From 19th to 26th of April GeoMil did carry out the commissioning of a fully ballasted and turn-key equipped CPT truck based on MAN 33.440 to Geoservis Belarus in Minsk (Geoservis Institute of the Belarus Ministry of Construction and Architecture).

Geoservis Belarus thus enhances its fleet of geotechnical in-situ testing units by state-of-the-art CPT technology and due to the vast experience and skills of all employees, familiarization with the new technique was swiftly accomplished.

First project results have been gained successfully, like in the new residential area close to the orthodox church of Krupetskaya (upper picture) located in the NW district of Minsk. Though loose to dense glacial and soft to stiff periglacial deposits with bulky peat layers as well as random boulder occurrences, forming a typical and demanding geotechnical feature of the Minsk area, complicate economic soundings, depths of > 32 m with qc > 55MPa and fs > 0.9 MPa have been reached.

Director of Geoservis Lisovski Petr Sergeevich together with Chief Engineer Dorogokupits Leontii Vasilievich and Head of Science Marynich Nikolai Ivanovich were pleased by the performance and efficient operation of the new unit, surpassing the limits of existing rigs used so far. They foresee excellent perspectives for reaching new goals in Belarus geotechnical investigation, enhancing the speed, quality and depth for soil mechanical results, urgently needed for the booming construction projects all over Belarus.

Chief Geologist Lazhevich Oleg Anatolievich and Geologist Lukyanov Alexander Nikitovich will utilize the GeoMil CPT truck to its utmost and already consider extension for complementary add-on devices related to static push technology.

Mrs. Beganskaya Olga Vitalievna, Special Engineer for norm definition and standardization, will contribute to convert and implement the new CPT technique based on Eurocode standards to the Belarus specifications.

GeoMil thanks all members of Geoservis for the warm welcome and fruitful collaboration.

Carrying out CPT(U) with modern equipment and fully ballasted all terrain vehicles is not restricted to western advanced countries anymore. Due to the rapid and cost efficient determination of valuable geotechnical information, the CPT method and its economical deployment has spreaded all over the world.

From China to Belarus, from Kazakhstan to Oman, CPT results are most wanted and so is the required state-of-the-art equipment made by GeoMil. As a contribution to the manifold and sometimes extreme terrain as well as climate conditions, GeoMil offers a huge package of extras for all mobile cabin units.

Among others, we offer heavy duty Diesel Heating systems as well as Air-conditioning.
For all MAN 6x6 trucks ordered from GeoMil, a drive-shaft PTO is included.
Extra sun-roofs prevent sunlight overheating of the working cabin and hydraulic installations.
The enlarged hydraulic tank volume (New: 450 l as standard) guarantees for moderate oil temperatures.
All chassis steel components are sand blasted, two component primer coated, finished in black protection coating and, when oversea transport is included, a Dinitrol™ coating is added.
All cabin windows are made of tinted glass and can be foreseen with burglar bars, mounted inside.
As a standard for all 6x6 trucks, GeoMil reserves an extra valve section, mostly used for actuating a heavy duty winch.
Super single tires on the front axle and either twin or super single tires on the rear axles, all with construction profiles, guarantee for all terrain traction.

These and more special features allow the GeoMil fully ballasted units to operate in wet or cold as well as in arid or hot climate zones. Any surface on which CPT needs to be carried out can be mastered and no terrain remains a hurdle.

The number of units ordered at GeoMil and equipped for demanding conditions leave no doubt: GeoMil is first choice!

In July 2007 GeoMil delivered a brand new 200kN CPT truck based on MAN TGA 33.440 WW to Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). In order to investigate and monitor the Kuwait ground water contamination due to the oil well burnings after the war, a new and heavy duty direct push unit was required.

KISR developed its own hydrocarbon detection probe and it will be deployed by making use of a GeoMil 200kN CPT truck.

GeoMil has chosen for a MAN 33.400 6x6 WW base truck, providing an excellent terrain performance and custom made for desert environments.
Also, since the research team leader at KISR is bound to a wheelchair, GeoMil equipped the CPT truck with a custom made electro-hydraulic wheelchair lifting device providing maximum flexibility and independency for the team and its leader.

