Minicrawler ingenuity in south west quarry

Our team came up with an ingenious, and sustainable, way of coping with a stiff clay layer when testing an embankment in a quarry in the south west.

As well as following the normal procedure of using screw anchors to fix the minicrawler rig to the ground, we fitted a frame either side of the rig allowing two tonnes of quarry sand to be used to provide extra reaction force for the push. This set-up ensured four CPTs could be carried out to a maximum depth of 16.5m. Project Engineer Paul Dimelow said: “This was a speedy and cost-effective method of acquiring data on a site with weight restrictions. The client was excited about using similar techniques on future projects and was dancing around the quarry in delight at the success of the testing!”