Papers of Professor Peter Walter Rowe

Peter Rowe has left a very substantial archive that documents every aspect of his entire career, as an academic and research scientist, as a consulting geotechnical engineer, and as an expert witness in many legal cases. It constitutes a major source for the history of geotechnical science and civil engineering in the second half of the twentieth century.

The bulk of the archive comprises files relating to some five hundred projects and cases with which Rowe was involved as a consulting geotechnical engineer or expert witness (PWR/4). The majority of these projects were located in Britain. Besides Rowe's long-term work for the Manchester Ship Canal Company (PWR/4/1), the archive contains detailed information on the design and construction of reservoirs and dams (PWR/4/2/1), sea closures (PWR/4/2/2), docks (PWR/4/2/3), power station foundations (PWR/4/2/4), roads (PWR/4/2/5), sewerage and sewage schemes (PWR/4/2/6), offshore structures such as oil and gas platforms (PWR/4/4), and a wide variety of other projects such as housing developments, land reclamation schemes, coal mines, sugar silos, storage facilities for chemicals and gases, and factory and office developments (PWR/4/2/7). The archive is also an important source for major international construction projects such as the two eight-mile crossings of the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, the Hat Creek Thermal Power Project in Canada, the construction of grain silos in Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as for Rowe's participation in international efforts to prevent the sinking of Venice (PWR/4/3). Project files typically contain correspondence, maps and plans, site investigation material such as bore-hole logs, notes, sketches, calculations, laboratory test data, and photographs.

Peter Rowe was also invited to submit evidence as an expert witness in many arbitration and legal cases. These files form a separate series, PWR/4/5, although there is some overlap of subject matter with the files in PWR/4/2.

Peter Rowe's academic career is illuminated in two subfonds: the University of St Andrews, 1947-1952 (PWR/2); and the University of Manchester, 1952-1990 (PWR/3). The latter contains lecture notes and other teaching materials, as well as records relating to the administration of the Department of Engineering and the business of the University as a whole. There is a separate subfonds in which the bulk of the papers relating to Rowe's research activities (which in turn overlapped considerably with his consultancy work) are to be found (PWR/5). He published extensively, and drafts of his many papers, with correspondence and other supporting documentation, can be found in the subfonds Publications and Technical Papers (PWR/6). He was also invited to deliver numerous high-profile lectures and key-note speeches, including the Twelfth Rankine Lecture in 1972. Papers relating to these activities are located in PWR/7, while Rowe's attendance at international conferences and his involvement in several professional bodies are documented in PWR/8 and PWR/9 respectively. The subgroup PWR/10 is devoted to correspondence, although substantial quantities of correspondence can be found throughout the archive. Only a small amount of biographical and personal papers has survived; this can be found in PWR/1.

The papers of Peter Rowe are an important source for historians of geotechnical science, both as an academic discipline, and in its practical applications in civil engineering. Indeed Rowe's career constitutes an interesting case study for the interface between university research and "real-life" civil engineering. The archive documents the whole of Rowe's thirty-year career at the University of Manchester, in a period when links between academia and the private sector grew ever stronger. The archive also reveals trends in the teaching of soil mechanics and civil engineering at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The importance of publishing, conferences and professional bodies for the dissemination of research and the fostering of professional contacts is also apparent.

The archive is highly significant for studies of practical civil engineering. It contains a great deal of information on the statutory, planning, design, construction (and in some cases legal) processes involved in individual civil engineering projects. The archive undoubtedly contains unique data on the design of reservoirs and dams, water treatment works and sewerage schemes, and it is likely to become increasingly relevant for the maintenance and safety regimes of such structures.

Peter Walter Rowe, Professor of Soil Mechanics at the University of Manchester, was born at Bath on 2 July 1922, the son of Walter Alfred Rowe and Winifred Louise née Jeffries. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Bristol University, where he graduated in 1943 with first class honours in civil engineering. He immediately began to contribute to the war effort, joining the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough as a Junior Scientific Officer. While at Farnborough Rowe developed his experimental research techniques and published his first scientific paper, 'Interpretation of the notched bar impact test', Engineer (1944). He went on to publish over eighty papers during his professional career.

