Geotechnical Engineering
Implementing the Highest Standards in the Geotechnical Field
Our award-winning geotechnical practice is first and foremost known for innovative solutions to complex soil problems. To solve these problems, we draw on the experience of our engineers and the thousands of completed projects throughout Florida (and beyond) to provide a basis for both analysis and solution. We have the resources required to be your full-service geotechnical provider including an in-house drilling fleet for field investigations, soils, and materials laboratories for testing, the latest computational aides for final design, and the experienced and knowledgeable professionals to engineer your projects.
Madrid CPWG takes great pride in providing our clients with the highest quality service in our industry. With over ten thousand projects completed, we’ve gained the experience and respect of the industry, adding our name as one of the elite geotechnical firms in the state of Florida.
Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Prequalified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE): Working with the FDOT and other government agencies has allowed Madrid CPWG to take on larger and more difficult projects. Over the years we have adapted our resources and expertise to allow us to specialize in drilling over water, rock coring, deep borings, and working in very challenging environments. We’ve worked on some of the largest highways and bridges in the State and we have earned the trust of our clients to deliver on some of the most challenging projects.
Regardless of the infrastructure you are building, trust Madrid CPWG to set your project on a firm foundation.
- Shallow and Deep Foundations
- Site Suitability
- Soft Soil Expertise
- Construction over Mined Land
- Settlement Estimates
- Time Rate of Consolidation
- Soil Improvement/Stabilization
- Estimated Seasonal High Water Table
- Modulus of Subgrade Reaction
- Pavement Coring
- Forensic Engineering
- Seepage and Stability of Earthen Embankments
- Shallow and Deep Foundations
- Site Suitability
- Soft Soil Expertise
- Construction over Mined Land
- Settlement Estimates
- Time Rate of Consolidation
- Soil Improvement/Stabilization
- Estimated Seasonal High Water Table
- Modulus of Subgrade Reaction
- Pavement Coring
- Forensic Engineering
Above Grade Impoundments and Stormwater Ponds
We have the analytical tools and engineering expertise.
Madrid CPWG has the analytical tools and engineering expertise to perform geotechnical design services for a variety of above-grade impoundments. We have provided design services for embankments related to solid waste disposal sites (landfills), clay settling areas, gypsum stacks, power plant cooling ponds, reservoirs, and flood protection levees. Our experienced engineers have the expertise to provide all of the geotechnical services required from the field investigation, laboratory testing, analytical techniques, internal drainage controls, and final designs and specifications. We also can provide all of the geotechnical testing and support needed for your stormwater design projects.
Madrid CPWG Experience
- Siting and permitting requirements for waste containment areas.
- Developing and implementing a detailed and diversified field and laboratory testing program using in-house assets.
- Optimizing embankment designs utilizing state-of-the-art analytical tools and knowledge of internal drainage systems.
- An experienced staff of engineers, geologists, and technicians to provide both design and construction monitoring services for liner applications of various above grade impoundments.
- Environmental services, including groundwater/surface water sampling and monitoring of sites to assure conformance with permit conditions.
- Developing Emergency Action Plans for medium and high hazard dams.
- Personnel and resources to perform required intermittent and annual inspections of your dams.
- We perform soil borings, seasonal high groundwater assessments, and utilize a variety of field and laboratory testing methods to assess infiltration, permeability, and hydraulic conductivity as needed to support stormwater management designs.
Shallow Foundations
Your turnkey solution for foundation design.
Shallow foundations for structures usually consist of reinforced concrete slabs (mats), continuous strip footings, or spread footings. These footings may support a house, factory, a wall, storage tanks, or even a piece of machinery. As a geotechnical consultant, often for a primary Civil Engineer or Structural Engineer, Madrid CPWG provides the design team with a geotechnical investigation and engineering report including recommendations for a cost-effective foundation to support the infrastructure and/or loading requirements, including:
- Site Reconnaissance (site visit, inspection, meeting with the designer)
- Research (historical aerials, soil surveys, geologic maps)
- SPT and Hand Auger Borings (using in-house resources)
- Laboratory Testing of undisturbed and disturbed soil samples (in our certified lab)
- Deleterious Soil Analysis (clays, organics, buried debris)
- Foundation Design (sizing, allowable bearing pressures, settlement evaluation, soil parameters and construction recommendations)
- Madrid CPWG also has experience providing alternative solutions, such as geofoam, other lightweight fills, construction over waste phosphatic clays (remnants of phosphate mining operations), and foundation repair/retrofit options.
Madrid CPWG takes pride in completing projects on-time and within the requested budget while providing the highest quality of data gathering, efficient design, and professionalism throughout the project. Our experienced and knowledgeable staff includes a Project Manager to work with you directly to assure you obtain precisely the results you need to keep the project on schedule and on budget. Field crews are often available within days of initiating a contract.
Allow us to demonstrate how Madrid CPWG can be your turnkey solution for foundation design.
Deep Foundations
We have the Experienced Personnel and Resources Required to Provide the Right Deep Foundation Alternative for Your Projects
Depending on loading and soil conditions it is sometimes necessary to revert to more costly deep foundation systems to support infrastructure projects. Madrid CPWG has experience designing driven piles of all kinds, drilled shafts, auger-cast piles, rigid inclusions, micro-piles, underpins, etc. We also have the experience and forethought necessary to select the right mix of load testing and load factors required, including load testing recommendations and implementation, to optimize and economize your deep foundation system.
