Geotechnical Engineering Services
Geotechnical engineering services are concerned with the engineering properties of earth materials. Our geotechnical engineers investigate the soil and bedrock below a site to determine their engineering properties and how they will interact with the proposed construction. They determine and design the type of foundation, earthworks, and pavements required for the intended structures to be built.
Geotechnical engineers design foundations such as high-rise buildings, bridges, and medium to large commercial buildings, but also work on smaller structures where the soil conditions do not allow code-based design. The foundations built for above-ground structures include shallow foundations (footings), deep foundations (driven piles and drilled piers), and retaining walls. Geotechnical engineers also design structures built-in or of soil or rock, including tunnels, embankments, levees, earth dams, channels, reservoirs, and hazardous waste and sanitary landfills.
Geotechnical engineering services also include assessing the risk to humans, property, and the environment from natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, sinkholes, soil liquefaction, debris flows, and rock falls (all involving natural materials).
Our geotechnical engineering firm performs geotechnical investigations to obtain information on the physical properties of soil and rock underlying (and sometimes adjacent to) a site to design earthworks and foundations for proposed structures and for repair of distress to earthworks and structures caused by subsurface conditions. A geotechnical investigation will include surface exploration and subsurface exploration of a site. Subsurface exploration usually involves soil sampling and laboratory testing of the soil samples retrieved.
To obtain information about soil conditions below the surface, some form of subsurface exploration is required. Methods of observing soils below the surface, obtaining samples, and determining physical properties of soils and rock include test pits, trenching (particularly for locating faults and slide planes), borings, and cone penetration tests.
Geotechnical Engineering Services:
- Geotechnical Investigation
- Surface Exploration
- Earth Structures
- Subsurface Exploration
- Cone Penetration Testing
- Soil Sampling
- Geosynthetics
- Laboratory Testing
- Foundation Designs
- Lateral Earth Support Structures