After Farnborough, Peter Rowe spent two years as an assistant engineer with Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons, gaining valuable field experience, but he resumed his research interests in 1947, when he took up an appointment at the University of St Andrews as assistant lecturer under Professor Bill Marshall (later Regius Professor at Glasgow). Rowe's doctoral thesis was on the behaviour of flexible sheet pile walls, and he undertook experiments with scale models, using techniques that he had learnt at Farnborough. This led to the publication in 1952 of his major paper, 'Anchored sheet pile walls' in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. For this he was awarded the Institution's Telford Premium. Karl Terzaghi, the founder of the science of soil mechanics, praised Rowe's work, predicting that it would form the basis of future design techniques.

In 1952 Rowe was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Manchester. Initially he taught surveying techniques, and it was only later that he taught soil mechanics. He continued to pursue his own research on sheet piling, investigating walls in clay and different support conditions. In order to facilitate physical modelling, he constructed a fourteen-tonne capacity sand flume. In 1956 he was awarded a D.Sc. by the University.

In the late 1950s Peter Rowe embarked on two further research projects of fundamental importance. The first was theoretically based and concerned the inter-relationship between effective stress and strain rate ratios for frictional materials. He realised the importance of particle interactions in governing the behaviour of all but the loosest-packed sands. The result was the 'Rowe stress-dilatancy equation', published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in 1962. Although it was not realised at the time, this relationship is fundamental for formulating constitutive relationships for soils. Rowe's research was founded upon the pioneering work of Osborne Reynolds, the first Professor of Engineering at the University of Manchester.

The second of Rowe's research projects was more practical and experimentally based. It concerned measurements of the coefficients of consolidation and permeability of natural clays. He observed that the detailed arrangements of clay particles and the inhomogeneity of a clay's 'fabric' could dominate its drainage and consolidation characteristics. One of the first samples to be tested was a lacustrine clay from the Derwent Reservoir site, where Rowe's colleague at the University, Edgar Morton, was engaged as a consultant. Rowe argued that it was better to take a few large, representative clay samples, selected from critical locations on a site, than a large number of small random samples. He concluded that conventional laboratory equipment was generally too small and inadequate to test these clays. He therefore developed a series of Rowe Consolidation Cells, hydraulically-loaded oedometers of up to 500 mm diameter. Rowe Cells soon became standard laboratory equipment throughout the world. The importance of soil 'fabric', sample size and testing technique formed the basis of the 12th Rankine Lecture delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1972.

At Manchester, the opening of the Simon Engineering Laboratories in 1962 permitted space for extensive soil materials and soil mechanics laboratories. In the following year Peter Rowe was appointed to the Chair of Soil Mechanics. He built up an impressive research team that included Laing Barden, Brian Wilkinson and Ian Smith. Research on soil mechanics was greatly facilitated by the inauguration in 1970 of a massive 700 g-tonne centrifuge, located adjacent to the Simon Engineering Laboratories. Part-funded by industry, the facility was originally built to test large embankment dams, but the machine was also ideally suited to testing offshore engineering structures during the North Sea oil and gas boom. In 1973 Elf-Total commissioned centrifuge tests on their platform for the Frigg field, and for the next ten years many offshore structures were subjected to exhaustive centrifuge testing, including the Hutton Field Tension Leg Platform. The centrifuge laboratory was named the 'Peter W. Rowe Laboratory' in 1982 and remained in regular use into the 21st century.

Peter Rowe combined his pre-eminence in laboratory research and academic work with a remarkable career spanning forty years as a geotechnical consultant, both in Britain and overseas. He advised on many dam schemes, such as those at Derwent, Kielder and Grimwith. He was employed as a consultant by the Manchester Ship Canal Company for many years, advising on a great variety of issues and proposals. Rowe worked on a wide variety of other major projects in Britain: sea closures and docks, including the Severn barrage scheme, Immingham docks and Faslane shipyard; nuclear power stations, such as those at Hinkley Point 'B', Hartlepool, Oldbury and Torness; road-building programmes, among them the M63 Sale By-pass and the A55 North Wales Coast Road; numerous sewerage schemes; and other projects relating to housing developments, land reclamation schemes, coal mines, silos, chemical and gas storage facilities, and factory and office developments.

