Geotechnical Digital Transformation: Integrate Decades of Data into Your Models with DAARWIN

Reliability in geotechnical characterization relies not only on current field data but also on the historical understanding accumulated from previous investigations. In sectors such as tunneling, mining, and civil infrastructure, where ground behavior is a critical factor, sound decisions depend on the ability to reconstruct historical geotechnical knowledge with full traceability. However, the systematic reuse of historical ground data remains limited due to its analog and unstructured nature.

This paper explores how advanced digitisation—enabled by DAARWIN’s automated tools—serves as a technical strategy to integrate legacy geotechnical data into digital workflows. This integration allows for significant improvements in numerical modelling, backanalysis, and engineering decision-making under uncertainty.

Technical Context and Limitations of Current Practice

Historically, geotechnical reports and records are archived as scanned PDFs or paper documents. This leads to:

• Redundant or repeated site investigation campaigns.

• Missed opportunities for cross-verification of current assumptions.

• Elevated technical risks due to incomplete historical information.

• Underutilisation of valuable geological data from previously studied areas.
  

Manual digitisation is often attempted but is time-consuming and unsustainable for large-scale infrastructure or mining projects.

Automated Digitisation Workflow with DAARWIN

DAARWIN offers an automated and scalable pipeline for digitising legacy geotechnical documents through the following integrated technologies:

• Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Detects and reads text from degraded or handwritten scans.

• Geotechnical Entity Extraction: AI-powered algorithms extract borehole layers, depths, soil types, test results, and locations.

• Document Classification and Metadata Parsing: Technical documents are automatically categorised and indexed.

• Structured Data Mapping: All extracted information is converted into digital, structured datasets ready for analysis and modelling.

Reports with hundreds of pages can be processed in under an hour, making large-scale digitisation a feasible and efficient operation.

Technical Integration in Geotechnical Modelling Workflows

Once digitised, legacy data can be directly integrated into digital workflows such as:

• Multisource ground models, combining past and current investigations.

• Backanalysis and retrospective model calibration, using known site behaviour from previous phases.

• Sensitivity analysis and probabilistic design, supported by a broader historical dataset.

• Uncertainty quantification, based on areas with scarce or inconsistent legacy data.

By incorporating historical ground knowledge, engineers can build more representative and robust ground models that better reflect long-term site evolution.

Discussion: Strategic Value for Senior Engineering Practice

From a senior engineering standpoint, the impact of digitising legacy geotechnical data is strategic rather than operational:

• Improved reliability of numerical models through enriched datasets.

• Reduced geotechnical risk by accounting for historical behaviour patterns.

• Transparent decision-making with full traceability, critical for regulatory and contractual frameworks.

• Avoidance of technical redundancy, increasing ROI on previous investigations.

The standardisation of digital records also facilitates knowledge transfer across projects and generations of engineers within organisations.

The digital transformation of historical geotechnical data is no longer optional—it is technically imperative. DAARWIN provides a robust and automated environment to overcome document fragmentation, enabling decades of valuable information to be integrated into digital models, simulations, and engineering decisions.

For senior engineers committed to precision and continuous improvement, digitisation offers not just a methodological upgrade but a paradigm shift in subsurface knowledge management.

📌 For more technical information on DAARWIN’s digitisation tools and to request a demo, visit:👉 https://www.saalg.com/digitisation-tools