Soil Testing Engineering
Soil Tests (site classification) for residential dwellings, industrial, commercial and institutional buildings are required to assess the subsurface conditions and therefore enable design of appropriate foundations.
Recent Projects
Soiltesting Services
STA Consulting Engineers regularly undertake these types of investigations in accordance with the Australian Standards:
- AS2870-2011: "Residential Slabs and Footings - Construction" and
- AS1726-1993: “Geotechnical site investigations”
Your site is classified based upon the expected movement of the foundation soils - generally related to the capacity of the soil to shrink and swell.
The following classifications may be typically given:
- CLASS 'A' - Little or no ground movement
- CLASS 'S' - Slightly reactive sites
- CLASS 'M' - Moderately reactive sites
- CLASS 'H1' - Highly reactive sites
- CLASS 'H2' - Highly reactive sites
- CLASS 'E' - Extremely reactive sites
- CLASS 'P' - Problem site
The site classification is presented by STA Consulting Engineers in a formal report which generally forms part of a building application.
A skilled geotechnical consultant can usually gain all the information for the soil test by digging into the soil profile and carrying out some field tests and carrying out laboratory test for selected samples by using specific instruments.
The ability to correctly identify the soil comes with training, experience and knowledge of local area. Often soil samples are collected and tested in laboratories in order to determine soils types and their respective behaviour predictions.
The soil samples can be collected in a variety of ways, including by hand auger, drill rig or backhoe.
STA Geotechnical Engineering supplies services such as:
- Linear shrinkage
- Liquid limit
- Plastic limit
- Plastic Index
- Shrink/swell analysis
- Field moisture profiles
- Tri axial tests
- Consolidation tests
- Shear vane tests
- Dynamic Cone Penetrometer
- Perth Cone Penetrometer
- Pocket Penetrometer
