Services

Employing tertiary qualified personnel with sound industry experience ensures that McMillan Specialist Drilling Services are able to offer Clients advice and provide confidence that their site investigation objectives are understood - this combined with experienced field personnel enables us to offer the care and skill geotechnical and environmental drilling demands.

A comprehensive data base of historic site investigations also provides Clients with a level of security on what to expect.

Routine services include a selection of in-situ testing and sampling methods to derive soil engineering parameters, through to the recovery of high quality samples for subsequent laboratory testing and classification.  Services also include the installation of geotechnical hardware, such as Inclinometers and Vibrating Wire Piezometers, to enable the monitoring of in-situ conditions over time.

Direct Push

In response to the age old problem of sampling and testing through saturated non-cohesive material McMillan SDS have procured the latest Direct Push Dual Tube equipment from America and refined its use in a range of materials, (including Canterbury’s challenging alluvial gravels).  Traditionally Cable Percussive or Air Rotary methods have been used to obtain samples and conduct Standard Penetration Tests (SPT).  Often samples can be highly segregated and SPT values compromised by drilling disturbance.  Direct Push now enables the recovery of continuous in-situ samples of the strata and accurate SPT tests with sensible results.

Aside from superior sample quality through most materials, this system has a number of significant benefits over conventional drilling.  One main benefit is the absence of drill cuttings - no mess to clean up!  The other benefit is the relatively quick speed of the operation and hence the low cost.

Electric Cone Penetration Testing (CPT/CPTu)

Electric Cone Penetration Testing is a well proven geophysical tool to establish extremely accurate in-situ data.  Whilst initially developed as a geotechnical tool, the benefits are no less when used as an environmental tool.  Numerous empirical correlations exist between CPT data and common engineering parameters enabling engineers and scientists to quickly classify a site and predict how the soil would respond to new structures and/or the movement of contaminates.  Similar to Direct Push technology, the method does not produce drill cuttings and the speed ensures that several locations/meters of investigation can be conducted in one day.

"Accuracy and repeatability"