Rowe's international reputation ensured that his consultancy services were in demand across the world, from the Arctic Ocean to the Falklands, from the Netherlands to Fiji. Among the most significant projects in which he was involved were the construction of two eight-mile crossings of the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, which scours 60 metres deep, for electricity, gas, road and rail links; the Hat Creek Thermal Power Project in Canada; and the foundations for both 180,000 and 333,000 tonne grain silos and a 130,000 tonne sugar silo on a coral reef in Saudi Arabia. Rowe claimed that the most interesting job he ever worked on was the Oosterschelde Storm Surge Barrier in The Netherlands, which involved the construction of giant caissons to seal off the mouth of the Oosterschelde. He was also invited by the Italian Government to advise on measures to halt the settlement of Venice.

Peter Rowe retired from the University of Manchester in 1982 at the age of sixty, but his research and consultancy work continued unabated, and he worked six or seven days a week consulting, writing and lecturing on geotechnical engineering, until shortly before his death. In 1985 he gave the keynote lecture at the 18th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists in Cambridge. In 1986 the Geotechnical Group at Manchester celebrated its one hundredth postgraduate research degree since Rowe's arrival in 1952. The quality of his consultancy work, and his forensic methods of investigating problems, meant that Rowe was regularly called upon as an expert witness in professional disputes and arbitration cases. He was involved in some thirty-five cases spread over forty years. For example, he was heavily involved in the case concerning the major failure of the Carsington Reservoir dam in 1984, as it neared completion, and its subsequent reconstruction.

He was awarded the Gold Medal of the University of Liege; the Silver Medal of the University of New South Wales; the Hogentogler Award of the American Society of Testing Materials; the Cooper Hill War Memorial Prize of the Institution of Civil Engineers; and several awards from the British Geotechnical Society. He received a Telford Gold Medal in 1969, the highest award of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Peter Rowe died on 28 April 1997 at the age of seventy four. He was buried in Troutbeck in the Lake District, overlooking his favourite walks.

The case files for the consultancy projects were accompanied by a box list, typed by Mrs Rowe. During the numerous moves, these papers had become disordered. The remainder of the papers had no apparent order, although some initial sorting was undertaken by Mr John Scriven. The classification scheme for the collection as a whole owes much to the work done on scientific papers at the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists at the University of Bath.

The papers have been arranged into the following subfonds:

• PWR/1 Biographical and Personal, 1940-1997
• PWR/2 University of St Andrews, 1947-1952
• PWR/3 University of Manchester, 1952-1990
• PWR/4 Consultancy Work, 1951-1997
• PWR/5 Research, 1948-1986
• PWR/6 Publications and Technical Papers, 1940-1994
• PWR/7 Lectures, 1962-1993
• PWR/8 Visits and Conferences, 1962-1992
• PWR/9 Professional Bodies, 1955-1995
• PWR/10 Correspondence, 1948-1996
• PWR/11 Illustrative Material
• PWR/12 Maps and Plans

The archive is stored offsite. A minimum notice period of three working days is required for access to any part of the collection; please contact Special Collections Reader Services for further details (uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk).

The collection is open to any accredited reader. However, to protect confidentiality and in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2000, access to some items containing information relating to living individuals is restricted.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018. The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for archiving and research purposes according to the provisions of the Act. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

The bulk of the papers were donated to the John Rylands University Library of Manchester in 1998 by Peter Rowe's widow, Ann. There were several minor accessions of additional, 'stray' material between 2001 and 2003.

Photocopies and photographic copies can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands University Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3EH.

The archive originally contained numerous copies of technical journals to which Peter Rowe subscribed. These have been weeded since they are widely available elsewhere in electronic or hard-copy formats.

Peter Rowe kept his private consultancy papers at his home, Styperson House in Addlington, Cheshire, whereas material relating to his teaching and research activities was housed in his office within the Simon Engineering Building of the University of Manchester. Following his retirement from the University in 1982, Rowe removed these papers to his home. After the scientist's death in 1997, the entire archive was relocated to the Simon Engineering Building, and in 1998 was transferred to the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Between 2001 and 2003 there were several small accessions of additional material that had been discovered at Styperson House and at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (following the relocation of the School of Engineering to UMIST).

