Civil · Structural Design
Foundation & Geotechnical Analysis
Intermediate 4 weeks 30-50 hours
Build a soil bearing-capacity test box: load a footing on compacted soil/sand and measure settlement vs load. Compare measured bearing behavior to geotechnical calculations.
Major
Civil
Focus area
Structural Design
Total hours
30-50 hours
What you'll need
- load cell 5kg with HX711 amplifier weight sensor kit
- Digital Dial Indicator
- Arduino Uno R3 ATmega328P microcontroller board
- clear acrylic box container for soil testing
- steel plate for load testing
- calibration weight set for testing
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Steps
- Fill the acrylic box with compacted sand or soil in even layers.
- Place the steel plate as a model footing and set up the load cell and dial indicator.
- Add load in steps and record settlement at each step.
- Repeat with a different soil density or footing size.
- Calculate bearing capacity by hand and compare to your measured results.
- Chart load vs. settlement and document the project for your portfolio.
What to photograph for your portfolio
- Test box build
- load-settlement curves
- bearing capacity vs calc
- soil profile
Resume bullet starters
Copy one, then swap in your own numbers.
Engineered a foundation & geotechnical analysis using Geotechnical engineering, soil mechanics, load-settlement testing
Built, tested, and documented the complete analysis, validating results against design targets
Skills you'll show off
Geotechnical engineeringsoil mechanicsload-settlement testing