Geotechnical monitoring

Total safety for earthworks, excavations, foundations and operations

Earthworks, special foundations and subsurface contracting inevitably involve ground-related deformations that must be monitored.

Using geotechnical sensors to carry out this task provides control of geotechnical risks, and can contribute input to the process of optimising the dimensioning of subsurface structures.
Sensors installed during the earthworks project can be retained for long-term monitoring of cuttings and embankments, for example.

Geotechnical sensors are also useful for monitoring soil movement in terms of landslips, settlement, etc. They also contribute to causal diagnostics, deconsolidation risks and identifying any reinforcement work that may be required.

Installed on the surface or below ground, geotechnical sensors can be used to measure:

Soil water levels
Deformation in the form of settlement, heave and slip
Stress states, etc.

Installing geotechnical sensors allows you to:

Control the geotechnical risks associated with your special foundation works and subsurface structures
Understand soil behaviour as the basis for:
- Checking actual deformations rather than theoretical dimensions
- Optimising the process of dimensioning subsoil structures
- Managing geotechnical risks (e.g. landslips)
- Monitor the structural soil state over the long term (in embankments and cuttings, etc.)

Deformation and strain measurements

Ground deformation sensors

Borehole extensometers provide millimetric measurements of ground layer deformation relative to the axis of the borehole. Borehole settlement gauges provide a less accurate, but also less expensive, version for use with larger scales of deformation
Borehole inclinometers measure lateral deformation below ground with millimetric accuracy. They can be installed directly into the soil or in foundations (diaphragm walls, piles, etc.)
A number of instruments are available for measuring settlement in embankments, and are often referred to collectively as embankment compaction meters

Sensors for determining soil stress state are called Total Pressure Transducers (TPTs)

Measurement of soil water levels and pore pressure

Sensors to measure soil water levels (piezometric sensors) and interstitial pressure (Interstitial Pressure Cells or IPCs)

Inexpensive and easy to manufacture, piezometers can produce manual or automated readings
Interstitial Pressure Cells (IPCs) provide crucial information on soil behaviour at predefined depths

Cyclops

Automated 3D topographic monitoring of structures and surfaces

Cyclops™ is Sixense’s world leading automated topographic measurement solution in terms of projects completed and result quality, providing :

•remote, automatic, 3D movement measurement with sub-millimetric accuracy
the possibility to group theodolites within globally unstable areas to deliver guaranteed nominal accuracy

Find out more about our Cyclops solution

4DBloc

GNSS-based deformation sensor

4DBloc is a GNSS sensor for real-time monitoring of ground or structure deformations.

The 4DBloc system allows :

having an accurate and robust tool at your disposal
to follow the behaviour of soil and structures
accurate understanding of ground and structure deformation
in real-time

Find out more about our 4DBloc sensor

4DSkin

Synthetic aperture radar

Our 4DSkin solution enables non-contact deformation measurements to be made over large areas of up to several kilometres, at high frequency (typically every 2 minutes) and to a very high level of accuracy (typically 0.2 mm).

Find out more about our 4DSkin sensor

4DShape

3D continuous linear inclinometer

4DShape is an all-in-one solution that uses a flexible chain of 3D inclinometers to monitor the relative movement of vertical, horizontal or converging profiles in soils and on structures.

Find our more about our 4DShape solution

The added benefits of using our geotechnical monitoring

Cutting-edge expertise

developed from 20 years of experience and in-house development

The availability of dedicated local teams

as a result of our extensive network

A turnkey service

from installation to provision of pre-processed data in an accessible webspace

A culture of innovation

committed to continual development of solutions more closely aligned with the practical challenges of our clients

A proactive maintenance programme

built around data quality control and monitoring