No further accruals are expected.

The papers of Edgar Morton, Reader in Applied Geology at the University of Manchester and consultant on major engineering projects, contain detailed information on a significant number of projects with which Peter Rowe was involved. These are also held at the Library (ref. GB 133 EMP).

The following is a list of papers written by Peter Rowe:

P.W. Rowe, 'Interpretation of the notched bar impact tests', The Engineer,vol. 31 (1944).

P.W. Rowe, 'The effect of radial pressure on the flow and fracture of reinforced plastic rods', Royal Aircraft Establishment Report (1945).

P.W. Rowe, 'The base width of cantilever retaining walls', Civil Engineering,vol. 44 (1949).

P.W. Rowe, 'The distribution of lateral earth pressure on a stiff wall due to surcharge', Civil Engineering,vol. 45 (1950).

P.W. Rowe, 'Cantilever sheet piling in cohesionless soil', Engineering,vol. 172, no. 4467 (1951), pp. 316-319.

P.W. Rowe, 'Anchored sheet-pile walls', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,part 1, vol. 1, no. 1 (1952), pp. 27-70.

P.W. Rowe, correspondence on 'Anchored sheet-pile walls', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,part 1, vol. 1, no. 5 (1952), pp. 616-647.

P.W. Rowe, 'A stress-strain theory for cohesionless soil with applications to earth pressures at rest and moving walls', Géotechnique,vol. 4, no. 2 (1954), pp. 70-88.

P.W. Rowe, 'A soil pressure gauge for laboratory model research', Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineering (1954).

P.W. Rowe, ' A theoretical and experimental analysis of sheet-pile walls', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,part 1, vol. 4, no. 1 (1955), pp. 32-69.

P.W. Rowe, 'Sheet-pile walls encastre at the anchorage', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,part 1, vol. 4, no. 1 (1955), pp. 70-87.

P.W. Rowe, correspondence on 'Sheet-pile walls encastre', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,part 1, vol. 4, no. 6 (1956), pp. 837-839.

P.W. Rowe, 'Sand flume for soil mechanics research', Civil Engineering,vol. 50 (1955).

P.W. Rowe, 'The flexibility characteristics of sheet-pile walls', The Structural Engineer,vol. 34, no. 6 (1955), pp. 150-158.

P.W. Rowe, 'Sheet-pile walls at failure', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 5, no. 3 (1956), pp. 276-315.

P.W. Rowe, correspondence on 'Sheet-pile walls at failure', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 6 (1956), pp. 347-361.

P.W. Rowe, 'The single pile subject to horizontal force', Géotechnique,vol. 6, no. 2 (1956), pp. 70-85.

P.W. Rowe, 'The present situation on retaining wall design', The Structural Engineer,vol. 34, no. 6 (1956), pp. 204-217.

P.W. Rowe, 'Sheet-pile walls in clay', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 7 (1957), pp. 629-654.

P.W. Rowe, 'Sheet-pile walls subject to line resistance above the anchorage', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 7 (1957), pp. 879-896.

P.W. Rowe, 'C = 0 hypothesis for normally loaded clays at equilibrium', Proceedings of the 4th international conference on soil mechanics, London,vol. 1 (1957), pp. 189-192.

P.W. Rowe, 'Limit design of flexible walls', Proceedings of the Midland Soil Mechanics Society,vol. 1, no. 2 (1957), pp. 29-40.

P.W. Rowe, 'Measurements on sheet pile walls driven into clay', Proceedings of the Brussels conference on earth pressure problems,vol. 2 (1958), pp. 127-133.

P.W. Rowe, Closing remarks on the general threory of earth pressures, Proceedings of the Brussels conference on earth pressure problems,vol. 3 (1958), pp. 87-90.

P.W. Rowe, 'Measurement of the coefficient of consolidation of lacustrine clay', Géotechnique,vol. 9, no. 3 (1959), pp. 107-118.

P.W. Rowe and A. Briggs, 'Measurements on model strutted sheet-pile excavations', Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Soil Mechanics, Paris, vol. 2 (1961), pp. 473-478.

P.W. Rowe, 'Soils under stress', Impulse,no. 2, 1st quarter (1962), pp. 6-10.

P.W. Rowe, 'The stress-dilatancy relation for static equilibrium of an assembly of particles in contact', Proceedings of the Royal Society,vol. 269 (1962), pp. 500-527.

P.W. Rowe, D.B. Oates and N.A. Skermer, 'The stress-dilatancy performance of two clays', Laboratory Shear Testing of Soils, Special Technical Publication,no. 361 (Philadelphia: the American Society for Testing and Materials, 1963), pp. 134-146.

P.W. Rowe, 'Stress-dilatancy, earth pressures and slopes', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers,vol. 89, SM3 (1963), pp. 37-62.

P.W. Rowe, discussion on 'Stress dilatancy', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. 90, SM1 (1964), pp. 133-155.

P.W. Rowe, closure of discussion on 'Stress dilatancy', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. 90, SM4 (1964), pp. 145-180.

P.W. Rowe, L. Barden and I.K. Lee, 'Energy components during the triaxial cell and direct shear tests', Géotechnique,vol. 14, no. 3 (1964), pp. 247-261.

P.W. Rowe, 'The calculation of the consolidation rates of laminated varved or layered clays with particular reference to sand drains', Géotechnique,vol. 14, no. 4 (1964), pp. 321-340.

P.W. Rowe, Discussion on some experiments on D.H. Cornforth, 'The influence of strain conditions on the strength of sand', Géotechnique,vol. 14, no. 4 (1964), pp. 361-364.

P.W. Rowe and L. Barden, 'The importance of free ends in the triaxial test', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers,vol. 90, SM1 (1964), pp. 1-28.

P.W. Rowe and L. Barden, Discussion on 'Importance of free ends', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. 90, SM6 (1964), pp. 167-180.

P.W. Rowe and L. Barden, closure of discussion 'Importance of free ends', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. 91, part 1, SM3 (1965), pp. 105-106.

P.W. Rowe and D.H. Shields, 'The measured horizontal coefficient of consolidation of laminated, layered or varved clays', Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Montreal,vol. 2 (1964), pp. 342-344.

P.W. Rowe and K. Peaker, 'Passive earth pressure measurements', Géotechnique,vol. 15 (1965), pp. 57-78.

P.W. Rowe and D.H. Shields, 'Radial drainage oedometer for laminated clays', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers,vol. 91, part 1, SM1 (1965), pp. 15-23.

P.W. Rowe and D.H. Shields, closure of discussion on 'Radial drainage oedometer for laminated clays', Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers,vol. 92, part 2, SM2 (1966), p. 155.

P.W. Rowe and L. Barden, 'A new consolidation cell', Géotechnique,vol. 16 (1966), pp. 162-217.

P.W. Rowe, discussion on the 'Shear strength of soft clays', Proceedings of the geotechnical conference, Oslo,vol. 1 (1967), pp. 115-118 and pp. 210-211.

P.W. Rowe, 'The influence of geological features of clay deposits on the design and performance of sand drains', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers supplement,vol. 1 (1968), pp. 1-72.

P.W. Rowe, Discussion on the preceding paper, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers supplement,vol. 1 (1968), pp. 189-255.

P.W. Rowe, 'Failure of foundations and slopes on layered deposits in relation to site investigation practice', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers supplement,vol. 1 (1968), pp. 73-131.

P.W. Rowe, 'Osborne Reynolds and dilatancy', Géotechnique,vol. 19 (1969), pp. 1-5.

P.W. Rowe, 'The relation between the shear strength of sands in the triaxial compression, plane strain and direct shear', Géotechnique,vol. 19 (1969), pp. 75-86.

P.W. Rowe, 'Progressive failure and strength of a sand mass', Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Mexico,vol. 1 (1969), pp 341-349.

P.W. Rowe, 'Derwent dam - embankment stability and displacements', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 45 (1970), pp. 423-452.

