People from Colchester
20th-century British engineers
21st-century British engineers
British engineers
Petroleum engineers
Geotechnical engineers
People educated at the Royal Liberty Grammar School
Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Brown University School of Engineering alumni
Academics of the University of Liverpool
Engineering professors at the University of Cambridge
Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge
Academics of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
Academic staff of the National University of Singapore
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering