David Taborda

Dr David M G Taborda is a Reader in the Geotechnics section. Dr Taborda graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2004. Dr Taborda then joined Imperial College London to undertake his PhD studies in numerical modelling of dynamic soil behaviour and liquefaction-related phenomena. At the end of 2010 he joined the Geotechnical Consulting Group (GCG) as a Geotechnical Engineer, participating in the numerical simulation of different engineering projects involving soil-structure interaction.

In August 2012, Dr Taborda returned to Imperial College London as a Lecturer to develop the Department's research in the field of Energy Geotechnics. This has included the development of equipment and experimental techniques, as well as numerical methods for the analysis of heat exchange and temperature effects in the ground. These have been applied to the modelling of a range of ground-source heating problems, such as open-loops, thermo-active piles, thermo-active retaining walls and thermo-active tunnels. In addition to this, Dr Taborda has developed and applied constitutive models for soils to Geotechnical Engineering problems, and was part of the Imperial College team working on the PISA - Pile Soil Analysis project, which focused on the development of new design methodologies for foundations for offshore wind turbines.

Dr Taborda supports applications from prospective PhD students. There is more information available on Departmental (Civil & Environmental Engineering funding) and College (President's Scholarships) webpages.

Dr Taborda also supports applications to fellowship schemes, including but not limited to the Imperial College Research Fellowship (IC RFs).

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• Sailer E, Taborda D, Zdravkovic L, et al., 2022, A novel method for designing thermo-active retaining walls using two dimensional analyses, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, Vol:175, ISSN:1353-2618, Pages:289-310
• Taborda D, Zdravkovic L, Potts DM, et al., 2020, Finite-element modelling of laterally loaded piles in a dense marine sand at Dunkirk, Geotechnique, Vol:70, ISSN:0016-8505, Pages:1014-1029
• Tsaparli V, Kontoe S, Taborda D, et al., 2020, A case study of liquefaction: demonstrating the application of an advanced model and understanding the pitfalls of the simplified procedure, Geotechnique, Vol:70, ISSN:0016-8505, Pages:538-558