Andrew Clennel Palmer facts for kids
Andrew Clennel Palmer (born May 26, 1938 – died December 21, 2019) was a British engineer. He was known for his work on building submarine pipelines safely underwater and studying the properties of ice. He spent a lot of his career teaching and doing research at several universities, including Cambridge University. He also worked in industry and helped as an expert in engineering cases.
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Early Life and School
Andrew Palmer was born in Colchester. His father was a headmaster. Andrew went to the Royal Liberty School and was the first student from his school to attend Cambridge University. He studied Mechanical Sciences there and finished his degree in 1961. He did very well, earning top marks in his first two years.
University Research and Teaching
After graduating, Andrew Palmer went to Brown University in the United States for his advanced studies. He earned his doctorate (a high-level degree) in 1965. His research there included how materials can bend without breaking (called plasticity) and how ice moves and forms.
Later, he became a teacher at the University of Liverpool. However, he soon returned to Cambridge in 1967. There, he became a fellow at Churchill College. His early research at Cambridge looked at how soil behaves, especially how temperature affects it. He used what was known about metals to understand soil better.
Helping with Oil Pipelines
In 1970, Andrew Palmer started working with BP, a big oil company. They needed an expert on permafrost (permanently frozen ground) for their trans-Alaska pipeline project. Even though he didn't know much about oil pipelines at first, his fresh ideas helped solve tough engineering problems. He later helped with other major pipelines like the Forties pipeline.
He found a clever way to figure out the exact shape a pipeline would take as it was being laid underwater by a special ship. Instead of using complex computer calculations, he built a small physical model. This made the process much easier and faster.
Working in Companies and at UMIST
In 1975, Andrew Palmer left Cambridge to work for R. J. Brown & Associates, an engineering company. He worked on the first pipelines laid under ice in the arctic parts of Northern Canada. He even managed a project where they successfully installed a pipeline by using a physical model to plan everything perfectly. He worked in London, Houston, and Singapore for the company.
After some changes at R. J. Brown & Associates, Palmer left. He then joined the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). There, he started a course to teach people how to design underwater pipelines. This course became very popular and was taught for many years. He enjoyed his time at UMIST, but he left after three years due to changes happening at the university.
Andrew Palmer & Associates
Andrew Palmer decided to start his own company called Andrew Palmer & Associates Limited (APAL). His company offered advice on engineering projects and created special software for oil engineers. APAL became very successful and was known for its excellent engineering work. It grew to have offices in several cities and employed over 55 people.
The company was special because it had many young and female employees. It also allowed employees to own parts of the company and share in the profits. Andrew Palmer preferred doing engineering work rather than managing the company. So, he sold APAL in 1993, but he stayed on for a few more years as part of the agreement.
Back to University Teaching
In 1996, Andrew Palmer returned to Cambridge University as a professor of petroleum engineering. His job was to connect different areas of study. He loved this role, teaching students about real-world problems faced by engineers. He also helped the university get donations from companies. He even spent a year teaching at Harvard University in the United States.
He retired from Cambridge in 2005. In 2006, he moved to the National University of Singapore, where he continued to teach and guide students working on their advanced degrees.
Important Research
Andrew Palmer's main research interests were how soil behaves, especially in cold temperatures. He later focused a lot on how ice flows and its mechanical properties. This was a topic he studied for a long time.
He often used a method called dimensional analysis, which he called "a magical way of finding useful results with almost no effort." He also built simple physical models of systems. These models helped him test ideas and find the best solutions cheaply, especially before computers were powerful enough to do complex simulations. Sometimes, his models were quite large, like a 1:6 scale model he helped build to study storm hazards.
His work greatly improved how pipelines are designed today to prevent them from bending or breaking (called buckling). He also introduced a new, cost-saving way to lay pipelines in deep water by partly filling them with seawater. This meant the pipeline walls didn't need to be as thick to resist the outside pressure.
Other Contributions
Andrew Palmer often served as an expert witness in legal cases, sharing his engineering knowledge. He enjoyed working with lawyers. He also served on several important committees and was the president of the Pipeline Industries Guild from 1998 to 2000.
Personal Life
Andrew Palmer met his wife, Jane Evans, an artist, while they were both helping to build schools in America. They married in 1963 and had a daughter named Emily. They shared many interests, including art and travel.
As a student, Palmer was very interested in left-wing politics and enjoyed debating. He was well-liked by his colleagues, who described him as kind and unique. He was also very good at languages, learning Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish in addition to English.
Awards
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 1994
- Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
- Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers
- Clarkson University, honorary doctorate, 2007
