Building constructions, bridge building

Foundations of all types: house building, industrial buildings, towers

Advice on foundations for all types of building projects at the planning stage, when going to tender and during construction, is based on building site explorations and laboratory or field tests to determine all the soil mechanical parameters relevant to the project. However, construction experience is also of importance, when the most economical type of foundation construction is to be designed for a tower, a bridge or industrial facilities. As professional consultants, we are as familiar with deep foundations, methods of soil improvement, injection processes and soil exchange as with the dimensioning of conventional single, strip or plate foundations.

The LGA Geotechnical Institute's engineers have comprehensive experience in this field, with the right experts for each special question under one roof. Consultancy on foundations is team work, requiring the trust of the builder/owner, architect and planner of the supporting systems. We are proud of our ability to advise builders/owners on foundations for many difficult projects over the previous decades.

When building churches, stately homes, castles or masonry, as for other historic buildings and bridges, the location of the construction also used to be chosen depending on its purpose. Foundations were then often placed where soil conditions were less than perfect, using the limited technical methods of the time. If the earth then gives way under a building in the course of time, hazards can arise. Today, construction activity or vibration may have a damaging effect on the soil or ground water. When a historic building shows settlement, cracks or deformation, renovation is often necessary to preserve its structure. The first requirement is a damage analysis to plan measures for the preservation and renovation of the building. Geotechnical examinations play a major role, as particular attention has to be paid to the foundations in any case of renovation.

Historic buildings

We can handle the following tasks for geotechnical damage anlysis:

• evaluation of deformation and measurement findings,
• exploratory drillings and probes,
• soil mechanical tests,
• expert opinion and proposals for remediation,
• analysis of building structure.

Various examinations are made during a geotechnical damage analysis:

• foundation data is collected, with archived evaluations and plan research
• an evaluation of deformation pictures or measurement findings gives valuable information on any settlement of the foundations
• exploratory drillings and probes give insights into the properties of the foundations
• the compressibility of soil layers can be determined by soil mechanical laboratory tests
• foundation thickness and depth are checked, using trial pits and core drillings

Geometrical data are collected and any possible cavities determined in the building under construction, using masonry drillings and endoscopic examinations. These samples can be used for building material analyses. Any biological damage to buildings and wooden constructions, such as pests or wood-damaging mould is registered and methods for handling are worked out. Stability analyses of load-bearing structures are carried out and assessed for dynamic stress due to bell-ringing. The findings result in specific measures for remediation.

The relevant building and remediation methods can be reliably assessed and checked on the basis of our comprehensive experience. A wide range of foundations and supporting walls have been successfully renovated with the help of our experts, demonstrating our know-how where historic buildings are concerned.

Further information

• Preservation of monuments

Contact

Manfred Knappe Dipl.-Ing. (Univ.) TÜV Rheinland LGA Bautechnik GmbH Tillystraße 2 90431 Nuremberg Germany Phone: +49 (0) 911 655-55 51 Fax:     +49 (0) 911 655-55 55 E-Mail: manfred.knappe@de.tuv.com

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Last Updated: 29.10.2010