GRL Engineers, Inc. has provided reliable testing for over 40 years in the deep foundations industry. Known for quick response-time, the engineering firm covers testing throughout the United States, as well as offshore. The GRL-Washington office supports northwestern states including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska and provides testing internationally in Western Canada.
The GRL-WA office most notably performs dynamic pile monitoring, thermal integrity profiling, and crosshole analysis on drilled shafts throughout the northwest. With over 24 years of experience, Washington branch manager Marty Bixler, P.E., is well versed in various foundation testing methods and is excited to bring new methods to the northwest market.
Drilled shafts are commonly tested in this region, due to hardened rock formations and dense soil. The region takes to concrete integrity testing with thermal integrity profiling and crosshole analysis for these drilled shafts, but could also benefit from bottom cleanliness evaluation and shaft verticality assessment.
An important aspect of bored pile construction is the cleaning and inspection of the bottom of the hole prior to concrete placement. Typical bottom inspection provides limited information on the cleanliness and can even be misleading when there is no quantitative data available. GRL Engineers perform cleanliness testing using a Shaft Quantitative InspectionDevice (SQUID) to measure force and displacement at the bottom of the shaft to quantitatively assess the cleanliness or debris thickness. This method has been accepted in areas of the northeast as an approachable, result-driven test and is being adopted by transportation departments.
Another test of drilled shaft integrity involves verticality and alignment of shafts. GRL Engineers provide shaft area profile evaluations which utilize ultra-sonic signals to scan the sides of an excavated drilled hole. This testing is performed before concrete is poured to determine if the shaft meets the design specifications. Correcting the shaft verticality before a pour can save extended cost and time on a project. GRL Engineers perform this testing using the Shaft Area Profile Evaluator (SHAPE) to collect data that can be compared to design specs.
GRL-Washington can provide these new testing methods in the northwest, along with traditional drilled shaft testing. Additional services provided by the Washington office include dynamic load testing, bi-directional load testing, static load testing, and low strain integrity testing. To learn more about GRL-Washington, contact Marty Bixler at [email protected].
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