Geotechnical Drilling and Soil Investigation
The successful execution of a large number of specialty geotechnical construction techniques necessitates the efficient and safe drilling of holes through any and all ground conditions. Inappropriate means and methods may, in fact, worsen the ground properties or structural conditions the construction technique is intended to remedy.
Coring and Sampling
A core sample is a cylindrical section of (usually) a naturally occurring substance. Most core samples are obtained by drilling with special drills into the substance, for example sediment or rock, with a hollow steel tube called a core drill. The hole made for the core sample is called the “core bowling”.
A variety of core samplers exist to sample different media under different conditions. More continue to be invented on a regular basis. In the coring process, the sample is pushed more or less intact into the tube. Removed from the tube in the laboratory, it is inspected and analyzed by different techniques and equipment depending on the type of data desired.
Core samples can be taken to test the properties of manmade materials, such as concrete, ceramics, some metals and alloys, especially the softer ones. Core samples can also be taken of living things, including human beings, especially of a person’s bones for microscopic examination to help diagnose diseases.

Field and Laboratory Testing
SUPRA offers wide variety of laboratory tests that can be performed on soils to measure a wide variety of soil properties. Some soil properties are intrinsic to the composition of the soil matrix and are not affected by sample disturbance, while other properties depend on the structure of the soil as well as its composition, and can only be effectively tested on relatively undisturbed samples. Some soil tests measure direct properties of the soil, while others measure “index properties” which provide useful information about the soil without directly measuring the property desired.
- Sample Collection with open hole, touch coring or full coring method.
- Insitu Test including RQD, SPT, Packer Test and Permeability Test according to ASTM and SNI standards.
- Laboratory Works to identify physical properties and mechanical test according to ASTM and SNI standards.
- D-CPT and CPT to identify soil strength for construction purposes.