The "Slim One": TERRATEST 7000 TRENCH^®

The new TERRATEST 7000 TRENCH^® with a 10 cm slim load plate, a lower falling height and a 5 kg drop weight was developed to control the compaction quality of the soil when filling particularly small pipeline trenches using the “trenching” method. The conventional light weight deflectometer with a drop weight of 10 kg and a load plate with a diameter of 300 mm does not fit into the trenches of the “trenching” process, which are only 12 cm wide.

The device is particularly suitable for trenches that are only 12 cm wide and 40 cm deep when laying fiber optic broadband cables. TERRATEST 7000 TRENCH^® is equipped with an oval load plate with a width of 10 cm and a 5 kg falling weight. This generates a force of 3,535 kN, which has proven to be ideal for testing the lower layer thicknesses using the “trenching” method. The device is manufactured based on the TP-BF StB Part B 8.3 and is used by the construction company for internal self-monitoring. The TRENCH^® is mainly used in pedestrian and bicycle paths. The measurement results provided by the TRENCH^® are comparable to the measurement results of the 10 kg device in the range of around 20 – 50 MN/m2. TERRATEST 7000 STREAM devices can be upgraded to a combination device with the oval load plate and the 5 kg load device of the TRENCH^®. There is only an update of the firmware on the measurement electronics required.