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NGTS - Norwegian Geo-Test Sites

The R&D Program Norwegian Geo-Test Sites – NGTS supported by The Research Council of Norway Infrastructure program, will establish five national test sites. The test sites will be located near Oslo and Trondheim and one on Svalbard.

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The NGTS research consortium is led by NGI and includes NTNU, SINTEF/UNIS and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. The test sites will be used as field laboratories for development, testing and verification of new innovative methods for site investigations and testing procedures. The five test sites have been chosen as representative for specific soil types which include:

  1. soft clay
  2. quick clay
  3. silt
  4. sand
  5. permafrost (frozen soil)

Due to the growing interest for construction and energy solutions in arctic conditions, one of the test sites will be established in permafrost, where soil sampling, in-situ testing and laboratory investigations of frozen soil material are very challenging.

Test sites to Reference areas

At the end of the project period the test sites will be used as reference areas ("benchmark") which can be used by industry, federal and private developers, research institutes and academia. Data generated at the test sites will be available for use to develop and improve geotechnical and foundation engineering methods and advance the state-of-the-art expertise. The operating phase for the referance areas will be 20 years.

The research project Norwegian Geo-Test Sites (NGTS) will have a national character, with comprehensive cooperation between the Norwegian geotechnical engineering community. NGTS will also have wide and extended cooperation with leading international geotechnical expertise. Establishment of NGTS is necessary to be able to develop more cost effective and sustainable solutions for the building, construction  and transportation industries and the energy sector, and to reduce the risk caused by climate change, floods and landslides.

Infrastructures, such as bridges, harbours, roads, railways, drinking water and sewage facilities, pylons, pipelines etc. may collapse or fail due to extreme weather. Challenging soil conditions will often be the cause of deterioration of such infrastructures. Improved geotechnical knowledge and improved design criteria will contribute to reduce the steadily increasing maintenance costs.

For NGTS to succeed, it will require:

  • Investment in new sampling and field equipment
  • Thorough and comprehensive investigation and studies of material properties of the different soils
  • Development and testing of new and improved equipment
  • New testing prosedures.

International network

The research consortium will initiate an "International Geo-Test Sites Network", where Norwegian participants will get access to international test sites and quality controlled and assured data.Through the network and exchange of know-how, Norwegian participants will have access to first hand knowledge about equipment and new methods developed by leading international research centers.

Datamap access

You can access all NGTS data following two steps. First, please register with the system at http://www.geocalcs.com/datamap by creating a user name and password. Once logged in, the you can navigate to the "Join Project" tab by first clicking the "My Projects" link in the upper right-hand corner of the map viewing screen. They then, must enter the details in the table below and click on the "Join Project" button. Users can then navigate back to the Map view by clicking a link in the upper right corner.

Access codes and project names to access data from the Australian and Norwegian geotechnical research sites in the Datamap application.

Weather stations and temperature data

Visit NGI's Vista database at  http://vistadv01.ngi.no/vdv/index.html.

Write an email to priscilla.paniagua.lopez@ngi.no to get the logging access data.

Key information

  • Project start: June 2016
  • Host: NGI
  • Duration : 3 + 20 yrs
  • 5 Project partners: NGI, SVV (NPRA), NTNU, SINTEF and UNIS
  • Budget: 61 MNOK
    - 66 % from the Research Council of Norway (RCN)
    - 23 % from the institute sector
    - 11 % from the public sector
    - 3-4 PhD and 10 MSc.
    - 1-2 Post doc fellows

Objective of the Project

The main objective is to develop five National Geo-Test Sites as field laboratory for testing and verifying innovative soil investigation and foundation methods.

With focus on

  • Soil investigation tools and methods: sampling, in situ testing and laboratory testing.
  • Testing of new and/or unique instrumentation/monitoring schemes.
  • Fundamental understanding of soil behavior and interpretation of soil parameters from laboratory and in situ tests.
  • Development of innovative and cost-effective foundation solutions for onshore and offshore Applications.

NGTS newsletter

Diploma Thesis/MSc Theses

Eiken, I. (2019). An experimental study of thermal properties and the influence on the ground thermal regime in permafrost soil. MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway. 

