Research and Development

At In Situ, we believe that the need for further research and development into existing and new techniques is vital. The company is continually striving to be at the forefront of new In Situ testing techniques and the development of new technologies. As a consequence working relationships built commercially, when working in partnership with development organisations and research establishments, has led to numerous technical papers being written and the development of new equipment.

In Situ Site Investigation are proud to have been involved with many research projects.

UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE, SOUTHAMPTON AND DURHAM

In Situ Site Investigation are a project partner on the EPSRC Supergen Wind Grand Challenges project: Screw piles for wind energy foundation systems. We have been helping the research teams find suitable sand test sites through CPTU and CPT pressuremeter testing. These sites will be used by the research team to verify their numerical and physical modelling through the installation of specially designed screw piles. It is hoped that the results of CPT testing will be correlated with torque installation requirements so that CPT can be used to predict this in the future.

IMPERIAL COLLEGE, LONDON

In Situ worked with Imperial College, into research of stiff clay sites across the UK. This work involved carrying out CPTUs and seismic CPTs along with seismic dilatometer work to help characterise the different clays. This work formed part of a PhD and a paper presented in a geotechnical journal, Geotechnique.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN

In Situ worked closely with a number of the research students at UCD, on several different projects. These have varied from pile load tests in Belfast to continued work on the full-flow penetrometer. A number of these projects are still ongoing.

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY, SCOTLAND

In late June 2010 In Situ helped on a CPT course run by RPS Energy, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) and Geolabs. The course was a 2 day workshop discussing CPT in geotechnical practice. The course was given by John Powell, Geolabs, and Tom Lunne, NGI. In Situ provided a CPT truck for demonstrations and participated in the discussions sessions.

THE 2ND INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CONE PENETRATION TESTING, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA

This was a 2 day symposium covering all aspects of CPTs. In Situ submitted 2 technical papers, as well as assisting on the regional report for Northern Europe.