Automation of soil testing by Tinius Olsen moves New Mexico Department of Transportation far ahead

Soil testing is an important part of the materials testing lab work performed at the DOT. Slow, tedious manual processes were till recently the norm there. Case in point, Simons said that his department struggled with national standards that modern equipment wasn’t addressing. “Monitoring the rate of movement of the test machine was a nightmare. The technicians absolutely hated doing it – we would attach a magnetic mounting device with a dial indicator to the base of the test machine with the indicator measuring the movement on the head. We had to watch how fast the dial indicator hand moved. At the same time we had to monitor the hydraulic feed to maintain a constant movement, while noting when the designated action loads were achieved. It was never constant. Operators had to pay attention to all of those things simultaneously. Of course, that never worked very well. It required multiple people to monitor the process and collect the data. This process was inherently difficult because it required instantaneous communication between them. Verbal commands, no matter how fast the response, were always difficult to coordinate. The manual process was difficult and time consuming, using a Tinius Olsen machine with a stabilometer attached.”

That is, until Simons called Tinius Olsen about a new machine. Tinius Olsen experts introduced Test Navigator software to the soil testing process at the DOT. By automating the monitoring and data collection that was formerly performed manually, Tinius Olsen was able to solve a number of challenges that Simons and his team were facing.

Soon, with Test Navigator software, Simons and the DOT were able to realize significant advantages. Gone were the problems and inaccuracies associated with coordination and communications problems. Now Simons reports a new confidence that the data being delivered is as reliable as anyone can expect. “ It has helped us profoundly. We can focus on getting other things done now.”

Time has been shaved off the process, and more importantly, the DOT has finally found the accuracy in soil testing it’s been chasing for years. “In the past, we had a tough time generating soil testing results that were anywhere close to the national average. Since we’ve had Test Navigator software running this process, we’ve been nailing the AMRL (American Materials Reference Library) standards every time. It has helped enhance our credibility and boosted confidence in our test results. That translates into increased confidence in our pavement design, which translates into longer and better pavements.”

Future plans include the possibility of converting another machine to increase the DOT’s production. That reduces our crews by one person.

As for the decision to automate the soil testing process, Simons says, “We’ve never regretted it. It’s been extremely beneficial in terms of credibility of results and timing of results and manpower improvement. It’s been worth a lot.”