Geotechnical Illustrated: Eyes Wide Open Below Ground

Geophysics plays an important role in identifying subsurface conditions below ground. They act as a below-ground “camera” to capture different conditions that may be key to project designs or risk avoidance. They are non-destructive, relatively quick, and non-invasive. Often these methods are used to define subsurface conditions, identify cavities, map depth to bedrock, or aidContinue reading “Geotechnical Illustrated: Eyes Wide Open Below Ground”

Geotechnical Illustrated: Triaxial Testing in the 21st Century

The triaxial test is arguably the most widely used test method in investigating soils’ stress-strain behavior in geotechnical engineering. Its popularity is partially due to the well-understood state of stress during the test, as well as its versatility. In a triaxial test, the specimen is encased in a membrane with drainage from top and bottomContinue reading “Geotechnical Illustrated: Triaxial Testing in the 21st Century”

Time for an Audit? Don’t Panic!

Audits are a necessary “evil” that we all must endure when working in a geotechnical testing laboratory. Audits can be from an outside accreditation agency, a client for a specific project or simply an internal audit for quality review purposes. The scope of the audit may be a review of your quality system but itContinue reading “Time for an Audit? Don’t Panic!”