Geotechnical Engineering in Katy, TX

Katy is flat, wet, and built on prairie clay that was rice farmland within living memory. Two things follow. First, the subsurface is soft and moisture-sensitive near the surface, so bearing capacity and settlement need to be established rather than assumed. Second, nearly every site is a drainage site, and the detention pond is a geotechnical structure: its slopes, embankments, and liner all depend on the same soils being characterized. We drill to the structure and the water table, run the index and strength testing that supports slab, pier, and pavement design, and stay involved through construction to verify what gets built matches what was reported.

A shallow water table across the Katy Prairie affects boring methods, excavation, and detention design. Sites inside the Addicks and Barker watersheds carry drainage constraints that shape the geotechnical scope.

• Soil borings and sampling programs sized to the structure and site
• Laboratory index testing: Atterberg limits (ASTM D4318), moisture content (ASTM D2216)
• Moisture-density relationships and bearing evaluation for foundations and pavements
• Expansive-soil characterization for slab and pavement design
• Construction-phase verification: proof rolls, subgrade acceptance, fill placement observation

ASTM D4318ASTM D2216ASTM D698ASTM D1557