P.W. Rowe, N. Buchanan and N.J. Ruffle, discussion on 'Derwent Dam', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 48 (1971), pp. 479-521.

P.W. Rowe, 'Representative sampling in location, quality and size', Sampling of soil and rock, Special Technical Publication,no. 483 (Philadelphia: American Society for Testing and Materials, 1971), pp. 77-108.

P.W. Rowe, 'Theoretical meaning and observed values of deformation parameters for soil', Proceedings of the Roscoe Memorial Symposium,(Henley-on-Thames: G.T. Foulis and Co., 1971), pp. 143-194.

P.W. Rowe, 'Large scale laboratory model retaining wall apparatus', Proceedings of the Roscoe Memorial Symposium,(Henley-on-Thames: G.T. Foulis and Co., 1971), pp. 441-449.

P.W. Rowe, 'The relevance of soil fabric to site investigation practice', Géotechnique,vol. 22, no. 2 (1972), pp. 195-300.

P.W. Rowe, 'Embankments on soft alluvial ground', Quarterly journal of engineering geology,vol. 5, nos 1, 2 (1972), pp. 127-141 .

P.W. Rowe, Panel discussion, 5th European conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering, Madrid,vol. 2 (1972), pp. 221-222.

P.W. Rowe and M.F.L. Herbert, 'Design and performance of two coal stacks on soft clay at the National Coal Board Bulk Terminal, Immingham', Géotechnique,vol. 23, no. 4 (1973), pp. 245-261 .

P.W. Rowe, 'Stress-dilatancy and its application to rock dam design', American Society of Civil Engineers, proceedings of the conference on performance of earth pressures and earth-supported structuresvol. 3, (1973).

P.W. Rowe, 'Stress-strain relationships for particulate materials at equilibrium', American Society of Civil Engineers, proceedings of the conference on performance of earth pressures and earth-supported structures,vol. 3 (1973).

P.W. Rowe, 'Soil mechanics aspects of the cores of the deep bore-hole VE 1 in Venice - a critical analysis and recommended future investigations', Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Report No. N57,(Venice: 1973).

P.W. Rowe and W.J. Rigden, 'Model performance of an unreinforced diaphragm wall', Proceedings of the conference on diaphragm walls and anchorages,paper 9 (London: Institution of Civil Engineers, 1974), pp. 63-67.

P.W. Rowe, 'Displacement and failure modes of model offshore gravity platforms founded on clay', Conference on Offshore Europe 75, Aberdeen(Aberdeen: Spearhead, 1975), p. 218. 1-17.

P.W. Rowe, 'Applications of centrifuge models to geotechnical structures', Proceedings of the symposium on recent developments in the analysis of soil behaviour and their application to geotechnical structure, University of New South Wales, Australia (1975), pp. 1-25.

P.W. Rowe, 'Inherent difficulties in the application of geotechnical science', Proceedings of the symposium on recent developments in the analysis of soil behaviour and their application to geotechnical structure, University of New South Wales, Australia (1975), pp. 3-29.

P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Studies of offshore caissons founded on Oosterschelde sand', Design and construction of offshore structures(London: Institution of Civil Engineers, 1976), pp. 49-55.

P.W. Rowe, W.H. Craig and D.C. Procter, 'Model studies of offshore structures founded on clay', 1st international conference on the behaviour of offshore structures, Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim,vol. 1 (1976), pp. 439-448.

P.W. Rowe, W.H. Craig and D.C. Procter, 'Dynamically loaded centrifugal model foundations', Proceedings of the 9th international conference on soil mechanics and foundation engineering, Tokyo,vol. 2 (1977), pp. 359-364.

P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Prediction of caisson and pier performance by dynamically loaded centrifugal models', Symposium on the foundation aspects of coastal structures, Delft,vol. 2, paper 4.3 (1978) pp. 1-16.

P.W. Rowe, 'Requirement of soil sampling for laboratory testing', International symposium on marine soil mechanics, Mexico City (1979).

P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Applications of models to the prediction of offshore gravity platform foundation performance', Proceedings of the international conference on offshore site investigation, London(Society for Under Water Technology, 1979), pp. 269-281.