Hammer, H. B. (2019). Accuracy of CPTUs in deltaic sediments and the effect of cone penetrometer type.pdf  Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Holten, J.G. (2016).  Shear wave velocity testing in sands. Litterature study.pdf Project Thesis. TBA 4510. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Jia, F. (2019). Joint Electrical and Acoustic Measurement for Unfrozen Water Content in Frozen Soil Civil and Environmental Engineering.pdf MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Kalogeropoulou, M. (2018). Comparison of grain size distribution methods applied to Halden silt.pdf Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU

Lindgård, A. & Ofstad, C. S. (2016). An evaluation of methods to determine Ko in clays.pdf Literature study and pilot experiments conducted at Tiller in connection with NGTS Project Thesis. TBA 4510. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Magnussen, S.B. (2019). Rate effect on Halden silt: Triaxial testing with different rates of loading.pdf Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Ofstad, C. S. and Lindgård, A. (2017). Field and laboratory investigations to evaluate the coefficient of earth pressure at rest. NGTS Flotten quick clay test site. MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

Scientific articles in refereed journals

Blaker, Ø., Carroll, C., Paniagua, P., DeGroot, D.J. & L'Heureux, J.-S. (2019). Halden research site: geotechnical characterization of a post glacial silt. AIMS Geosciences, 5(2): 184-234. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.2.184.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2600242

Gilbert, G.L., Instanes, A., Sinitsyn, A.O. & Aalsberg, O. (2019). Characterization of two sites for geotechnical testing in permafrost: Longyearbyen, Svalbard. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(4): 868-885. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.868.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2625146

Gundersen, A.S., Carotenuto, P., Lunne, T., Walta, A. & Sparrevik, P.M. (2019). Field verification tests of the newly developed flow cone tool—In-situ measurements of hydraulic soil properties. AIMS Geosciences, 5(4):784-803. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.784.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2620175

Gundersen, A.S., Hansen, R.C., Lunne, T., L'Heureux, J.-S., & Strandvik, S.O. (2019). Characterization and engineering properties of the NGTS Onsøy soft clay site. AIMS Geosciences, 5(3):665-703. doi:10.3934/geosci.2019.3.665.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2618901

L'Heureux, J.-S., Lindgård, A., & Emdal, A. (2019). The Tiller-Flotten research site: Geotechnical characterization of a very sensitive clay deposit. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(4): 831-867. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.831.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2630879

L'Heureux, J.-S. & Long, M. (2017). Relationship between Shear-Wave Velocity and Geotechnical Parameters for Norwegian Clays. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 143 (6), doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001645.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

L'Heureux, J.-S. & Lunne, T. (2019). Characterization and Engineering properties of Natural Soils used for Geotesting. AIMS Geosciences, 6(1): 35–53. doi:10.3934/geosci.2020004.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2635808

Paniagua, P., D'Ignazio, M., L'Heureux, J.-S., Lunne, T. & Karlsrud, K. (2019). CPTU correlations for Norwegian clays: an update. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(2): 82-103. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.2.82.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2597364

Quinteros, S., Gundersen, A., L'Heureux, J.-S., Carraro, A.H. & Jardine, R. (2019). Øysand research site: Geotechnical characterisation of deltaic sandy-silty soils. AIMS Geosciences, 5(4): 750-783. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.750.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2618850

Keynote papers and lectures

L'Heureux, J.-S. 2020. On the use of benchmark test sites for research and development in geotechnical engineering. NGM 2020, Helsinki
(Held 25-27 June 2020)

Scientific refereed papers in conferences

Bazin, S., Köhler, A., Sauvin, G., Park, J., Johansson, J. & Senna, S. (2019). Site characterization with ambient seismic noise at the Norwegian Geo Test Sites. Paper to EAGE-GSM 2nd Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering, 22 - 26 April 2019, Kuala Lumpur. DOI: 10.3997/2214-4609.201900379.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

Blaker, Ø., Carroll, R.&  L'Heureux, J.-S. (2016). Characterisation of Halden silt. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization: C, Queensland, Australia, 5-9 September 2016. Australian Geomechanics Society.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

Carroll, R. & Paniagua, P. (2018). Variable rate of penetration and dissipation test results in a natural silty soil. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.205-212). London: CRC Press.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560676

Degago, S.A. and Grimstad, G. (2017). Potential application of satellite data in evaluation of field creep calculation. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 2273-2276). Seoul: 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

