In situ soil research

When building dikes, roads, pipelines, tunnels, construction pits or harbours, it is very important to know beforehand how the soil will behave. How much deformation will there be? Will the soil collapse? There are various ways of determining soil properties: samples can be taken and tested in the laboratory or measurements can be made on location in the field. For the purposes of the second option, Deltares has a long tradition in the development of the appropriate probes.

Boring technology

When the properties of soil are investigated in the laboratory, it is assumed that these properties are the same as when the sample was still in the ground. So the samples have to be undisturbed. Deltares developed the Begemann sampler for this purpose. In collaboration with archaeologists, a comparable study was conducted into the quality of various samplers.

In situ measurements

The probes developed by Deltares can be used the purposes of geotechnology and environmental technology. For example, research has taken place into the numerous pitfalls associated with the use of monitoring pipes for sampling groundwater and mapping out pollution flumes in groundwater.

The limitations of monitoring pipes resulted in a search for alternative sampling techniques, leading to probes like the multi-level groundwater sampling probe, the chemoprobe, the electrical conductivity probe and the camera probe.

Boring and penetration technologies measure only in one position. Information is sometimes needed covering an area as a whole. The Deltares organisation has geophysical technologies at its disposal for this purpose.