On January 9, 2007 at Fugro Middle East's office in Dubai, GeoMil handed over the 3000^th CPT unit. This milestone unit is a complete CPT truck for 200 KN sounding operations with all required equipment for electrical CPT.

It reflects the popularity of this technique, which the predecessor of GeoMil (Goudsche Machinefabriek or GMF) developed in 1932, that GeoMil is already handing over unit 3000 at the beginning of 2007. This means that on average some 40 units a year have been delivered to companies all around the world.

Click Press Release for reading further and downloading in PDF format.

Dutch Waternet from Amsterdam and Sigma Bouw & Milieu from Emmen extended their range of sounding equipment by the GeoMil "LWC-100".

In September and October respectively, GeoMil accomplished and delivered the highly productive and cost efficient LWC-100, both of high-end version and coming with a wireless remote control.

Not only that the 100kN version finds more and more friends, GeoMil will also deliver a 200 kN version "LWC-200" and a special designed short version "LWC-100 XS" before the year ends

Thus, in future clients can chose from a larger variation of dimensions, features and capacities.

For more technical information or a customised quotation please do not hesitate to contact the GeoMil sales department.

The requirement to carry out CPT soundings in areas with limited access, restricted head clearance or simply confined working space is becoming more and more common.

But how to transport and deploy the required equipment in underground tunnels, in building basements or in areas without maneuvering room?

GeoMil now provides the solution: the MPP 150©, a small but powerful twin ram 150kN portable pusher system, the first one of which is currently in use by Fugro Consult, Germany. If it cannot be rolled in place on its small wheel set, the modular design allows for all components to be hand carried with the weight of the heaviest items - the hydraulic cylinders - less than 38 kg or 84 lbs. And assembly and disassembly of the pusher and all its components can be done in no more than 5 minutes!

The separate power pack can be connected to the pusher with long hoses (up to 12 m or 40 ft), so there is no need to position it at the CPT site itself.

For more technical information or a customised quotation please do not hesitate to contact the GeoMil sales department.

The first ever built CPT Train Truck©, a multi-purpose 190kN 4x4 CPT truck for road, off-road and railroad use, was accomplished by GeoMil and will be presented to the public by Lankelma UK during a road show on 27th April 2006.

Based on an IVECO Eurotracker 4x4 the truck has been equipped with a customised turntable and railroad wheel-set by German Zweiweg (ZWEIWEG Schneider GmbH & Co. KG) and then transformed by GeoMil into a heavy duty CPT unit conforming to the British W6a gauge.

The central turntable mechanism, which lifts the whole rig off the ground and allows it to be spun round 360 degrees, ensures for easy track access and turning of the vehicle at any location.

On the tracks the rig is hydrostatically driven by its rail wheels so it can go as fast backwards as it can forwards. It also has a rear driving position to allow it to be driven backwards safely.

Since loading the track sleepers is not allowed a special designed jacking mechanism allows for lifting the truck while resting on the tracks. Special safety precautions limit the penetrometer pusher lift when necessary and while CPT is in operation the hydrostatically turntable and rail wheel actuaction is blocked.

For more information please refer to Lankelma UK Train Truck© news!

Guyana Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Minister of Transport Harry Narine Nawbatt witnessed with utmost interest when GeoMil commissioned the first LWC-100 for South America near Georgetown/Guyana end of March.

The LWC-100 was delivered to BK International Inc., the largest Guyana construction company and contracting in the EU funded Mon Choisi sea defence refurbishing project on Essequibo coast.

Offical as well as public interest was enormeous when the rig was demonstrated and the BK International Engineers learned about the application of CPT in modern geotechnical soil investigation.

We are proud to deploy this modern kind of technique for our important sea defence activities the Prime Minister said and Mr. Brian Tiwari, head of BK Internatial, is convinced to now complete the demanding geotechnical tasks for this European - Guyana joint venture project.