Gribben, S., Bazin, S., Donohue, S., Sivakumar, V & L'Heureux, J-S. (2017). Investigating How the Changes in Geotechnical Properties of Sensitive Clays Influence Their Geophysical Properties. In V. Thakur, J.-S. L'Heureux, A. Locat (Eds.), Landslides in Sensitive Clays: From Research to Implementation. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol. 46 (Chapter 8, pp. 87-96). Dordrecht: Springer.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

Gribben, S., Donohue, S., Sivakumar, V., Bazin, S., Berre, T.& L'Heureux, J.S. (2016). Geophysical methods for assessing the geotechnical properties of sensitive clays. In Proceedings of the 69th Canadian Geotechnical Conference - GEOVancouver 2016, Vancouver, October 2-5, 2016. The Canadian Geotechnical Society.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

Gundersen. A.S., Quinteros, S., L'Heureux, J-S. & Lunne, T. (2018). Soil classification of NGTS sand site (Øysand, Norway) based on CPTU, DMT and laboratory results. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.323-328). London: CRC Press.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560706

Huynh, D.V.K., Jostad, H.P. & Engin, H.K. (2018). Improvement of NT-bar Evaluation in Clays Using Large Deformation FE Method. In: Randolph M., Doan D., Tang A., Bui M., Dinh V. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st Vietnam Symposium on Advances in Offshore Engineering. VSOE 2018 (pp. 137-143). Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 18. Singapore: Springer.

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L’Heureux, J. S., Carroll, R., Lacasse, S., Lunne, T., Strandvik, S. O., Degago, S., Instanes, A., Nordal, S. & Sinitsyn, A. (2017). New Research Benchmark Test Sites in Norway. In T.L.  Brandon and R.J. Valentine (Eds.), Geotechnical Frontiers 2017: Transportation Facilities, Structures, and Site Investigation. Geotechnical Special Publication 277 (pp.630-640). American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). doi:10.1061/9780784480441.066.

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L'Heureux, J.S., Caroll, R., Lacasse, S., Lunne, T. & Strandvik, S.O., Degago, S., Instanes, A., Nordal, S., & Sinitsyn, A. (2016). The Norwegian GeoTest Sites (NGTS) project  – An overview. In Proceedings of the 69th Canadian Geotechnical Conference - GEOVancouver 2016, Vancouver, October 2-5, 2016 (Paper 4158). The Canadian Geotechnical Society.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

L'Heureux, J-S., Gundersen, A.S., D'Ignazio, M., Smaavik, T., Kleven, A., Rømoen, M., Karlsrud, K., Paniagua, P. & Hermann, S. (2018). Impact of sample quality on CPTU correlations in clay – Example from the Rakkestad clay. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.395-400). London: CRC Press.

Open archive: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560699

L'Heureux, J. S., Long, M. (2016). Correlations between shear wave velocity and geotechnical parameters in Norwegian clays. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp.299 - 308). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465326

L'Heureux, J.S., Lunne, T., Lacasse, S., Carroll, R., Strandvik, S.O., Ozkul, Z., Instanes, A., Sinitsyn, A., Degago, S. & Nordal, S. (2017). Norway's National GeoTest Site Research Infrastructure (NGTS). In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 611-614): 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2463478

L’Heureux, J.-S., Ozkul, Z., Lacasse, S., D'Ignazio, M. & Lunne, T. (2017). Bestemmelse av hviletrykk (K0) i norske leirer – anbefalinger basert på en sammenstilling av lab-, felt- og erfaringsdata : A revised look at the coefficient of earth pressure at rest for Norwegian Clays. I Fjellsprengningsteknikk - bergmekanikk - geoteknikk. Oslo 2017. Foredrag 35.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2491814

L'Heureux, J-S., Vanneste, M., Kopf, A. & Long, M. (2018). Use of the free fall cone penetrometer (FF-CPTU) in offshore landslide hazard assessment. In M.A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp. 401-406). London: CRC Press.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560689

Long, M., Paniagua, P. and J.-S. L'Heureux. 2020. Assessing sample disturbance in low plasticity sensitive clays using shear wave velocity. 

