Systems for cyclic testing of saturated soils

Kort beskrivelse

Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering is conducting research on saturated soils. These include the very soft, sensitive, structured Finnish clays which may exhibit very large deformations under low loads.

We seek systems suitable for cyclic saturated soil testing. The systems will be used mainly for soft, sensitive Finnish clays sampled from offshore and onshore locations. These soils are saturated with salty water, and the equipment must enable testing of such soils.

The testing will be done on a wide range of user-defined test paths which will involve controlling and changing shearing speed.

The systems may also be used for testing other soils. Typically, these include glacial tills which are prevalent in Finland (EU classification: gravely / sandy – silty/clayey – soils) as well as sands. These are much stiffer and require higher cell pressures and loads.

In addition, the contract shall include purchase options for larger cells for saturated soil testing as well as a cyclic shear machine.

A detailed definition of the requirements for the object of the contract is in Annex 1.