Geotechnical Engineering & Geophysical Services
About Our Geotechnical Engineering Sciences
Universal has a long history of providing quality service in all phases of geotechnical engineering. We are Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) pre-qualified to conduct geotechnical and materials testing work related to highway design and construction. Additionally, our engineers have served private developers, industrial complexes, government agencies, and other professionals. They have worked on projects ranging from high-rise buildings, industrial developments, and commercial facilities, to solid and hazardous waste landfills and stormwater management systems.
Universal’s professional engineers and geologists are registered throughout the Gulf Coast and southeastern United States. Most of our engineers hold advanced degrees. We encourage our engineering technicians to develop professional accreditation such as NICET, ACI certification, CTQP, and DOT. Universal’s offices maintain in-house drilling departments and full-service, certified geotechnical laboratories. With this type of in-house support, Universal provides its clients with a multitude of capabilities ranging from preliminary investigations through final design.
Using the results of field and laboratory testing of soils and groundwater, Universal’s geotechnical engineers can analyze existing site conditions to provide our clients with safe, cost-effective construction solutions. Economical foundation designs, soil stabilization, and groundwater control systems are often crucial to the development of marginal sites. Our knowledge of value engineering techniques, state-of-the-art site exploration, and our 44-year old exploration database is valuable in pre-design and pre-construction planning. Evaluation of the subsurface soils and groundwater conditions is important to the development and design of construction projects. The evaluation confirms the allowable capacities of foundations, settlement potential and groundwater conditions. Also, it is extremely important that the subsurface exploration program evaluates potential site development and long-term performance problems. That way, we can identify cost-effective remediation alternatives for use by other members of the design team.
We design each subsurface exploration project to determine the information needed by the project designers based on the project type, size, structural load-bearing capacity, and planned construction methods. Therefore, our understanding of the project before proposal development is essential to provide value engineering and to help minimize construction costs for the owner. Our final report provides the designer with soil stratigraphy, depth to groundwater, location of rock, difficult subsurface conditions requiring remediation, and appropriate design considerations, such as bearing capacity, settlement, and permeability.
We also provide post-construction settlement investigations. These studies involve determination of the cause(s) of settlement and remedial recommendations. Examples include sinkhole evaluation of commercial and residential structures, and consolidation of organic or soft clay deposits. Monitoring of remedial repairs is also an important part of our services to complete these remedial investigations. The monitoring of the remedial repairs helps to ensure the proper implementation of our recommendations and allows for approval of field adjustments that may occur due to unforeseen conditions, such as, working around or below grade structures or limited access areas.
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