K.H. Andersen, P.B. Selnes, P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Prediction and observation of a model gravity platform on Drammen clay', Publikasjon - Norges Geotekniske Institutt, no. 127 (1979), pp. 19-38.

K.H. Andersen, P.B. Selnes, P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Prediction and observation of a model gravity platform on Drammen clay', Proceedings of the second conference on the behaviour of offshore structures '79, London, paper 34 (1979), pp. 427-446.

P.W. Rowe and I.M. Smith, 'Comments on the use of physical and analytical models', in G.N. Pande and O.C. Zienkiewicz (eds), Soil mechanics - transient and cyclic loads (Chichester: Wiley and Sons, 1980), pp. 491-512.

P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Application of models to the prediction of offshore gravity platform foundation performance', International conference on offshore site investigation (Graham and Trotman, 1981), pp. 269-281.

P.W. Rowe and W.H. Craig, 'Operation of a geotechnical centrifuge, 1970-1979', Geotechnical testing journal, vol. 4 (March 1981), pp. 19-25

P.W. Rowe, K.H. Anderson, P.B. Selnes and W.H. Craig, 'Prediction and observation of a model gravity platform on Drammen clay', Applied ocean research, vol. 3, no. 2 (April 1981), pp. 63-72.

P.W. Rowe, 'Use of large centrifugal models for offshore and nearshore works', Geotechnical aspects of coastal and offshore structures (Rotterdam: Balkema, 1983), pp. 21-33.

P.W. Rowe, J.A. Chandler, L.W. Hinch, D.A. Hughes and D.M. McDowell, 'Jamuna River 230 kv crossing, Bangladesh - part 1: design', Institution of Electrical Engineers, Proceedings, Part C generation, transmission and distribution, vol. 131, no. 7, part C (1984), pp. 303-318.

P.W. Rowe, J.A. Chandler, L.W. Hinch, R.I. Fair, D.A. Hughes and J. Peraino, 'Jamuna River 230 kv crossing, Bangladesh - part 2: construction', Institution of Electrical Engineers, Proceedings, Part C generation, transmission and distribution, vol. 131, no. 7 part C (1984), pp. 319-332.

P.W. Rowe, L.W. Hinch and D.M. McDowell, 'Jamuna River 230 kv crossing, Bangladesh - part 1: design of foundations', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 76, part 1 (1984), pp. 927-949.

P.W. Rowe, J.A. Chandler and J. Peraino, 'Jamuna River 230 kv crossing, Bangladesh - part 3: construction of foundations', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 76, part 1 (1984), pp. 965-984.

P.W. Rowe, L.W. Hinch, D.M. McDowell, D.A. Hughes, A.B. Wood, J.A. Chandler, J. Peranio and R.I. Fair, Discussion, 'Jamuna River 230 kv crossing, Bangladesh', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,vol. 80, part 1 (1986), pp. 731-753.

P.W. Rowe, 'Carsington embankment slip: evidence as to cause'. Communication to the investigators, a version of which is found in R.E. Coxon, Failure of Carsington embankment: a report to the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment(London: HMSO, 1986), pp. 154-157.

P.W. Rowe, 'The potentially latent dominance of ground water in ground engineering' in J.C. Cripps, F.G. Bell and M.G. Culshaw (eds), Ground water in engineering geology,special publication no. 3 (London: Geological Society, 1986), pp. 27-42.

P.W. Rowe and A.L. Gilbertson, 'Silo interactions', British Sugar plc technical conference(Eastbourne: 1988).

P.W. Rowe, 'A reassessment of the Carsington embankment failure', Géotechnique,vol. 41, no. 3 (1991), pp. 395-422.

P.W. Rowe, reply to the discussion on 'A reassessment of the Carsington embankment failure', Géotechnique,vol. 42, no. 3 (1992), pp. 513-524.

P.W. Rowe, discussion on 'The failure of Carsington dam', Géotechnique,vol. 45, no. 4 (1995), pp. 727-730.

P.W. Rowe, 'Examples of ground response to various types of structural foundation construction' in M. Eddleston, S. Walthall, J.C. Cripps and M.G. Culshaw (eds), Engineering geology of construction (London: Geological Society, 1995), pp. 33-57.