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Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering - DICAM

Further details on services and scientific expertise in the section ‘’Soil Testing”

LISG - GEO mainly carries out tests for the geotechnical characterization of soils, according to national and international standards. LISG - GEO has a laboratory for physical and mechanical tests on soils, a temperature and humidity-controlled chamber for storing samples and also a mobile laboratory, installed on a 20 tons Mercedes-Benz truck and equipped for static penetrometer field testing.

 

MAIN CLASSIFICATION TESTS

  • Sample extrusion, cores description, execution of pocket penetrometer and torvane tests
  • Grain size distribution via wet or dry procedure, mechanical sieving and/or aerometry
  • Determination of the soil volume unit weight
  • Determination of the soil natural water content
  • Determination of the grain specific gravity
  • Determination of the Atterberg limits: liquid (Casagrande method and Fall cone), plastic and shrinkage
  • Determination of the soil organic content
  • Determination of the soil carbonate content

 

MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION TESTS

  • Oedometer tests with controlled load increments
  • Determination of the at-rest earth pressure coefficient Ko in a suitable oedometer device
  • Determination of the soil permeability with variable hydraulic head during an oedometer test
  • Direct shear test and possible determination of the soil residual shear strength
  • Unconfined compression test with free lateral expansion
  • Triaxial compression test on specimens up to 100 mm of diameter, with control of drainage conditions
  • Triaxial test using bender elements for the determination of shear modulus at small strains
  • Direct permeability test carried out in a triaxial cell at defined confining pressures

 

TESTS ON UNSATURATED SOILS

  • Tests for the determination of soil retention parameters

 

IN SITU PENETROMETER TESTS

  • CPT static penetrometer tests, performed with a 20t penetrometer mounted on a fully equipped Mercedes Benz truck, using Begemann mechanical cone, with automatic measurement of tip resistance and shaft friction
  • CPTU static penetrometer tests, performed with a 20t penetrometer mounted on a fully equipped Mercedes Benz truck, using Delft Geotechnics piezocone, with automatic and continuous measurement of the tip resistance, shaft friction, pore water pressure (u2) and of the cone deviation from the vertical. Dissipation tests for the determination of the consolidation coefficient.