Groundwater Monitoring

Monitoring groundwater level and pore pressure is critical across resources such as boreholes, standpipes, embankments, soils, earth fills, and more. Bestech provides reliable and accurate groundwater monitoring systems through automated and real-time data management solutions for products such as standpipes, Casagrande Piezometers, and vibrating wire piezometers.

Monitoring groundwater is crucial for groundwater table mapping and groundwater level and pore water pressure. Choosing the right type of instruments to measure groundwater can depend on the reason for measuring, the accuracy of the measurement required, and the type of pumping activity. Whether it is long-term continuous monitoring or standalone installations, our groundwater range of products can monitor:

• Pore pressure & groundwater level at the construction site
• Groundwater table mapping
• Water temperature
• Rainfall to co-relate water table variation with rainfall

Pore water pressure or piezometric pressure measurement can be defined by activity to measure the pressure of water contained within pores of rock, minerals, concrete and other earthy materials. Pore Pressure is generally measured to understand the level and flow pattern of groundwater.

The water table is the level in the ground at which the pore pressure is zero (equal to atmospheric).  Extraction of ground water is common during excavation works and therefore monitoring prior, during and post any drilling of wells, dewatering or extraction of ground water is crucial.

A vibrating wire piezometer is commonly used to monitor the pore water pressure and/or the  groundwater level. There are a number of different types of piezometers which can measure specific applications or project requirements. Generally when these instruments are within a borehole, concrete or embankment and therefore sealed in the soil, they react to pore water pressure changes around itself and not to the groundwater pressures at other elevations. This provides quantitative data on the magnitude and distribution of pore pressure variations, supporting the behavior of the groundwater before, during and after construction.

When the piezometers are installed in open observation wells and therefore not sealed they can respond to changes of the pressure in ground water through their depth and thus monitoring the ground water level at the location.

Sensors for groundwater monitoring:

Real-time monitoring:

• Automatic water level monitoring system (EWLR-101) consisting of piezometer and datalogger
• Piezometer (EPP-30V) to monitor pore pressure
• Rain gage (ERG-200) to monitor rain fall
• Digital dataloggers (ESDL-30) with GSM/GPRS or RF transmission facility
• Integrated software and web data management service (WDMS)

Manual monitoring:

• Casagrande piezometer (EPP-10) for monitoring pore pressure
• Open standpipe (EPP-10SP) for monitoring of water level
• Dipmeter or water level sounder

Bestech also offers a range of sensors and instrumentation systems for other geotechnical engineering applications such as:

• Slope stability analysis/ landslide monitoring
• Soil Laboratory Testing
• Construction Material Testing
• Structural Monitoring
• Tunnel Monitoring
• Excavation Monitoring
• Pile Testing
• Pavement Testing and Monitoring
• In-field testing, such as: Soil Consolidation Analysis
• Seismic engineering
• Mine monitoring