Laboratory Testing

Alpha Geo Engineering Limited has one of the best equipped testing house and most modern equipment for geotechnical soils, rock and associated materials testing in Uganda and its capabilities are greatly enhanced by its sister company, Gondwana Engineering plc that has the biggest independent testing house in Ethiopia. We are able to undertake a wide range of test procedures to international standards including commonly used British and ASTM Standards.

We perform technical tests for a variety of building, civil engineering and construction projects. Work undertaken includes geotechnical investigation for highway related projects and bridge foundations; a wide range of tests relating to the development of energy resources; tunneling and pipeline projects; and major infrastructure project including geophysics and geophysical tests.

The laboratory has bespoke automatic data logging machines which capture triaxial compression test, shear box and compressive strength test data. Our strength in this field is the keen interest we give to laboratory test data presentation and management for all our clients. We have invested in computer software programs and trained all our stuff to use them.

We test samples recovered from our site and ground investigations but we also accept soil, rock and aggregate samples from customers and sites throughout Uganda and East Africa as a whole. The laboratory also carries out testing on a sub contract basis from other site investigation companies.
We carry out tests on soil, rock and aggregates, sand, water, concrete, bricks and concrete blocks as discussed below:

Soil Tests

Our extensive and modern testing equipment resources enable us to perform a wide range of testing of a routine nature especially in support of roads construction including classification, durability, compactions, CBRs, ACVs; and total stress shear strength for the purpose of designing foundations for bridges, buildings, electrical substations and hydropower dams. An outline of the tests is given below:

Laboratory Soil Tests

Liquid and Plastic Limits (Atterberg Limits)
Linear Shrinkage
Particle Size Distribution (Sieve Analysis / Grading)
Particle Size Distribution (Mechanical Analysis by Hydrometer Method)
Dry Density and Moisture Content Relationship (Modified and Standard Proctor Test)
California Bearing Ratio (Soaked CBR)
Particle density (previously known as Specific Gravity)
Direct Shear Strength using Shearbox
Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) Triaxial Compression Tests
Unconfined Compressive Strength
Consolidation (Oedometer) Test
Bulk density and dry density of undisturbed sample
Natural Moisture content
Laboratory Vane – Shear Strength

Field Soil Tests

In-situ Density Testing (Field density)
In-situ California Bearing Ratio (CBR)
Field Vane- Shear Strength Test
Pocket Penetrometer Test
Standard Penetration Test (SPT)
Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT)

Rock and Aggregate Tests

Our facilities enable us to perform unconfined compressive strength tests (which include Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s Ratio determination with load/unloading cycles); Water absorption and Specific Gravity; Point Load Testing; 10% fines measurements; Aggregate Crushing Value (ACV); Los Angeles Abrasion (LA Wear); Grading; Soundness Tests. An outline of both the rock and aggregate tests is given below:

Rock