Published on ISC'6 2020, September 2020 

Long, M., Wood, T. & L'Heureux, J-S. (2017). Relationships Between Shear Wave Velocity and Geotechnical Parameters for Norwegian and Swedish Sensitive Clays. In V. Thakur, J.-S. L'Heureux, A. Locat (Eds.), Landslides in Sensitive Clays: From Research to Implementation. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol. 46 (Chapter 6, pp. 67-76). Dordrecht: Springer.

Order from NGI Library: NGI Search

Lunne, T., Strandvik, S., Kåsin, K., L'Heureux, J-S., Haugen, E., Uruci, E., Veldhuijzen, A., Carlson, M. & Kassner, M. (2018). Effect of cone penetrometer type on CPTU results at a soft clay test site in Norway. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp. 417-422). London: CRC Press.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2504730

Paniagua, P., Carrol, R., L'Heureux, J.S. and Nordal, S. (2016). Monotonic and dilatory excess pore water dissipations in silt following CPTU at variable penetration rate. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization: ISC'5, Queensland, Australia, 5-9 September 2016. Australian Geomechanics Society.

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Paniagua, P., L'Heureux, J-S., Carroll, R., Kåsin, K., Sjursen, M. & Amundsen, H. (2017). Evaluation of sample disturbance of three Norwegian clays. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 481-484). 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2463457

Paniagua, P, L'Heureux, J.-S., Kalogeropoulou. M. (2020). Kalogeropoulou. A comparison of grain size distribution methods applied to Halden silt. 

Published on ISC'6, September 2020.

Paniagua, P., L'Heureux, J.S., Yang, S.Y. & Lunne, T.L. (2016). Study on the practices for preconsolidation stress evaluation from oedometer tests. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp. 547 - 555). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465340

Sauvin, G., Vanneste, M., L'Heureux, J.S., O'Connor, P., O'Rourke, S., O'Connell, Y., Lombard, T., & Long, M. (2016). Impact of data acquisition parameters and processing techniques on S-wave velocity profiles from MASW – Examples from Trondheim, Norway. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp.1297 - 1306). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465333

Thakur, V. and Degago, S.A. (2017). Role of remolding energy in the post failure movements of landslides. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 3525-3528). Seoul: 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

Project reports

  • 20160154-04-R. 2016. Factual Report Halden NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway. 
  • 20160154-05-R. 2016. Factual Report Øysand NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway.
  • 20160154-10-R. 2016. Factual Report Onsøy NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway.

Lectures, courses, workshops and seminars

  • Carroll, R. and Paniagua-López, P. 2016. CPTU i silt. Geotekniske dimensjoneringsparametere, Norsk Geoteknisk Forening, 25-26 October, Sandefjord, Norway.
  • Degago, S.A. (2016) Ødometerforsøk for Geotekniske dimensjoneringsparametere. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
  • Instanes. A. (2016) "Nasjonale geoforsøksfelt på Svalbard og fastlandet. NFR-finansiert infrastrukturprosjekt 2016-2019". Foredrag på Frost-dagen 31.oktober 2016.
  • L'Heureux, J.S. 2016. Nasjonal GeoTest Sites prosjektet (NGTS). Teknologidagene, Clarion Hotell og Congress, Trondheim 25. oktober. 2017.
  • Lunne, T. (2016) Use of onshore test sites for developing soil characterization methods and verifying foundation solutions. Invited Keynote lecture. Australian Geotechnical Society, Perth 13.09.16
  • Lunne, T. (2016) CPTU I sand. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
  • Sjursen, M. (2016) Erfaringer fra laboratorie. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
  • NGTS. Summary of the 1st International workshop 23.24 November 2016. NGI Oslo. Report no. 20160154-15-R
  • NGTS. Norwegian GeoTests Sites (NGTS) - Referanseområder for utvikling av innovative geotekniske løsninger. Workshop under Teknologidagene. Trondheim 25. oktober, Clarion Hotel og Congress

  • The NGTS research consortium is led by NGI and includes NTNU, SINTEF/UNIS and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. The test sites will be used as field laboratories for development, testing and verification of new innovative methods for site investigations and testing procedures. The five test sites have been chosen as representative for specific soil types which include:

    1. soft clay
    2. quick clay
    3. silt
    4. sand
    5. permafrost (frozen soil)

    Due to the growing interest for construction and energy solutions in arctic conditions, one of the test sites will be established in permafrost, where soil sampling, in-situ testing and laboratory investigations of frozen soil material are very challenging.