Another Light Weight Crawler (LWC-100), ordered by our French partner Apageo, was completed and will be shown on Intermat 2006 in Paris.

Apageo will use the LWC-100 as demonstration rig but also for renting out to clients having the need for light but mobile and reliable CPT equipment

You are most welcome to visit Apageo and GeoMil at Intermat in Paris, stand no. 5BC031, and starting April 24 we will be pleased to demonstrate the unit and the GeoMil CPT equipment in detail to you.

In the past GeoMil Equipment, in the CPT world formerly known as GMF Gouda, co-operated with Hogentogler and later on Vertek in the field of CPT supply on the US market.

However, the US market demands for CPT techniques and material support are constantly increasing but the variety of suppliers is shrinking.

For this reason GeoMil Equipment - since 2003 a purely Dutch and independant company - decided to establish its own support and service office in the US and we entered a co-operation agreement with Verbeek Management Services (VMS) located in Tyler, Texas.

VMS already successfully represents our Dutch sister company Profound and will now form GeoMil's local base named VMS-GeoMil for assisting existing and to come customers in the US.

For more information please refer to our press release!

Screwing and unscrewing CPT or casing tubes by hand is not only a time comsuming procedure but may also lead to professional deseases when doing so day-in day-out.

To overcome these problems and to create a more reliable but also comfortable working environment for the CPT operator, GeoMil developed the "Raptor", an electrically driven and easy to operate screwing and un-screwing device.
The Raptor provides rapid torque, approx. 3x stronger than hand screwed, on a button click, both in clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.
It can be actuated while the penetrometer pusher is in motion and two strong gripping jaws hold the tube while turning. The respective thread type of the tubes to be screwed can be pre-set and standard, heavy or speedlock thread types as well as casing tubes can be handled.

The smart Raptor control system stops the turning when the max. torque is reached and releases the gripping jaws so that the next tube can be added or removed.

The Raptor can be deployed on all GeoMil 200kN pushers (new design) and, with some mounting adjustments, on the APvdBerg 200kN pusher type.

Since long GeoMil Equipment has a strong presence in Asia and not without proud we notice that our client community is growing rapidly.

In order to sustain the excellent GeoMil reputation in Asia and also to extend and improve our services in the high potential economies of Asia, we now established GeoMil Asia Sdn Bhd, registered in Malaysia.
The skilled and experienced staff at the GeoMil Asia office is looking forward to assist you in your day to day CPT operations and equipment needs.
Currently we are in the process of setting up a maintenance and calibration centre so that we can provide even more rapid and cost efficient services.

Furthermore we entered an agent agreement with LD Analab Instruments in India.
Being one of the world's largest and progressively growing economies, India deserves the special focus of high-tech equipment manufacturers.
With our representation by LD Analab Instruments, GeoMil Equipment aims at a strong positioning on the Indian market in order to contribute successfully to the increasing demands in modern site investigation equipment.

We are convinced that our Asian partners will be a valuable source of information and assistance and we are looking forward to further enhance our service to all our clients.

(Please click the company logos linked to the agent contact details.)

In order to keep the GeoMil software CPTest and CPTask always up-to-date we implemented several new features and fixed some sporadic bugs in the latest releases.

CPTest now also provides a multi-language function. Prior or during a sounding you can now select between English, Dutch and German language with more to come.

GeoMil constantly receives recommendations and wishes from clients from all over the world. Either a little bug has been discovered and needs to be eliminated, a customised feature is required or an add-on function of general interest is asked for.

GeoMil collects these comments and we do our utmost to implement all improvements in every new release. You can help us optimising our software by reporting your findings and wishes in an e-mail to Info.

Licence holders of the GeoMil software (hardlock protected) can download CPTest V2.09 or CPTask V1.11 by clicking the respective image to the left or from the Download area.

You can also ask for a CD-ROM installation version. Please contact Info.

