Design of a database for documentation and analysis of lab data and rock-properties derived in field measurements

Increasing requirements for ground investigation programs in large construction projects are putting pressure on existing data management systems. Today data from a wide range of necessary field and lab investigations are stored in large tables and spreadsheet programs. These tables are often complicated, poorly optimized, or inflexible. To handle large data loads in a more appropriate way, the chair of Engineering Geology at TUM is working on a database concept to optimize easy and fast data management. Its main objective is to make these data accessible to project partners across broadly distributed locations. This database solution will offer easy access, quick output, and fast analysis of field and lab data. Our database system is based on a MySQL database with an HTML-PHP web interface to allow online access. The deployed user management system allows administrators to grant and constrain access to data to guarantee the safety of project data. The base module manages the data of project partners, project data and laboratory data. Simple analysis of the data is integrated in the base module. In addition users can export data for further analysis, thereby allowing integration with a wide range of popular software. This database system is open to add-on modules to develop further analysis tools to investigate the collected data in detail. At the moment, we are developing an add-on to use this database for drill test analysis. Today we are managing over 60 projects with 500 samples and almost 1,200 lab tests with the base module.