    Test sites to Reference areas

    At the end of the project period the test sites will be used as reference areas ("benchmark") which can be used by industry, federal and private developers, research institutes and academia. Data generated at the test sites will be available for use to develop and improve geotechnical and foundation engineering methods and advance the state-of-the-art expertise. The operating phase for the referance areas will be 20 years.

    The research project Norwegian Geo-Test Sites (NGTS) will have a national character, with comprehensive cooperation between the Norwegian geotechnical engineering community. NGTS will also have wide and extended cooperation with leading international geotechnical expertise. Establishment of NGTS is necessary to be able to develop more cost effective and sustainable solutions for the building, construction  and transportation industries and the energy sector, and to reduce the risk caused by climate change, floods and landslides.

    Infrastructures, such as bridges, harbours, roads, railways, drinking water and sewage facilities, pylons, pipelines etc. may collapse or fail due to extreme weather. Challenging soil conditions will often be the cause of deterioration of such infrastructures. Improved geotechnical knowledge and improved design criteria will contribute to reduce the steadily increasing maintenance costs.

    For NGTS to succeed, it will require:

    • Investment in new sampling and field equipment
    • Thorough and comprehensive investigation and studies of material properties of the different soils
    • Development and testing of new and improved equipment
    • New testing prosedures.

    International network

    The research consortium will initiate an "International Geo-Test Sites Network", where Norwegian participants will get access to international test sites and quality controlled and assured data.Through the network and exchange of know-how, Norwegian participants will have access to first hand knowledge about equipment and new methods developed by leading international research centers.

    Datamap access

    You can access all NGTS data following two steps. First, please register with the system at http://www.geocalcs.com/datamap by creating a user name and password. Once logged in, the you can navigate to the "Join Project" tab by first clicking the "My Projects" link in the upper right-hand corner of the map viewing screen. They then, must enter the details in the table below and click on the "Join Project" button. Users can then navigate back to the Map view by clicking a link in the upper right corner.

    Access codes and project names to access data from the Australian and Norwegian geotechnical research sites in the Datamap application.

    Weather stations and temperature data

    Visit NGI's Vista database at  http://vistadv01.ngi.no/vdv/index.html.

    Write an email to priscilla.paniagua.lopez@ngi.no to get the logging access data.

  • Key information

    • Project start: June 2016
    • Host: NGI
    • Duration : 3 + 20 yrs
    • 5 Project partners: NGI, SVV (NPRA), NTNU, SINTEF and UNIS
    • Budget: 61 MNOK
      - 66 % from the Research Council of Norway (RCN)
      - 23 % from the institute sector
      - 11 % from the public sector
      - 3-4 PhD and 10 MSc.
      - 1-2 Post doc fellows

    Objective of the Project

    The main objective is to develop five National Geo-Test Sites as field laboratory for testing and verifying innovative soil investigation and foundation methods.

    With focus on

    • Soil investigation tools and methods: sampling, in situ testing and laboratory testing.
    • Testing of new and/or unique instrumentation/monitoring schemes.
    • Fundamental understanding of soil behavior and interpretation of soil parameters from laboratory and in situ tests.
    • Development of innovative and cost-effective foundation solutions for onshore and offshore Applications.

  • NGTS newsletter

    Diploma Thesis/MSc Theses

    Eiken, I. (2019). An experimental study of thermal properties and the influence on the ground thermal regime in permafrost soil. MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway. 

    Hammer, H. B. (2019). Accuracy of CPTUs in deltaic sediments and the effect of cone penetrometer type.pdf  Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Holten, J.G. (2016).  Shear wave velocity testing in sands. Litterature study.pdf Project Thesis. TBA 4510. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Jia, F. (2019). Joint Electrical and Acoustic Measurement for Unfrozen Water Content in Frozen Soil Civil and Environmental Engineering.pdf MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Kalogeropoulou, M. (2018). Comparison of grain size distribution methods applied to Halden silt.pdf Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU

    Lindgård, A. & Ofstad, C. S. (2016). An evaluation of methods to determine Ko in clays.pdf Literature study and pilot experiments conducted at Tiller in connection with NGTS Project Thesis. TBA 4510. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Magnussen, S.B. (2019). Rate effect on Halden silt: Triaxial testing with different rates of loading.pdf Diploma thesis. Department of Civil and Transport Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Ofstad, C. S. and Lindgård, A. (2017). Field and laboratory investigations to evaluate the coefficient of earth pressure at rest. NGTS Flotten quick clay test site. MSc Thesis. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Trondheim, Norway.

