Geotechnical Investigations and Site Characterization

Geotechnical investigations form the base of a well-designed project. From small residential to heavy industrial foundations, private riverbank lots to public riverfronts, small irrigation ponds to hydroelectric dams, pedestrian bridges to multi-lane overpasses, our team will gather and analyze the geotechnical information needed to support sound decision-making and planning for your project.

We use a variety of methods and provide a range of services to understand site conditions and characteristics including:

• subsurface investigations
• drilling, soil sampling and soil classification
• in-situ soil testing
• Seismic Cone Penetration Testing with pore pressure measurements (CPTu)
• pressuremeter test
• field vane tests
• standard penetration test (SPT)
• dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT)
• air photo interpretation
• ground reconnaissance surficial geology mapping
• borrow material investigation and evaluations
• groundwater monitoring
• confined and unconfined aquifers characterization (falling head, pump tests, and packer testing)
• hydrogeological investigations and in-situ permeability testing
• geologic hazard identification
• rock mass classification

In addition to in-situ testing, KGS has expertise in specifying detailed laboratory testing programs on select soil samples including routine index/soil classification testing (Atterberg limits, grain size analyses, unconfined compression testing and lab vane tests) and advanced strength and deformation testing (Oedometer, triaxial, direct shear and hydraulic conductivity tests).