French company APAGEO, located in MAGNY les HAMEAUX near Paris, is since 1984 a well known and reputed manufacturer of high quality geotechnical drill rigs, drilling accessories, dynamic sounding equipment and a range of in-situ soil investigation instruments, including the Menard Pressuremeter.

Based on the long term and mutually beneficial relationship between GeoMil and APAGEO, both companies have now decided to collaborate even closer and to assist each other on their respective domestic markets.

Furthermore, APAGEO will assist GeoMil for all customers from French speaking countries allowing for a more intense and sustainable service and support where language barriers caused a problem in the past.

All French clients in need of CPT equipment or respective support are most welcome to contact APAGEO for convenient and prompt assistance.

Clients from the BeNeLux can contact GeoMil for information on the APAGEO product range.

Click the image to the left to explore the APAGEO website or click here to find the agent list with contact details.

For the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Causeway project under supervision of Danish COWI AS, near shore CPT's were conducted by Kuwait based Gulf Inspection International Co., or GIICo.

The pre-tender site investigation for the 36 km long causeway, aimed at linking Kuwait City with the planned new town of Subiya, required various boreholes and 9 near shore CPT's to be conducted in varying water depths.

GIICo made use of the GeoMil 200kN stand alone penetrometer and GeoMil was also requested to provide the draft design for a customised riser system.
Fabrication of the riser construction was carried out by GIICo locally under supervision of GeoMil and COWI. The final design included a massive 8 m x 8 m base construction, combined with several 1100 mm diameter stand-pipe sections, in variable lengths. Finally, a riser head with working platform was mounted at the top of the construction.
The different lengths of stand-pipe sections allowed for adjusting the total height of the riser to the water depth at each test location. On the test locations with the greatest water depths the maximum height of the riser reached 17 meter, which equals a 5 storey building.
After arriving on the test locations the riser was positioned on the sea floor by a heavy duty crane on a floating barge. Securely set on the sea bed the riser was not effected by currents or tidal influences. The total weight of the riser allowed for pushes upto 150 kN.

Due to the perfect weather conditions, superb construction and skilled crew, all 9 tests were successfully completed in less than 5 working days.

Click the image to the left to watch a sequence of project pictures.

On Saturday, March 19, two teams of GeoMil had the pleasure to participate in a spinning marathon event organised by the Rotary club of Waddinxveen.

All proceedings of this very well organised charity event will be donated to the Doe een Wens Foundation, beeing the Dutch section of the international Make-a-Wish Foundation.

We, the teams of GeoMil, had great fun and pleasure while exhausting our bodies in such an impressive atmosphere and we did our very best to contribute to the success.

May the proceedings assist to realise the wishes of our fellow children with an uncertain health future and may the spirit of joy be always present.

The production of fully ballasted CPT units never stops at GeoMil.

While in February one CPT truck, based on MAN TGA 33.430, left the workshop for the cabin building the next base truck, an MAN TGA 26.350, arrived at GeoMil for being converted.

This on-time production and delivery, achieved by smart planning, allows for the efficient utilisation of our labor capacities and avoids any downtimes.

For these units, our clients from Belgium and Hungary can look forward to a delivery time as promised and the next heavy units are already in the pipeline.

In December 2004 GeoMil Equipment delivered its first CPT equipment to Austria.

The Bautechnische Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt (BVFS), located in Salzburg, Austria, decided to purchase one of GeoMil's valuable LWC-100, complete with electrical CPT and the newly developed automatic vane shear tester.

Since Austria is not made of only alpine hard rocks but comprises also soft to very soft alluvial deposits, especially in the lake area around Salzburg, the Dutch CPT technique made by GeoMil will assist to gain proper geotechnical results for the building industry.

GeoMil Equipment offers a special sales price for all electrical CPT cones ordered before December 31st, 2004.

Contact GeoMil to learn about the price for the cone you need. Depending on the cone type the discount will be more than 15%. For batch orders the discount can be even more!

Don't miss this opportunity to renew your cone inventory or to invest in back-up devices.

GeoMil Equipment and its partner Icamat B.V. purchased a new service van in the new corporate design.

