Professor Sloan is distinguished for the development of pioneering new methods which can be used to predict the ultimate limit states of geostructures such as tunnels, dams, highways and foundations. Being able to estimate the limit load accurately is complicated by the fact that the behaviour of geomaterials is dilatant, nonlinear, heterogeneous, anisotropic and dependent on the pore pressures and ground water conditions. His work is based on the limit theorems of plasticity, applied via novel finite element techniques. His research has made fundamental contributions to the science of geomechanics, enabling engineers to model complex geomaterial behaviour in a robust manner, leading to cheaper and safer civil infrastructure worldwide.
In January 2018 Sloan was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for " distinguished service to education, particularly in the field of geotechnical engineering, as an academic and researcher, to professional associations, and as a mentor of young engineers".[16]
^Sloan, S. W.; Kleeman, P. W. (1995). "Upper bound limit analysis using discontinuous velocity fields". Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 127 (1–4): 293–314. Bibcode:1995CMAME.127..293S. doi:10.1016/0045-7825(95)00868-1.
^Sloan, S. W. (1988). "Lower bound limit analysis using finite elements and linear programming". International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics. 12 (1): 61–77. Bibcode:1988IJNAM..12...61S. doi:10.1002/nag.1610120105.
^Lyamin, A. V.; Sloan, S. W. (2002). "Lower bound limit analysis using non-linear programming". International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering. 55 (5): 573. Bibcode:2002IJNME..55..573L. doi:10.1002/nme.511. S2CID15967002.
^Sloan, S. W.; Randolph, M. F. (1982). "Numerical prediction of collapse loads using finite element methods". International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics. 6 (1): 47–76. Bibcode:1982IJNAM...6...47S. doi:10.1002/nag.1610060105.
^Sloan, S. W. (1987). "A fast algorithm for constructing Delaunay triangulations in the plane". Advances in Engineering Software. 9: 34–55. doi:10.1016/0141-1195(87)90043-X.