Capability
Drilling
Aitken Rowe Testing Laboratories runs seven drilling rigs from its Wagga Wagga, Griffith and Albury/Wodonga laboratories, from a large truck-mounted Christie rig down to small trailer-mounted systems.
Our own rigs, our own crews
Aitken Rowe Testing Laboratories Pty Ltd operates a large fleet of modern drilling rigs, varying from large truck mounted to small trailer mounted systems. In addition to the drilling rigs, ARTL also maintains a large fleet of modern 4WD vehicles across all base laboratories.
Rigs are based at the Wagga Wagga, Griffith and Albury/Wodonga laboratories, so an investigation is usually serviced from the nearest base and the samples go straight to that laboratory.
The fleet, rig by rig
| Rig | Rig 1Large Christie Rig | Rig 2Large Christie Rig | Rig 3Standard Edson Rig | Rig 4Standard Christie Rig | Rig 5Standard Christie Rig | Rig 6Small EVH Rig | Rig 7Standard Drillman Rig |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base laboratory | Wagga Wagga | Wagga Wagga | Wagga Wagga | Griffith | Albury | Wagga Wagga | Wagga Wagga |
| Mounting | Truck | Trailer | Trailer | Trailer | Trailer | Trailer | Trailer |
| Shallow solid flight augering (0–10 m) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deep solid flight augering (10–20 m) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Piezometer installation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hydraulic standard penetrometer test (SPT) | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Mechanical standard penetrometer test (SPT) | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Rock coring and continuous cone penetration testing are carried out by the large truck-mounted Christie rig based at Wagga Wagga. Every rig in the fleet can install piezometers and run dynamic cone penetrometer tests.
Drilling is one part of the investigation
The rig recovers the samples and the in-situ readings. The logging, the laboratory testing and the report come from the same business, so the fieldwork can be planned around what the design actually needs rather than a standard hole.
Worth a conversation before the rig is booked.
What the rig can do, in plain words
The capabilities listed in the table above, explained.
- Solid flight augering
- A continuous auger is turned into the ground to bring up disturbed soil so the profile can be logged and sampled. Shallow augering covers the first 10 metres; deep augering carries on to about 20 metres.
- Piezometer installation
- A standpipe is installed in the finished borehole so groundwater level can be measured, and re-measured later to see how it moves through the seasons.
- Dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP)
- A dropped hammer drives a cone into the ground and the blows per 100 mm give a quick measure of in-situ strength. Commonly used on pavement subgrades and shallow footings.
- Standard penetration test (SPT)
- A split-barrel sampler is driven by a 63.5 kg hammer falling 760 mm. The blow count over the final 300 mm is the N-value, which feeds directly into foundation design.
Discuss your project
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