Innovation, all the way down. Our geotechnical design includes investigation, exploration, and testing for precise, reliable builds.
Our clients depend on our capabilities to create designs that solve their challenges without introducing new ones. We even invent new solutions to improve efficiencies in our work. One of our firm’s principals holds a patent on a procedure for pile driving in permafrost. Our AASHTO/ASTM-accredited soil and materials laboratory, modeling/software, and geotechnical explorations all add up to better data and best-possible builds.
Passion for Innovation
Improving efficiencies and inventing new methods benefits your project and your budget.
Extensive, Expanding Experience
Building foundations throughout Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the contiguous U.S.
Comprehensive Geotech Services
Precise calculations and tailored solutions to ensure stability and efficiency
Services
Table of Contents
Field Exploration/Investigations & Frozen Ground/Permafrost
The more data, the better the design. Understanding and investigating the soil, rock, bedrock, and fault lines below a proposed site is vital to successful engineering. Our investigations range from remote-access mountaintops using heli-portable equipment, to arctic explorations on permafrost and floating sea ice, to offshore vessel-supported drilling programs and geophysical surveying. Our in-house subsurface investigation methods include non-invasive wave velocity measurements using seismic refraction. Every technique and tool we use develops a thorough dataset to support both our civil and structural designs.
Rock Design, Mechanics, & Blasting
Stability stems from analysis. With rock often present in one or more aspects of most PND projects, we develop and adeptly execute plans for building over and around rock features. Our engineers and geologists have extensive experience analyzing rock mass characteristics and quality to enable safety and efficiency for rock cut design, rock slope stabilization, and quarrying plans.
Soil Improvement, Stabilization Design, & Seismic Site-Specific Analysis
Reclaimed land can be subject to settling and liquefaction, leading to unstable foundations. With many PND projects taking place on thin, eroding, or unstable soil, we’re experienced in analyzing soil stability for sloped embankments, sensitive fine-grained soil, liquefaction potential, and other conditions under static and pseudo-static loading. We’ve developed countless design solutions for soil protection and improvement to mitigate challenging environmental and project-specific conditions.
Foundation Design & Permafrost Subsurface Thermal Analysis
Efficient distribution of loads and prevention of differential settlement is a part of all of our deep and shallow foundation designs. Our decades of experience in developing foundations across Alaska’s varied geotechnical conditions have allowed us to tailor our foundation designs for practically any environment, including foundations on permafrost aided by years of experience modeling subsurface thermal changes. With condition information to determine foundation type, our design team’s experience helps us create the right foundation for every one of our projects throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. We’ve also offered value engineering solutions with our proprietary designs, such as SPIN FIN™ piles, to greatly reduce project costs in many cases.
Finite Element Analysis
Predicting geotechnical behavior involves the complicated art of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software. By using calculations, simulations, and modeling, our geotechnical team breaks calculations down into manageable components and finds vulnerabilities in design ideations. Our staff is proficient in multiple FEA software platforms, depending on the scope and design details of each individual project.
AASHTO/ASTM-Accredited Soil & Materials Laboratory
Our lab, housed in our Anchorage office, is designed to characterize soil and rock samples collected in the field for our geotechnical designs. Our in-house geotechnical analysis capabilities include most soil and rock tests necessary for comprehensive geotechnical analyses; our “Cold Room” allows for testing at in-situ temperatures of Arctic soil samples. PND’s meticulous sampling and testing processes ensure precise results to support our designs.
Decades-Long Client Relationships Start With A Solution
USCG Rescue 21 Alaska Communication Towers | Remote Alaska
“As EOR for this project, PND was tasked with remote tower foundation and structural design in very harsh conditions with very limited preliminary site information. PND demonstrated amazing adaptability to site conditions with their design and were dedicated to problem-solving during construction. At one site, we learned upon mobilization that the soil/rock conditions were not as represented in the RFP geotechnical report. PND quickly adapted the design from rock anchors to a micropile foundation system, which could be installed using small available equipment readily sourced and moved to the project site. This perpetual engagement of ingenuity by PND allowed the design-build team to turn over critical USCG facilities on time and weeks before winter weather would otherwise have shut down the project until the following season.”
FAQs
To learn more about PND’s geotechnical engineering, read our frequently asked questions.
What types of projects does PND Engineers specialize in?
PND specializes in a wide range of geotechnical engineering projects, including waterfront, pipeline supports, building foundations, arctic and permafrost engineering, and bridge piers throughout Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond.
What is unique about PND’s soil and materials lab?
Our AASHTO/ASTM-accredited soil and materials lab includes a temperature-controlled cold room for testing permafrost soils at in-situ Arctic temperatures. We can perform a full range of index tests and advanced secondary testing protocols, ensuring precise results for geotechnical designs.
How does PND handle projects in permafrost environments?
PND has extensive experience in designing foundations in permafrost environments, including challenging saline permafrost soils. PND has extensive experience in subsurface thermal modeling, including predictive modeling of permafrost thermal changes due to climate change. One of our principals holds a patent for a unique pile driving procedure in permafrost, ensuring stability and efficiency in these challenging conditions.
What secondary testing services does PND offer?
Our lab is equipped with state-of-the-art secondary testing equipment from Geocomp Corporation, allowing us to perform tests such as consolidation, triaxial tests, thaw settlement, and frozen soil creep testing.
How does PND ensure the quality of soil samples?
PND prides itself on using meticulous drilling methods in collaboration with our drilling partners to extract the highest quality soil samples possible. Our lab supports geotechnical design work with high-quality sampling and testing processes.
Can PND conduct in-situ testing?
Yes. Our trained geotechnical engineers can perform various in-situ tests, including cone penetrometer, dynamic cone penetrometer, down-hole vane shear, ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography, seismic geophysical survey, field load, and subsurface ground temperature profiling.
How does PND ensure compliance with industry standards?
All of our testing procedures follow the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International standards, ensuring that our work meets or exceeds industry requirements for quality and reliability.
What are some examples of PND’s innovative solutions?
PND is known for inventing new methods to improve efficiencies, such as our patented procedure for pile driving in permafrost and testing and developing cold driven piles in permafrost. We continually develop and adopt innovative solutions to meet our clients’ unique project challenges.
Contact Us
Get on solid ground with your next project. Reach out to PND to explore our services.