Jackson, Mississippi Geotechnical Engineering - Aquaterra Engineering, LLC

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	Aquaterra provides a wide range of Geotechnical Engineering and Consulting Services. Click on a link below to learn about our various services. Consulting Services Subsurface Investigation and Assessment Geotechnical Laboratory Testing Geotechnical Construction Quality Control Site Specific Seismic Hazard Studies Aquaterra Engineering has extensive experience in providing geotechnical engineering services throughout the southeast. Our roots in geotechnical engineering go back to 1961 when our predecessors developed a geotechnical practice in Jackson, Mississippi. We have built our expertise on those original roots and expanded to our current geographic and field diversity. Aquaterra provides full-service geotechnical capabilities. That is, we maintain the equipment and personnel necessary to support our staff of professional engineers. We maintain an array of drilling equipment that allows us to respond, as necessary, to our clients needs. In addition, we supplement our drilling fleet with pre-qualified contract drillers to further diversify our capabilities. In additional to drilling equipment, Aquaterra maintains geotechnical testing facilities for soil and rock properties testing. Aquaterra's senior personnel have been practicing geotechnical engineering for over 30 years. We have performed geotechnical investigations for projects ranging from residential housing to multi-million dollar, multi-story office buildings. Our years of practice have also provided us with a wide array of structures including: buildings, bridges, towers, roadways, embankments, slopes and many other man-made and natural structures. Consulting Services Aquaterra provides many different consulting services to their clients. Geotechnical Investigations Foundation Investigations Shallow/Deep Foundation Design Slope Stability Evaluation Settlement Analysis Earth Retaining Structures Geosynthetics Reinforcing Design Paving Design/Inspection/Evaluation Excavation/Retaining Wall Design Dewatering Analysis/Seepage Evaluation Dam/Embankment Design Seismic Evaluation Ground Improvement Consulting Subsurface Investigation and Assessment Planning and successfully completing a soil investigation at a proposed project site requires skill, experience, and equipment. Aquaterra provides all three components with complete in-house capabilities, enabling us to offer cost-effective and accurate investigative services. Our drill rigs are operated by experienced personnel and are guided in the field by a staff engineer, geologist, or a qualified soils technician. Drilling and soil sampling operations can be accomplished in the most difficult terrain as well as from floating drill rigs. Aquaterra has planned and supervised soil investigations throughout the United States. We have experience with soil conditions varying from the swamps of Louisiana to the mountains of Tennessee. Procedures used to obtain soil and/or groundwater samples are adjusted to the field conditions encountered and the requirements of the exploration program. Aquaterra has developed internal standards for subsurface investigations based upon ASTM and EPA standards, where applicable. Additionally, we train and periodically update our field personnel on these standards. The subsurface investigation is a key component of a successful site investigation. Aquaterra prides itself on our capabilities and expertise in subsurface investigations. Typical construction monitoring services provided by Aquaterra include: Capabilities Soil Borings Soil Probes Rock Coring Piezometers Groundwater Monitoring Wells Vapor Monitoring Wells Recovery Wells Well Abandonment In-situ Groundwater Sampling Available Equipment 2) Failing Model 1500 truck-mounted drilling rigs; (2) ARDCO ATV mounted drill rigs; (1) Hilliard ATV mounted drill rig; (1) Simco SK 2800 HST truck-mounted drilling rig; (2) Geoprobe 6620 Track-Mounted, with CPT and SPT tooling (1) Geoprobe direct push soil sampling truck-mounted rig; (2) truck-mounted water-supply trucks; (2) ATV-mounted water supply vehicles; Undisturbed soil sampling equipment; SPT/split spoon soil sampling equipment; Piston samplers (for sand sampling); Rock core barrels; Slope inclinometer monitoring equipment; Short-flight, continuous hollow stem, rotary wash, and rotary air drilling capabilities. Geotechnical Laboratory Testing Tests Perfomed Shear Strength Classification Permeability Consolidation Swell Potential Moisture-Density Relationships California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Construction Materials Testing Geotechnical Construction Quality Control We believe that quality construction monitoring services are key to the completion of a successful construction project Aquaterra is a professional geotechnical consulting firm. Unlike many “testing laboratories”, every project will be overseen by a registered professional geotechnical engineer. Aquaterra employs trained, certified and experienced geotechnical engineering technicians. Many of our technicians maintain NICET and ACI certifications and all our technicians undergo periodic internal training and certification. We maintain technicians with a range of experience to be able to provide the level of service needed on your project. In addition to skilled field staff, we maintain trained and experienced laboratory personnel within our materials testing laboratories. We maintain full-service laboratories in our major offices to facilitate rapid turn-around of testing to meet the needs of your project. Often, we provide on-site materials testing capabilities to meet the needs of the project. Earthwork Fill material compliance testing Field moisture and density testing Oversight and Documentation of construction methods and procedures Shallow Foundation inspection Proofrolling and evaluation of borrow source materials Concrete Mix design submittal review Sampling and testing of fresh concrete Creating test specimens—cylinders and beams Compression testing of specimens Plastic concrete fresh properties testing Asphalt Evaluation of Correct Material Properties Lot Testing during Construction Marshall Stability and Flow Testing Mix Extractions Aggregate Gradation Asphalt Content Determination Field verification of thickness and density Bulk-specific gravity Site Specific Seismic Hazard Studies With the changing building code environment, interpretation of the Standard Building Code and International Building Code standards can be challenging. Aquaterra’s staff of geology and geotechnical engineering professionals can provide assistance to the owner and the design team concerning the classification of the seismic design parameters outlined in the appropriate building code. For some projects, it may be advantageous to perform a “site-specific study” to determine specific ground motion response to the ‘design’ seismic events for a given site. The goals of the Site Specific Seismic Hazard study may vary from project to project. Typical reasons to perform the study are: Determine Ground Response to a specific seismic event or circumstance (Deterministic), Develop a Uniform Risk Hazard Spectrum (URHS) (Probabilistic) for a given probability of exceedance, Determine the soil’s susceptibility to liquefaction, Design for actual site conditions, per code, instead of general code-based parameters, and For design of critical infrastructure / structures with increased demands for survivability. Site-specific studies consider the United States Geological Survey (USGS) projections for anticipated accelerations a generic site and convert them to specific ground response spectra for acceleration, velocity and displacement. The individual ground motion histories are then combined to form a smooth curve that represents the design response spectrum. The spectral response provides critical vibration frequency and system damping information for the structural engineer.