Civil Engineering Materials

Natural Aggregates

STATS is one of the leading international consultancy practices dealing with all aspects of the selection, use and performance of aggregates.

Our resources comprise a team of scientists and engineers with worldwide experience supported by extensive in-house laboratory facilities and with access to state-of-the-art university research facilities.
For many years STATS has been at the forefront of applying techniques like petrographic examination and instrumental chemistry.

Cement and Additions

Designers and producers are seeking to create concretes able to satisfy ever-higher strength, impermeability and other performance criteria and achieve ever-greater cost effectiveness. These trends have lead to an increasing use of special cements and in particular to the use of additions such as:

Admixtures and other chemical performance
Cement “substitutes” like ground granulated blastfurness slagggbs) and pulverised fuel ash (pfa)
Microsilica and metakaolin

STATS provides comprehensive consultancy in the use of these materials, with allied specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards.

Making Concrete

STATS provides comprehensive consultancy in the making of concrete spanning the selection of constituent materials, mix design and production to meet site conditions worldwide.

Where appropriate we are able to provide a full laboratory back-up including specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards.

We can also provide technical training for production personnel and materials engineers and technicians.

Curing and Hardened Concrete

STATS provides comprehensive consultancy in most aspects of site concrete engineering including workability, transporting, pumping, placing, compacting and curing concrete to meet site conditions worldwide.
We also offer allied specialist technical services in areas like in situ heat of hydration temperature monitoring and temperature-matched curing.

In respect of the routine quality control of hardened concrete our engineers can provide statistical analysis and trend evaluation of cube and core strength and other test data, together with undertaking NDT and coring investigations into potentially non-compliant materials.

Concrete In Service

Increasing the proportion of recycled materials incorporated into a project has become an important design objective to meet environmental performance targets. Their use may also have significant potential economic advantages.

The use of recycled materials does however require particular vigilance to be applied over quality and in-service performance issues.

STATS is able to bring to bear a wealth of scientific and engineering expertise and experience to evaluate and advise on proposed materials and products covering both their engineering and environmental performance.

Recycled Aggregates

Bricks, Blocks, Slabs, Setts and Kerbs

STATS provides a range of specialist services for dimensioned quarry and refractory products, including:

Product research and development testing and evaluation for quarry owners and manufacturers
Product selection, evaluation and specification advice for real in-service working environments
Routine and specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing of products to UK, EU and USA standards
Quarry and factory site inspection and compliance monitoring
Post-construction inspections, condition and damage surveys and repair advice
Residual life evaluation and prediction

Gabion and Masonry Structures

STATS has extensive expertise and experience in the selection and performance of rock and dimensioned stone products used in gabion and masonry structures, including:

Dimension stone selection, quarry and product appraisal and specification advice
Brick and block product evaluation
Lime and cement mortar mix design including fine aggregate and additives evaluation
Specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards
Compliance monitoring and site inspection
Post-construction wall inspections, condition and damage surveys and repair advice
Mortar identification

Armour Stone, River and Marine Concrete

STATS has extensive expertise and experience in the selection, performance and durability of materials used in high energy and chemically aggressive marine and inland waterway environments, including:

Stone and aggregate selection, evaluation and specification advice
Concrete mix design
Specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards
Quarry site inspection and compliance monitoring
Post-construction inspections, condition and damage surveys and repair advice
Residual life evaluation and prediction

Bituminous Materials

STATS provides a range of specialist services for bituminous pavement materials covering:

Aggregate and binder selection, evaluation and specification advice
Mix Design
Specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards
Compliance monitoring and site inspection
Post-construction pavement inspections and coring, condition and damage surveys and repair advice

Highway and Airfield Pavements

STATS provides a range of specialist services for highway and airfield pavement materials, including:

Materials resourcing appraisals and quarry site evaluation
Materials specification advice
Lime and cement stabilisation evaluation, advice and specifications
Bound and unbound product evaluation including specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards
Compliance monitoring and testing
Post-construction pavement inspections and coring, condition and damage surveys and repair advice
Pavement materials identification

Railway Trackbeds and Ballasts

STATS provides a range of specialist services for railway trackbeds and ballasts, including:

Materials resourcing appraisals and quarry site evaluation
Materials specification advice
Sub-ballast and ballast materials evaluation including UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards.
Pre-cast concrete and timber sleeper inspection
Compliance monitoring and testing
Radar and other geophysical surveys of trackbeds

Earthworks

STATS provides a range of specialist services for earthworks for transportation infrastructure, dams, coastal and derelict land reclamation and landfills, including:

Materials resourcing appraisals and quarry site evaluation
Materials resourcing appraisals and quarry site evaluation
Materials specification advice
Lime and cement stabilisation evaluation, advice and specifications
Earthworks materials evaluation including specialist UKAS accredited laboratory testing to UK, EU and USA standards
Soil instrumentation, monitoring and data evaluation
Post-construction earthworks failure investigations and remediation design

Property Package

STATS provides a unique package of property condition audits for vendors and purchasers across the UK encompassing:

Asbestos and other hazardous materials
Ground contamination
Deleterious materials
Materials deterioration
Structural details

Civil Engineering Materials

STATS Materials Consultancy provides services for civil engineering materials spanning the full lifecycle of an asset, from initial feasibility and planning, through design and construction to operation, maintenance and repair. In particular, we bring expertise in avoiding problems with new construction and solving problems with materials in service.

In terms of environments STATS has undertaken materials consultancy appointments on projects around the globe, from the tropics to the tundra regions. In terms of types of engineering structures we have been closely involved in major projects for airports, roads, railways, bridges, retaining walls, culverts, tunnels, pipelines, canals, dams, docks, harbours, coastal and river protection, dredging, coastal reclamation, quarrying, open-cast mining and land reclamation/remediation.

The service is provided by a professional team of well qualified scientists, engineers and specialist technicians, many of whom have particular areas of expertise built up over many years of consultancy practice and expert witness work. Further strength in depth is provided by our in-house UKAS accredited laboratory testing services, where we are able to bring together the production of test results and other specialist analytical and examination procedures with their interpretation by the project consultants.

Click here to view David Crofts' article on Contemporary Chemical Techniques in Concrete Analysis, published in the Concrete magazine April 2006 issue.