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Plate Bearing Test
The plate bearing test is an in-situ load bearing test used for determining the ultimate bearing capacity of the ground and the likely settlement under a given load.
We offer a myriad of services that can tell you how the subsoil is behaving at depth, the plate bearing test will give you an understanding of the strength and variability of your soil at ground level. A useful tool when designing temporary working platforms, such as piling mats or pads for cranes.
The plate bearing test is carried out in accordance with BS 1377 Part 9: 1990. It consists of loading a steel plate of known diameter and recording the settlements corresponding to each load increment. The load is gradually increased until the plate is settling at a rapid rate. The total load on the plate is divided by the area of the steel plate to give the ultimate bearing capacity before a factor of safety is introduced to give the safe bearing capacity of the soil.
Drainage and Water Main Surveys
Cascadia Water is a one stop shop for our drainage surveys and leak detection needs. We regularly employ Cascadia water to undertake CCTV drainage surveys. Their findings compliment our reports when trying to identify issues on your site, such as when looking at causes of structural movement.
Cascadia will produce recommendations that can be made to improve your existing drainage or water main including high-pressure jetting and emergency cleaning, in-situ lining to strengthen old drains and the complete excavation and replacement of drains and new 25mm MDPE water mains.
Cascadia are equipped with the latest technology in leak detection allowing them to accurately identify the areas of concern before recommending the most practical method of repair.
GPR & CAT and GENNY Service Search
Before any ground can be penetrated it is vital that the area is cleared of any sub terrain services. Struck services are an inconvenience for land and property owners as well as a potential health and safety risk to operatives.
Our engineers have undergone and passed CAT & Genny training courses meaning they are competent, safe and understand best practice when using cable avoidance tools to clear an area for excavation. This exercise is vital when operating within confined or restricted spaces.
We have relationships with local and national utilities companies who provide service search maps of larger areas, these maps cover large or high-pressured services in comparison to smaller domestic services. A tool which is deployed on when designing projects over undeveloped land.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Surveys detect and trace services below ground including electricity mains, sewers, gas mains, water mains, lighting cables and other communication cables. Services will be marked above ground allowing us to clearly see the services and avoid any strikes when excavating.
Diamond Drilling, cutting or sawing
We have enlisted the help of CA Drillers for more technical projects such as horizontally coring through existing foundations to access subsoil that otherwise would’ve been extremely challenging to access.
They are a quick, reliable, fully certified team with the expertise and latest technology needed to get the job done.
TRL – DCP
The Transport Research Laboratory Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (TRL DCP) test is a quick and effective method of estimating the strength of the subsurface. The TRL DCP uses an 8Kg hammer dropping through a height of 575mm to a 20mm diameter 60 degrees cone. Keeping these as controlled variables, we can determine the soil strength via the hammer blows against penetration (blow/mm) before converting these results into CBR results.
The benefits of this method against traditional in-situ tests are firstly, its speed and relative cost. Many tests can be undertaken over a short period of time with limited manpower or need for plant machinery. Secondly, results can be plotted cumulatively rather than per blow, meaning when plotted you can clearly see the difference in layers within sub-grades which you can’t appreciate when using other in-situ methods.
In-situ CBR Testing
In-situ CBR testing is a procedure used to evaluate the sub-base ground strength in the design and construction of roads and pavements. It is vital to understand the resistance of the soil to determine how thick or strong the base course and substrates need to be prior to the construction of any highways.
The CBR test is performed by measuring the pressure required to penetrate a soil with a plunger of known dimensions. The test requires a reaction load to provide the force needed, which is usually provided via the rear axial of a four-wheel drive vehicle. Given favourable testing conditions, we can undertake between 6-8 tests per day rate with immediate on site indications to the results.
Remoulded CBR Testing
The remoulded laboratory CBR test consists of preparing a sample of soil in a cylindrical steel mould prior to forcing a cylindrical steel plunger of known diameter (50mm) into the soil sample at a controlled rate whilst measuring the force required to penetrate the sample.
CBR values may vary from less than 1% on soft clays to over 150% on dense crushed rock samples.
We require a minimum of 5 kilograms of sample to undertake this test. We need this volume because the sample is passed through a 20mm sieve, any material larger than 20mm is not placed in the mould.
