The field testing (in situ) department at IfG is responsible for the preparation and planning, as well as the mining-related support and execution of various geotechnical measurement methods, in order to determine the characteristic geomechanical behavior of underground support systems. The in-situ measurement data are incorporated into rock mass modelling and serve to validate and calibrate numerical models.
In addition, our staff collect sample material and transport it to our rock mechanics laboratory for further mechanical and hydraulic testing. Where required, we carry out all necessary mining operations ourselves, such as full boreholes or core drilling with different diameters.
Our engineers maintain direct contact with mine operations, enabling efficient and practice-oriented communication with our clients. This ensures that our modelling approaches and results are realistically aligned with the actual underground conditions.
Tests and measurements
Our portfolio includes a wide range of underground exploration and geomechanical investigation activities. The test methods and scope of work can be flexibly tailored to the specific requirements of each project:
- Drilling of various types of measurement boreholes
- Core drillings with various diameters
- Borehole drilling with various diameters
- Borehole inspection
- Camera inspection
- Light sectioning technique
- Ultrasonic methods for characterising the damaged zone (EDZ)
- Stress testing (FRAC measurement) to determine the smallest principal stress
- Detection of cracks and cuts
- Deformation measurements
- Convergence measurements
- Extensometer measurements
- Inclinometer measurements
- Backfill pressure measurements
- Permeability measurements
- Sampling of any kind
