Clay Technology’s laboratory is specialized in clay analyses with respect to geotechnical, hydro-mechanical, chemical and mineralogical properties. The laboratory has specialized equipment and routines for, among other things, geotechnical and hydro-mechanical characterization.

Basic geotechnical characterization and hydro-mechanical characterization of different soil types can be made in the laboratory where the analyses have been optimized for clay based materials with content of swelling minerals. Geotechnical characterization can be made by determination of e.g. water content, liquid limit, grain size distribution, grain density and compaction properties. Hydro-mechanical characterization can be made by determination of swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity but also by determination of strength and compression properties with advanced triaxial tests, unconfined compression tests and oedometer tests.

The water retention property, which describes the solid-water interaction, characterizes a material but is also an example of a useful parameter that can be determined as one in a set of parameters needed as input in material models. To represent a specific process, e.g. hydro mechanical processes, the test conditions can be specified for the determination.

The three photos below show pictures from our laboratory and from left to the right the photos show a test sample after unconfined compression tests, a test cell used for determination of swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity and one of our triaxial test devices.