Equipment Resources
Satisfied and Precise work
We have available a comprehensive set of field and laboratory equipment to enable us rapidly mobilise to any site and carry out Our key strength is our ability to rapidly mobilise to any site in-country and conduct detailed ground investigations within a very short turn-around-time. What enables us to perform so efficiently is our stock of portable heavy duty ground investigation equipment with capacity to penetrate soil depths in excess of 10m in most parts of the country.
NORDMEYER HEAVY PENETROMETER-RA50
This German manufactured dynamic penetration equipment (DIN 4094) is used to determine thickness of different ground layers when testing foundation soils for buildings, bridges, roads and other major structures. It is also used to monitor compactness of embankments and determine presence of weak soils and buried weak zones in the ground. This machine is mechanically driven and the drop weight mechanism is fully automatic ensuring an even blowing sequence without unnecessary breaks. The 50kg drop-weight provides a high penetrating force capable of passing through most natural soil materials down to 20m depth. Representative soil samples may be extracted by use of window samplers.
The equipment specifications are based on the German Standard DIN 4094 and are stated below:
- Equipment type: Heavy Duty Dynamic Cone Penetrometer
- Equipment model: Nordmeyer RA50
- Drop Weight: 50kg
- Height of fall: 50 cm
- Sounding rods: 32 mm dia, 1m long
- Drive point area: 15cm²
- Drive point diameter: 43.7mm
- Apex cone angle: 90°
Transporting of this machine is very easy and may be done by direct towing for short trips or by truck carriage for longer cross country journeys.
Key Field Equipment
BIG BEAVER AUGER DRILL RIG
This American-built power auger is reputed to have 1-man portability with a truck-mounted power supply. The manufacturer “Little Beaver Inc.” asserts that this rig is ideally suited for drilling environmental test wells, soil sampling, and foundation pier repair. Our particular model has 2,500 lbs lifting capacity and has been tested to turn an 300mm diameter auger down to below 20m depth in suitable soil conditions in Ghana. A major advantage is its ability to access heavily wooded areas and interior spaces normally inaccessible to truck-mounted auger rigs. The Big Beaver Rig has accessories for performing the Standard Penetration test (SPT) and extracting undisturbed and disturbed samples for observation and lab analysis.
Other Field Equipment
Other equipment and specialized tools are also available for manually excavating and testing soil strength at sit. These include vane shear equipment, hand augers, light weight DCP, portable soil penetrometers etc. Resistivity equipment are also available for resistivity profiling for groundwater exploration and soil corrosivity assessment.
Laboratory Equipment
The Mobekon geotech lab is primarily equipped for supporting geotechnical field investigations and monitoring construction quality. Specific tests conducted include the basic engineering classification tests for soil samples, monitoring of soil compaction in the field and testing of concrete strength.
Lab equipment list
- Cone Penetrometer apparatus for liquid limit determination
- Cassagrande Liquid Limit apparatus
- Shrinkage moulds
- Electronic scales
- Electric oven
- Concrete compression machine and concrete moulds
- Grading sieves
- Concrete curing tanks
- Concrete slump cone test sets
- Sand replacement cones