The NORWEGIAN GEO-TEST SITES is a national research facility for geotechnical research. The five national test sites are located in Norway and on Svalbard.
The research consortium consist of NGI and NTNU, SINTEF/UNIS and NPRA (Norwegian Public Roads Administration). Five Research sites have been developed as field laboratories for the testing and verification of innovative soil investigation and testing methods. The sites cover the soil conditions of soft clay, quick clay, silt and sand. As interest for the Arctic areas grows, one of the sites is in permafrost on Svalbard where detection, sampling, in situ testing and laboratory testing of frozen ground present significant challenges.
Today, the test sites serve as reference sites for the industry, public authorities, research organizations and academia. The benchmarked data can be used to develop soil material models, new investigation methods, new foundation solutions and advance the state-of-the-art.
There is already a wide cooperation within the geotechnical community in Norway and abroad for the use of the sites. It is hope that Research at the test facility will provide more cost-effective and sustainable solutions within the building and construction, transportation and energy sectors and to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The NORWEGIAN GEOTEST SITES research infrastructure, with funding from The Research Council of Norway, creates a national research test site facility for geotechnical research. The five national test sites will be located in Norway and on Svalbard. The research consortium consists of NGI and NTNU, SINTEF/UNIS and NPRA (Norwegian Public Roads Administration). The research project will develop the five sites as field laboratories for the testing and verification of innovative soil investigation and testing methods. The sites cover the soil conditions of soft clay, quick clay, silt, sand and permafrost. At the end of the project, the test sites will serve as reference sites for the industry, public authorities, research organizations and academia where benchmarked data can be used by several generations of scientists and engineers to develop soil material models, new investigation methods, new foundation solutions and advance the state-of-the-art. The five sites will be operative for 20 yrs.
The five test sites are planned as a national facility, with wide cooperation within the geotechnical community in Norway and abroad. The research investment is necessary to provide more cost-effective and sustainable solutions within the building and construction, transportation and energy sectors and to mitigate the effects of climate change. Affected facilities include the nation's infrastructure such as bridges, harbours, roads, railways, sewers, clean water systems, pylons, pipelines etc. In addition, difficult soil and foundation conditions are often the cause for the deterioration of civil engineering constructions. Improved geotechnical characterization and design will reduce the ever increasing maintenance costs of the nation's infrastructure facilities. The research consortium will also initiate the "International GeoTest Sites Network", where Norwegian users have access to calibrated soil conditions from abroad.