Buildings are built to drawings, but the ground doesn’t follow drawings. DINETT identifies actual subsurface conditions through investigation and survey, verifies the safety of excavation and foundation design, and manages behavior during construction through monitoring.
Many cost overruns and schedule delays begin underground. Unexpected strata, unidentified buried utilities and impacts on adjacent structures, if revealed after groundbreaking, cost tens of times more to address than the investigation itself.
DINETT doesn’t rely on borings alone. We fill the gaps between boreholes with geophysical surveys including GPR, and explicitly flag zones of high uncertainty so designers decide with full awareness of the risks.
Nor do we treat the underground safety impact assessment as a formality. We predict the impact of excavation on adjacent buildings and buried utilities through numerical analysis, and set monitoring thresholds based on those predictions. Thresholds set without a basis make monitoring meaningless.
Knowing subsurface conditions, designing safely on them, and verifying actual behavior during construction — the three stages must stay connected.
This stage secures parameters usable in design. We design the investigation scope itself so results feed directly into numerical analysis as input values.
Through borings and standard penetration tests (SPT), we determine stratigraphy, groundwater level and N-values, and derive design parameters such as strength, consolidation and permeability from laboratory soil tests. In rock zones, we also assess rock classification and excavation difficulty.
Boring · SPT · Groundwater level · Design parameters
We nondestructively detect cavities, buried utilities and strata boundaries through geophysical surveys including ground-penetrating radar (GPR). By filling the gaps between boreholes, we uncover differences between drawings and reality in advance.
GPR · Cavity detection · Buried utilities · Nondestructive
We confirm the actual bearing capacity of piles and bearing strata through load tests, and verify design assumptions through geological testing. The results provide direct grounds for selecting the foundation type.
Load test · Bearing capacity · Design verification
Excavation changes the stress state of the surrounding ground. We calculate how that change affects adjacent facilities, and design methods and construction sequences to keep it within allowable limits.
We predict ground settlement and groundwater changes caused by excavation and assess their impact on adjacent structures. The assessment type depends on project scale, and sections adjacent to subways or railways require an additional safety review and consultation with the managing authority. Assessment results directly underpin the monitoring thresholds.
Settlement prediction · Adjacent impact · Railway consultation
We select foundation types and review the bearing capacity and settlement of piles and shallow foundations. We also check the earth pressure resistance of basement walls and the adequacy of embedment depth.
Foundation type · Bearing capacity · Settlement · Embedment depth
We design temporary earth retaining works and perform third-party structural reviews. We verify safety by analyzing earth pressure, support layout (struts and anchors) and displacement at each excavation stage.
Earth pressure · Struts · Anchors · Staged displacement
We finalize design details and confirm that actual behavior during construction stays within the predicted range. Monitoring is an early warning system to prevent accidents.
We deliver the full range of civil design — site development, drainage planning, roads and pavement, retaining walls and slope stability — and provide third-party reviews of existing designs.
Site development · Drainage · Retaining walls · Slope stability
We handle detailed design and structural review of civil structures under vertical and horizontal loads, such as underground facilities, culverts, underpasses and temporary structures.
Culverts · Underpasses · Temporary structures
We perform as-is surveys, control point installation, inspection surveys during construction and as-built surveys. Discrepancies between design and site coordinates are identified before construction starts.
As-is survey · Control points · As-built survey
We operate inclinometers, piezometers, load cells and strain gauges, and automatically monitor the tilt, settlement and crack width of adjacent buildings. We set Level 1, 2 and 3 thresholds based on analysis predictions and give early notice of anomalies.
Inclinometers · Load cells · Thresholds · Automatic alarms
A process designed so data flows without interruption from investigation to monitoring.
| Facility type | Typical work |
|---|---|
| Deep Urban Excavation | Underground safety impact assessment, earth retaining review, adjacent building monitoring |
| Apartments · Mixed-Use Development | Ground investigation, foundation type review, groundwater impact |
| Adjacent to Railways · Subways | Protection zone safety review, authority consultation, continuous monitoring |
| Roads · Water & Sewer | GPR cavity survey, settlement cause investigation, culvert design |
| Slopes · Retaining Walls | Stability analysis, reinforcement design, behavior monitoring |
| Industrial Complexes · Plants | Heavy equipment foundations, ground improvement review, load testing |
| Aging Ground · Underground Spaces | Ground subsidence investigation, cavity filling measures |
Where excavation may damage adjacent buildings, the Structural Engineering team conducts pre-construction condition surveys and damage cause assessments in parallel, securing objective evidence in case of disputes. Blasting and pile-driving vibration is measured by the Testing & Measurement team.
Just tell us the excavation depth, site location and adjacent facilities, and we’ll outline the investigations and statutory procedures you need.