    Scientific articles in refereed journals

    Blaker, Ø., Carroll, C., Paniagua, P., DeGroot, D.J. & L'Heureux, J.-S. (2019). Halden research site: geotechnical characterization of a post glacial silt. AIMS Geosciences, 5(2): 184-234. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.2.184.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2600242

    Gilbert, G.L., Instanes, A., Sinitsyn, A.O. & Aalsberg, O. (2019). Characterization of two sites for geotechnical testing in permafrost: Longyearbyen, Svalbard. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(4): 868-885. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.868.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2625146

    Gundersen, A.S., Carotenuto, P., Lunne, T., Walta, A. & Sparrevik, P.M. (2019). Field verification tests of the newly developed flow cone tool—In-situ measurements of hydraulic soil properties. AIMS Geosciences, 5(4):784-803. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.784.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2620175

    Gundersen, A.S., Hansen, R.C., Lunne, T., L'Heureux, J.-S., & Strandvik, S.O. (2019). Characterization and engineering properties of the NGTS Onsøy soft clay site. AIMS Geosciences, 5(3):665-703. doi:10.3934/geosci.2019.3.665.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2618901

    L'Heureux, J.-S., Lindgård, A., & Emdal, A. (2019). The Tiller-Flotten research site: Geotechnical characterization of a very sensitive clay deposit. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(4): 831-867. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.831.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2630879

    L'Heureux, J.-S. & Long, M. (2017). Relationship between Shear-Wave Velocity and Geotechnical Parameters for Norwegian Clays. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 143 (6), doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001645.

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    L'Heureux, J.-S. & Lunne, T. (2019). Characterization and Engineering properties of Natural Soils used for Geotesting. AIMS Geosciences, 6(1): 35–53. doi:10.3934/geosci.2020004.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2635808

    Paniagua, P., D'Ignazio, M., L'Heureux, J.-S., Lunne, T. & Karlsrud, K. (2019). CPTU correlations for Norwegian clays: an update. AIMS Geosciences, 2019, 5(2): 82-103. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.2.82.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2597364

    Quinteros, S., Gundersen, A., L'Heureux, J.-S., Carraro, A.H. & Jardine, R. (2019). Øysand research site: Geotechnical characterisation of deltaic sandy-silty soils. AIMS Geosciences, 5(4): 750-783. doi: 10.3934/geosci.2019.4.750.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2618850

    Keynote papers and lectures

    L'Heureux, J.-S. 2020. On the use of benchmark test sites for research and development in geotechnical engineering. NGM 2020, Helsinki
    (Held 25-27 June 2020)

    Scientific refereed papers in conferences

    Bazin, S., Köhler, A., Sauvin, G., Park, J., Johansson, J. & Senna, S. (2019). Site characterization with ambient seismic noise at the Norwegian Geo Test Sites. Paper to EAGE-GSM 2nd Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering, 22 - 26 April 2019, Kuala Lumpur. DOI: 10.3997/2214-4609.201900379.

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    Blaker, Ø., Carroll, R.&  L'Heureux, J.-S. (2016). Characterisation of Halden silt. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization: C, Queensland, Australia, 5-9 September 2016. Australian Geomechanics Society.

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    Carroll, R. & Paniagua, P. (2018). Variable rate of penetration and dissipation test results in a natural silty soil. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.205-212). London: CRC Press.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560676

    Degago, S.A. and Grimstad, G. (2017). Potential application of satellite data in evaluation of field creep calculation. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 2273-2276). Seoul: 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

    Gribben, S., Bazin, S., Donohue, S., Sivakumar, V & L'Heureux, J-S. (2017). Investigating How the Changes in Geotechnical Properties of Sensitive Clays Influence Their Geophysical Properties. In V. Thakur, J.-S. L'Heureux, A. Locat (Eds.), Landslides in Sensitive Clays: From Research to Implementation. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol. 46 (Chapter 8, pp. 87-96). Dordrecht: Springer.