Whenever you will see the van on the road you can be assured that one of our clients will be rapidly serviced, goods delivered or the GeoMil - Icamat logistic supply is in operation.

Within a radius of 100km from the GeoMil premises we now deliver ordered goods free of shipping charges, provided the order value is min. EUR 1,500.--

We would be pleased to park our service van also in front of your shop. We let you penetrate the world!

In late July 2004 a brand new 200kN CPT truck has been delivered to Belgian GCT@Alpha.

Based on a MAN 33.363 FDAK the CPT truck will allow GCT@Alpha to conduct CPT investigations at almost all Belgian terrain conditions. Equipped with the GeoMil CPT installations of the latest design GCT@Alpha is aiming at reliable and economic sounding operations.

GeoMil Equipment is proud to be GCT@Alpha's long term partner for service and supply and we are looking forward to assist GCT@Alpha in all its efforts.

CPTask forms the newly designed and Microsoft Windows based CPT data processing, soil classification and plotting software for all your CPT related office tasks.

The user friendly program structure is project oriented and provides, among other features, the possibility to edit project data and variables such as ground level, coordinates and water table in one simple step.
Several individual CPT files or complete project files can be opened and processed simultaneously. All windows can be arranged according to the user's preferences.
Data can be viewed as tables and graphic plots and all CPT data can be edited freely while the raw data files remain untouched.

The user can switch between various languages (e.g. English, Dutch, German and more to follow), both for the program readings and for the plot versions.

The data import format can either be of the classic GME or the standardised GEF format. The processed data can be exported directly to Microsoft Excel or as ASCII, PDF and JPEG format.

The manual input of CPT data allows also for a comfortable file generation of visually recorded mechanical CPT results.

Various filter and correction functions allow for individual data treatment and graphical presentation. The user can define whether the recorded penetration depth should be corrected for the measured inclination.

Besides the measured parameters the user can select geotechnical relevant derived parameters to be plotted. Among others the equivalent SPT N60 values, relative density, internal friction angle and un-drained shear strength are calculated and presented in a professional lay-out.

All functions and applied calculation formulas are well documented in an on-line help file.

A soil classification based on both, friction ratio and pore pressure ratio is presented as coloured soil bars.

CPTask forms a versatile and valuable tool for all CPT professionals and due to the GEF import function even clients not using the GeoMil CPT acquisition software CPT7 or CPTest will be able to utilise CPTask in a profitable way.

Please contact GeoMil Equipment - query form - for your individual update possibilities!

Summer is nearby and GeoMil Equipment would like to share its dedication to good coffee while working hard with our users of GeoMil CPT equipment.

Thus we have decided to offer our clients a free Senseo® coffee machine when ordering a new electric CPT cone at GeoMil Equipment. No matter whether a subtraction or compression cone, with or without pore-pressure, each new cone will be delivered with a brand new Senseo® coffee machine.

The Senseo® coffee machine might be used in the field when doing CPT soundings with a GeoMil CPT cabin crawler or truck or in the office, when the geotechnical engineers process the recorded data.

You would like to have a Senseo® coffee machine in the field and in the office? No problem, order two electric cones and you get two Senseo® coffee machines!

The Summer sensation 2004 by GeoMil Equipment will last until August 31, 2004 and is valid for all new electric CPT cones ordered at GeoMil starting May 9, 2004. In case of delivery delays of Senseo® coffee machines GeoMil Equipment might send the Senseo® coffee machine later than the ordered CPT cones. GeoMil Equipment will preferably provide the Senseo® coffee machine in blue colour and with two bags of Senseo® "Regular" coffee pads. The colour of the Senseo® coffee machine might change according to the possible supply.

Senseo® is a registered trade mark of Sara Lee/DE International b.v. ("Sara Lee/DE") and its subsidiaries, all rights reserved.

After only 4 1/2 month production time GeoMil Equipment accomplished the latest high productivity CPT cabin crawler, ordered by Dutch van der Helm Geometingen.

