TILTMETERS

In order to provide complete services for construction monitoring, Stoney-Miller and Geofirm are instituting new criteria and instrumentation to better serve our clients.

Surveyors often measure deflection at tops of walls, as well as displacement, or relative displacement of structures on adjacent property. As surveys are generally scheduled events, the timing of a field survey does not often occur during significant events in construction. Quickly completed excavations near property lines, backfilling of retaining walls, tieback tensioning, and heavy equipment loading are common examples of significant events during construction which could cause deformation to on-site, or adjacent property structures.

Installation of a tiltmeter system may allow many measurements for movement or deflection to be completed at less cost and in "real-time". A tiltmeter with a capability of accuracy of 3/1000th of a degree could achieve measurements on the order of 10 times the sensitivity of a conventional optical survey for typically sized structures. Measurements may be completed by one perosn and calculated within minutes of any onset of changing site conditions. As the measurements and calculations are relatively quick, geotechnical staff already on site are able assume this task along with their more conventional duties.

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