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    Gribben, S., Donohue, S., Sivakumar, V., Bazin, S., Berre, T.& L'Heureux, J.S. (2016). Geophysical methods for assessing the geotechnical properties of sensitive clays. In Proceedings of the 69th Canadian Geotechnical Conference - GEOVancouver 2016, Vancouver, October 2-5, 2016. The Canadian Geotechnical Society.

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    Gundersen. A.S., Quinteros, S., L'Heureux, J-S. & Lunne, T. (2018). Soil classification of NGTS sand site (Øysand, Norway) based on CPTU, DMT and laboratory results. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.323-328). London: CRC Press.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560706

    Huynh, D.V.K., Jostad, H.P. & Engin, H.K. (2018). Improvement of NT-bar Evaluation in Clays Using Large Deformation FE Method. In: Randolph M., Doan D., Tang A., Bui M., Dinh V. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 1st Vietnam Symposium on Advances in Offshore Engineering. VSOE 2018 (pp. 137-143). Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 18. Singapore: Springer.

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    L’Heureux, J. S., Carroll, R., Lacasse, S., Lunne, T., Strandvik, S. O., Degago, S., Instanes, A., Nordal, S. & Sinitsyn, A. (2017). New Research Benchmark Test Sites in Norway. In T.L.  Brandon and R.J. Valentine (Eds.), Geotechnical Frontiers 2017: Transportation Facilities, Structures, and Site Investigation. Geotechnical Special Publication 277 (pp.630-640). American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). doi:10.1061/9780784480441.066.

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    L'Heureux, J.S., Caroll, R., Lacasse, S., Lunne, T. & Strandvik, S.O., Degago, S., Instanes, A., Nordal, S., & Sinitsyn, A. (2016). The Norwegian GeoTest Sites (NGTS) project  – An overview. In Proceedings of the 69th Canadian Geotechnical Conference - GEOVancouver 2016, Vancouver, October 2-5, 2016 (Paper 4158). The Canadian Geotechnical Society.

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    L'Heureux, J-S., Gundersen, A.S., D'Ignazio, M., Smaavik, T., Kleven, A., Rømoen, M., Karlsrud, K., Paniagua, P. & Hermann, S. (2018). Impact of sample quality on CPTU correlations in clay – Example from the Rakkestad clay. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp.395-400). London: CRC Press.

    Open archive: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560699

    L'Heureux, J. S., Long, M. (2016). Correlations between shear wave velocity and geotechnical parameters in Norwegian clays. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp.299 - 308). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465326

    L'Heureux, J.S., Lunne, T., Lacasse, S., Carroll, R., Strandvik, S.O., Ozkul, Z., Instanes, A., Sinitsyn, A., Degago, S. & Nordal, S. (2017). Norway's National GeoTest Site Research Infrastructure (NGTS). In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 611-614): 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2463478

    L’Heureux, J.-S., Ozkul, Z., Lacasse, S., D'Ignazio, M. & Lunne, T. (2017). Bestemmelse av hviletrykk (K0) i norske leirer – anbefalinger basert på en sammenstilling av lab-, felt- og erfaringsdata : A revised look at the coefficient of earth pressure at rest for Norwegian Clays. I Fjellsprengningsteknikk - bergmekanikk - geoteknikk. Oslo 2017. Foredrag 35.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2491814

    L'Heureux, J-S., Vanneste, M., Kopf, A. & Long, M. (2018). Use of the free fall cone penetrometer (FF-CPTU) in offshore landslide hazard assessment. In M.A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp. 401-406). London: CRC Press.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2560689

    Long, M., Paniagua, P. and J.-S. L'Heureux. 2020. Assessing sample disturbance in low plasticity sensitive clays using shear wave velocity. 

    Published on ISC'6 2020, September 2020 

    Long, M., Wood, T. & L'Heureux, J-S. (2017). Relationships Between Shear Wave Velocity and Geotechnical Parameters for Norwegian and Swedish Sensitive Clays. In V. Thakur, J.-S. L'Heureux, A. Locat (Eds.), Landslides in Sensitive Clays: From Research to Implementation. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol. 46 (Chapter 6, pp. 67-76). Dordrecht: Springer.