Allow us to develop and design the deep foundation solution for you.
Soil Stabilization
We are acknowledged Experts in Subsidence Investigations
There are numerous causes for cracking distress, differential movement of a structure, and collapse features. Among them are deleterious foundation soils such as high organics, shrink-swell clays, buried debris, inadequate compaction of the soil prior to construction, and sinkhole activity. Florida, along with many other parts of the southeast US and the Caribbean, is prone to areas of higher sinkhole risk due to the shallow limestone bedrock. Madrid CPWG’s professional staff of engineers and professional geologists are acknowledged experts in the State of Florida for geology, geotechnical engineering, and structural engineering, having performed over 5,000 subsidence investigations.
We have the expertise to determine, whether the conditions observed are really sinkhole related or if the damage may be from another cause such as soil compaction, soil type, poor construction methods, the behavior of sediments, organics, clays, and other soft soils, the behavior of soils generated or disturbed by mining activities, other related geotechnical issues, or even just normal aging processes. We also have an in-house structural/forensic engineering division that provides evaluations and recommendations regarding the integrity of structures that are inspected for subsidence damage.
Additionally, Madrid CPWG will provide foundation stabilization plans if any stabilization is recommended or required. As a service to the client and to ensure the stabilization program is conducted according to our specifications, we provide experienced stabilization monitoring services. Our field technicians record all contractor activities and provide assurance the contractor is in compliance with the site-specific specifications we recommend for each project. Signed and Sealed Completion Reports are customized to the needs and requests of each client whether private or business and can properly address specifics for each individual policy requirement should there be any.
Madrid CPWG is also well versed in various soil stabilization techniques some of which include vibro-replacement stone columns, rigid inclusions, dynamic compaction, soil mixing, lightweight fills, geosynthetic applications, surcharge programs, a variety of chemical treatments including proprietary methods where appropriate, among others. The geotechnical challenges in Polk County alone provide many opportunities for soil stabilization techniques to be used to facilitate and/or economize site development options. We have experience turning previously considered undevelopable or undesirable sites into a variety of infrastructure projects.
Geotechnical Drilling
We are committed to providing the best quality drilling services.
Madrid CPWG is one of the more diversified and complete Geotechnical Engineering firms in the state of Florida. We take great pride in providing our clients with the best of quality drilling services in our industry. In the past 20 years of servicing our clients, Madrid CPWG has been tested by their clients on some of the most challenging drilling projects in the state of Florida. With over ten thousand successful projects completed, this has allowed Madrid CPWG to gain experience and respect.
Our commitment to our clients is to provide the best quality of drilling services with qualified drillers who will complete the required tasks with the highest quality, integrity, and professionalism our clients demand.
Working with the FDOT and other government agencies has allowed Madrid CPWG to expand its services throughout the state of Florida taking on larger and more difficult drilling projects, specializing in Rock Coring and drilling deep borings. Our drilling, field, and lab personnel are MSHA-trained. We have an in-house safety officer and ongoing safety training is completed not only in the office but in the field. Safety is our priority
Accessibility
We have the ability to access difficult boring locations in areas around, and even within, structures to drill test borings. The track-mounted rigs we use have rubber tracks, some with very small footprints and some with very low ground pressure. This minimizes damage to vegetation, asphalt, concrete, and shallow underground utilities. Using mini rigs in highly populated areas minimizes the impact of the surrounding businesses and also allows patrons to go about their daily activities. These rigs can drill as deep as 300’ depending on subsurface conditions. The Marooka rubber-track carrier with a CME-45 is one our most versatile tools that can travel on very soft ground, through water nearly 3 feet deep ad right over fairly dense scrub vegetation. This is our preferred tool in limit access applications.
Borings over water are not an impediment to our drilling services. We have a 38-ft floating platform (former jack-up barge) and a new 48-ft jack-up barge that enables us to keep drilling over rough waters that often shut down much larger floating spud barges. We have the barges and support boats required to service your water-borne exploration needs.
Mined Land Geotechnics
Decades of experience designing facilities on formerly mined lands.
Field Sampling techniques and Innovative Drilling
Madrid CPWG is headquartered in the center of Polk County deep in the heart of phosphate mined and reclaimed lands. It goes much beyond location, however; over the years we have become one of just a few geotechnical firms with the experience of investigating, analyzing, researching, and designing facilities within old, mined lands. Our experience with field sampling techniques and innovative drilling in very limited access areas, along with our experience in recognizing and identifying soil profiles associated with previously mined makes us your best choice for field investigations.
Our experience with waste phosphatic clay properties and behavior and our innovative design solutions that provide technically feasible and efficient ways to work with these deleterious soils rather than the easy recommendation for total removal and replacement makes us the right choice to help develop your infrastructure on previously mined and/or reclaimed lands. For instance, we developed PhosphoCrete™ to economically chemically stabilize soft soils on areas previously mined for phosphate. Pockets of soft, phosphatic waste clays (often called ‘slimes’) are highly compressible and weak and may be too extensive and expensive, or time-consuming to excavate and replace, sometimes preventing properties in desirable locations from being developed. Through a chemical process, PhosphoCrete™ can permanently alter/strengthen those clays to create a stabilized platform that provides a permanent solid stable platform on which to build.
