Geotechnics is about how to build safely, in or on soil and rock. This is important for buildings and infrastructure on land, in the coastal zone and for seabed structures, such as offshore installations like oil platforms, wind turbines, pipelines and sea-bottom structures.
Ground conditions for building in Norway can often be challenging, with deposits of soft clay and quick clay. Building in such soils requires good knowledge of ground conditions and methods of foundation. Advanced numerical methods must often be used to ensure that the interaction between ground and building is safeguarded in the best possible way.
Our staff has extensive experience in various geotechnical issues, and we are one of the preferred partners in independent control and third-party control in both small and large building and construction projects with difficult ground conditions.
We are also concerned about how climate change can affect the risk assessment for already built and planned infrastructure as a result of increasing dangers of floods, mass landslides and landslides. Climate change in the northern areas is already proving to have a great effect on the bearing capacity of foundations as a result of permafrost heating, and this is an area where we have paid special attention in the recent years.
We conduct research and third-party consulting in:
- Loading capacity, settlement and deformation of building and infrastructure
- Settlement and stability analyses including soil modelling
- Area stability and slope stability analyses
- Floodslide monitoring, modelling and triggering mechanisms
- Arctic infrastructure
- Analytical methods and numerical modelling
- Risk and reliability analyses
Geotechnical field studies with our special drill rig is an important tool in such analyses.