Recently, the Lehigh Institute-undertaken Detailed Geotechnical Engineering Survey Project, part of Runchao International’s project, won the second prize of Excellent Survey and Design 2019 by Jiangsu Urban and Rural Construction System.

Runchao International Project was one of the landmark buildings in Lianyungang City. It was a high-rise commercial office building, challenging the geotechnical engineering investigation. Located in an urban built-up area with dense surrounding buildings and urban pipe networks, the project, a tower block with heavy load, was conducted in a deep soft soil distribution area. In order to build a second-floor basement, the excavation depth of foundation pit was about 12 meters. The project required high precision of soft soil design parameters. The site featured complex hydrogeological conditions, multiple layers of groundwater, and high groundwater level, which greatly influenced the design and construction of foundation and foundation pit.

According to the scale characteristics of the project, the geotechnical engineering personnel of Lehigh Institute adopted a combination of drilling sampling, standard penetration test, dual-bridge static penetration test, vane shear test and other means to carry out the surveying, which not only ensured the survey accuracy and solved the key technical problems, but also guaranteed the reasonable survey period to meet the requirements of construction period. With practical survey methods selected, the proposed geotechnical design parameters were complete and accurate, and the foundation treatment scheme was science-based and reasonable, which has been well received by relevant units in charge of design, construction and supervision. The project has now been completed on schedule with excellent quality. With the smooth acceptance, it is delivered to the owner.