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    Lunne, T., Strandvik, S., Kåsin, K., L'Heureux, J-S., Haugen, E., Uruci, E., Veldhuijzen, A., Carlson, M. & Kassner, M. (2018). Effect of cone penetrometer type on CPTU results at a soft clay test site in Norway. In M. A. Hicks, F. Pisanò, J. Peuchen (Eds.), Cone Penetration Testing IV: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing (CPT 2018), June 21-22, 2018, Delft, The Netherlands (pp. 417-422). London: CRC Press.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2504730

    Paniagua, P., Carrol, R., L'Heureux, J.S. and Nordal, S. (2016). Monotonic and dilatory excess pore water dissipations in silt following CPTU at variable penetration rate. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Geotechnical & Geophysical Site Characterization: ISC'5, Queensland, Australia, 5-9 September 2016. Australian Geomechanics Society.

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    Paniagua, P., L'Heureux, J-S., Carroll, R., Kåsin, K., Sjursen, M. & Amundsen, H. (2017). Evaluation of sample disturbance of three Norwegian clays. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 481-484). 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2463457

    Paniagua, P, L'Heureux, J.-S., Kalogeropoulou. M. (2020). Kalogeropoulou. A comparison of grain size distribution methods applied to Halden silt. 

    Published on ISC'6, September 2020.

    Paniagua, P., L'Heureux, J.S., Yang, S.Y. & Lunne, T.L. (2016). Study on the practices for preconsolidation stress evaluation from oedometer tests. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp. 547 - 555). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465340

    Sauvin, G., Vanneste, M., L'Heureux, J.S., O'Connor, P., O'Rourke, S., O'Connell, Y., Lombard, T., & Long, M. (2016). Impact of data acquisition parameters and processing techniques on S-wave velocity profiles from MASW – Examples from Trondheim, Norway. In Proceedings of the 17th Nordic Geotechnical Meeting (NGM), Reykjavik, 25-28 May 2016 (pp.1297 - 1306). Iceland: Iceland Geotechnical Society.

    Open archive: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2465333

    Thakur, V. and Degago, S.A. (2017). Role of remolding energy in the post failure movements of landslides. In W.Lee, J.-S.Lee, H.-K.Kim and D.-S.Kim (Eds.), Unearth the Future, Connect beyond. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 3525-3528). Seoul: 19th ICSMGE Secretariat.

    Project reports

    • 20160154-04-R. 2016. Factual Report Halden NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway. 
    • 20160154-05-R. 2016. Factual Report Øysand NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway.
    • 20160154-10-R. 2016. Factual Report Onsøy NGTS. NGI, Oslo, Norway.

    Lectures, courses, workshops and seminars

    • Carroll, R. and Paniagua-López, P. 2016. CPTU i silt. Geotekniske dimensjoneringsparametere, Norsk Geoteknisk Forening, 25-26 October, Sandefjord, Norway.
    • Degago, S.A. (2016) Ødometerforsøk for Geotekniske dimensjoneringsparametere. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
    • Instanes. A. (2016) "Nasjonale geoforsøksfelt på Svalbard og fastlandet. NFR-finansiert infrastrukturprosjekt 2016-2019". Foredrag på Frost-dagen 31.oktober 2016.
    • L'Heureux, J.S. 2016. Nasjonal GeoTest Sites prosjektet (NGTS). Teknologidagene, Clarion Hotell og Congress, Trondheim 25. oktober. 2017.
    • Lunne, T. (2016) Use of onshore test sites for developing soil characterization methods and verifying foundation solutions. Invited Keynote lecture. Australian Geotechnical Society, Perth 13.09.16
    • Lunne, T. (2016) CPTU I sand. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
    • Sjursen, M. (2016) Erfaringer fra laboratorie. Norsk geoteknisk forening (NGF) Kurs. 25.-26. oktober 2016. Sandefjord.
    • NGTS. Summary of the 1st International workshop 23.24 November 2016. NGI Oslo. Report no. 20160154-15-R
    • NGTS. Norwegian GeoTests Sites (NGTS) - Referanseområder for utvikling av innovative geotekniske løsninger. Workshop under Teknologidagene. Trondheim 25. oktober, Clarion Hotel og Congress
Portrait of Jean-Sébastien L'Heureux

Jean-Sébastien L'Heureux

Senior Specialist Geotechnics and Natural Hazards jean-sebastien.lheureux@ngi.no
 +47 971 20 860