Based on a Caterpillar 320CL undercarriage and Tier I power pack, the unit provides utmost terrain flexibilities and will allow for reliable, safe and economic CPT soundings.

The crawler is equipped with the new and piston protected 200kN hydraulic pusher, advanced PLC control technique, fixed as well as cordless remote control, state of the art air-con system, burgler protection, the new GeoMil tube rack, extra storage compartments and much more.

The modern GME 500 acquisition unit in combination with the CPTest logging software allows for wireless remote data transfer

For a flexible adjustment of the reaction force the crawler weight can be increased by means of removable ballast blocks on the lowers.

In a joint development effort GeoMil and German GIESA mbH have designed a new electrical field vane tester providing superior technology.

A small but powerful 3 phase drive motor actuates the vane rotation with highly precise rotational speeds.
The drive gear is controlled by a Mitsubishi PLC unit that communicates to the control and logging software on a computer.
For an universal use and to allow for individual parameter settings by the test superviser the logging and control software is based on a Visual Basic module running in a Microsoft Excel spread sheet.

All test constraints can be filled in a protocol header. The operator can select 3 default drive speeds and the applied vane dimension from a pull-down menu. All default values can be adjusted by the operator in a special 'Parameter' chart.

The actual measuring values are displayed as numerical values as well as in a shear graph.

When the test is terminated, while remoulded shear tests can be performed automatically, all values are listed in a 'Test data' chart.

A 'Print' chart provides the possibility to calculate the actual shear stress by taking the measured rod friction into consideration and to print all data with a shear graph in a protocol format with company logo.

Learn more about the new vane tester, the flexible operation and control possibilities and the wide range of practical as well as academic applications from our detailed product feature or download the data sheet (234k).

The co-operation with Baziw Consulting Engineers (BCE) from Canada for the GeoMil seismic CPT system resulted in the first joint commissioning after the restart of GeoMil.

Spanish Control y Prospecciones IGeoTest, S.L. ordered a tri-axial SCPT system from GeoMil for a geotechnical project in Algeciras close to Gibraltar (see picture to the left).

The seismic cone adapter was delivered with a S15 cone. While in the past the signal to noise ratio of the data gain was not always satisfactory (wrong cable connections in systems not produced by GeoMil), GeoMil and BCE were able to set up a perfect system with excellent signal recording.

Mr. Erick Baziw from BCE provided an intense theoretical and practical introduction to the seismic CPT technology and Igeotest as well as other clients do benefit from his exceedingly seismic knowledge. Thus, also the after sales service and assistance for data interpretation is guaranteed.

Once a formidable CPT cabin crawler its now only trash!

Korean Samsung corporation lost its 20t CPT cabin crawler by Typhoon Maemi hitting the Korean coast line in September 2003 when a huge pipeline was lifted by a giant wave and smashed onto the crawler.

Very luckily no human damage was caused!

Due to the urgent need of a replacement unit in order to continue the ongoing reclamation project for Pusan New Port GeoMil was contacted for help and able to assist instantaneously.

Before X-mas 2003 GeoMil will ship a fully equipped 200kN cabin crawler to Samsung in Korea so that CPT, Vane Testing and Dilatometer Testing can be continued.

With CPTest^© GeoMil provides a versatile and easy to use acquisition software for mechanical as well as electrical Cone Penetration Tests (CPT). The program has been designed as 32 bit application suitable for Microsoft Windows (95 and higher) operation systems. CPTest^© processes and presents CPT data gained with GeoMil's GME 500 series of data acquisition systems, both the 19" industrial built-in and portable IP65 version.

The advanced and flexible features of CPTest^© allow for professional and efficient test performance. Individual monitoring demands are taken into account by flexible viewing options the user can select. All data are presented in real-time in both graphical and numerical format. At any time the vertical and horizontal scaling can be adjusted. Moreover, all channels can be switched on or off individually. In playback mode, multiple tests can be opened and charts with all measured data are available in a 10 mm interval.

Read more about CPTest^©, click the image for the data sheet as Acrobat file or download a software Demo Version.