This is is a well-established method design method known as the method of Hergarden, after the MSc thesis of Ronald Hergarden. CRUX Engineering, our mother company, has developed an Excel sheet where this calculation is conducted. This Excel sheet is currently used by the engineers of CRUX, but requires quite some manual work for each CPT that is analysed. The efficiency and speed of the calculation can be improved, especially when several CPTs are available.

The goal of my internship was to develop a more efficient way of conducting this calculation, by making a Python package that is both efficient and easy to use. The package should be able to make multiple automated calculations and give correct results. The manual labour that is needed to use this package should be kept to a minimum. This goal is during my Internship as I developed, with the help of the developers at CEMS, an efficient package that is able to run the calculation in less than 0.5 seconds. This package can now be used by all engineers of CRUX to perform a calculation with the method of Hergarden. The application will also be made available through an API for the whole geotechnical community.

I greatly enjoyed my time at CEMS. This was my first experience working for a geo-engineering company, and I can say that it was a valuable experience. Not only because I learned many new programming skills, but also because I learned how it is to be an employee in a company. During my internship, I got insight in what it is like to work in a professional environment. I have already noticed that this experience is very useful to me. I learned some soft skills that I will be able to use for the rest of my life. Because of this, I would highly recommend doing an internship in general.

During my time at CEMS, I felt welcome at the company. Everyone was always helpful and willing to make some time whenever I had questions during my internship. Because the company is not extremely big, you are able to get to know the people at the office quite quickly. What is also a nice feature of this is that it brings a lot of flexibility in terms of the contents of your internship. As already written, I had a programming task during my internship. Because I expressed that I had an interest in learning more about programming, my supervisors came up with a task that fitted my interests. As CEMS has a wide range of projects that they are involved in, I am convinced that they are able to find a good internship or graduation subject that fits to any kind of wish within the scope of geo-engineering.