UK-based Foundation & Exploration Services (FES) has used a purpose-built platform to carry out a number of detailed geotechnical measurements at Belmont reservoir near Bolton in the UK. The company had to sink ten cable percussion boreholes to 27m depths, five of which were continued by rotary coring, into the upstream and downstream faces of the embankment dam. An extensive laboratory-testing programme followed the siteworks, including a number of stress tests on both undisturbed and remoulded samples recovered from the dam.United Utilities commissioned the investigation to assess the stability of dams under seismic loading. FES completed the work which included the construction of platforms at seven sites within seven days. A further two dam sites, Cantclough, near Burnley and Blackstone Edge, Rochdale, were also investigated using similar techniques through montgomery-watson-harza.
