Projects
Infrastucture Waterways and Flood Defences
Lankelma Helps Reduce Yorkshire Flood Risk
Lankelma has been appointed to undertake piezocone penetration testing together with dissipation testing, to assess the mechanical integrity of 23 flood embankment sites along the Rivers Aire and Don in Yorkshire.
The embankments are typically 5 to 6 metres in height, 2.0 metre wide at the crest and with difficult and steep access on to the embankmanks.
Due to the general unstable nature of many of the embankments, the Contract specified a lightweight penetrometer to execute the works.
After consideration of all of the site constraints, Lankelma deployed it’s ‘Bog Skipper’ penetrometer, which at some 7.5 Tonnes gross vehicle weight and a ground bearing pressure of 10 kPa has proven such an ideal match to the difficult terrain that additional sites for investigation have been awarded.
Meriden Park Lake
In June Lankelma undertook a project along a river embankment in Chelmsey Wood. The Client required Cone Penetration Testing (CPT), MOSTAP sampling and trial pits to determine the ground conditions of a river embankment.
Lankelma’s 16 Tonne crawler was used to carry out the testing as it has the ability to test on inclined surfaces due to being fitted with extra long jacks.
The Cone Penetration Tests (CPT’s) were undertaken first with the on-board real time CPT display providing the Client with immediate data, which was then used to determine the schedule of MOSTAP sampling. As the Client required future monitoring of the water table, Lankelma were instructed to install a piezometer standpipe.
MOSTAP sampling provided the Client with a series of near undisturbed samples between depths of 1.00m and 5.60m. The MOSTAP sampling system produces a sample enclosed in a cotton ‘stocking’ within an airtight plastic pipe. This provides a realistic sample of undisturbed sub-soil for accurate laboratory tests to be undertaken.
By using CPT’s and MOSTAP the Client was provided with detailed data of the sub-soil, which included thin sandy layers within the stiff to hard clays which would perhaps be less well defined with other methods of site investigation.
Restricted Access Contracts
During December 2003, Lankelma CPT Ltd mobilised its ‘Mini-Crawler’ restricted access unit to complete three jobs that required its specialist capabilities.
1) Flood Defences
At the request of Norwest Holst, The rig performed tests to a maximum requested depth of ≈15.0m on a flood defence embankment at Goole on Humberside.
Scaffold platforms had been built to allow testing ‘over water’ from a stable, level platform. The reduced weight of the rig was ideal for access to this narrow platform and performance was outstanding giving maximum penetration with minimum disruption to other site works.
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2) Lock Farm
The third job reverted back to flood defences, this time at the request of Allied Exploration & Geotechnics Ltd at Lock Farm near Pontefract, at an embankment.
Access to this embankment was narrow but well within the capabilities of the rig. Lankelma produced ≈45.0m of quality data, identifying various units along the profile of the embankment that correlated well with samples performed by others.
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