Geotechnical Engineering

Devise has completed geotechnical investigations in Anchorage, the Valley, Kenai, and many more - all throughout the state of Alaska, and the lower 48. We tailor our work to consider the client's scope, budget, and good engineering practices. 

We can design, observe, or test shallow or deep foundations. We have designed foundations in soil, rock, warm and cold permafrost, and even liquefiable soils in Anchorage and the State of Alaska. We excel at finding the right solution for the project considering the conditions. Our construction deep foundation work also includes pile driving/wave equation analyses and full-scale load tests. 

We have experience designing in cold regions using steady-state or transient thermal analyses, assessing frost heaving, evaluating permafrost conditions, and all while considering climate change. Our geotechnical engineers have worked in Anchorage, the Y-K Delta, North Slope, Fairbanks, Canada, and even Russia. 

Living in a high seismic region like Alaska, we understand the impacts of earthquake ground motions, liquefaction, lateral spreading, landslides, and faulting on design. Our engineers have analyzed and designed both shallow and deep foundations for liquefiable conditions and overcome numerous challenges working with challenging soils. 

We've designed it all - concrete, MSE, sheet pile, modular block, Bin walls, and many more. The high seismicity in Anchorage and Alaska presents unique challenges to performing stability analysis and our engineers have the skills to overcome these challenges.  

We have performed both inspection and analysis of existing and new slopes in Anchorage, including evaluations of the Fourth Avenue slide area. Our analyses employ either Limit Equilibrium and Finite Element, as appropriate, in various drain and undrained conditions along with temporary and post-earthquake situations. 

We have designed several engineered excavation plans and multiple shoring designs to aid contractors in their work in Anchorage or wherever in Alaska the work takes them. 

Whether an Anchorage parking lot, collector road, highway, or aircraft pavement, we can aid you in optimizing your pavement design considering frost depth, layer thicknesses, and cost to save money on your project. 

Our geotechnical design experience includes several ground improvement projects focusing primarily on vibro-compaction, prefabricated vertical drains, surcharges and monitoring, rigid inclusions, and stone columns. 

Additionally, we've aided in vibration monitoring, pile driving - observations and high-strain dynamic testing (HSDT), and limited inspections in Anchorage and throughout Alaska.