Check out Geocomp and GeoTesting Express’ quarterly newsletter.
Welcome Matthieu Gouriou, New President of Geocomp
Geocomp recently welcomed Matthieu Gouriou as President, based out of the Acton, Massachusetts headquarters.
Gouriou joins Geocomp with more than 20 years of experience at Sercel, Geocomp’s parent company, where he led the infrastructure monitoring, new energies, and defense business lines. Over the course of his career, he has built a diverse background spanning engineering, research and development, technology strategy, and international business development—working consistently at the intersection of advanced technology and real-world application.
His expertise covers sensing, geophysics, monitoring, and infrastructure, with a particular focus on translating emerging technologies into practical, market-ready solutions. In his new role, Gouriou will focus on strengthening Geocomp’s established geotechnical expertise while broadening capabilities to deliver integrated, data-driven solutions for critical infrastructure.
Geocomp remains focused on strengthening its core business, expanding into new markets, and increasing the value it provides to clients across the infrastructure lifecycle, while remaining committed to the client relationships that have long been central to our business.
GeoTesting Express Expands Geotechnical Testing Services with New York Laboraotry
The wait is over! GeoTesting Express (GTX) will open its New York laboratory in Elmsford, NY, starting in October, bringing advanced geotechnical testing capabilities closer to clients and projects throughout New York and the Northeast. Serving New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and surrounding areas, the new laboratory expands GTX’s regional presence and gives project teams a local resource for the testing services they need to keep projects moving.
Bringing Testing Closer to You
Having a laboratory closer to your project means more than convenience. Reduced transportation times and regional accessibility can help accelerate testing, minimize downtime, and support more efficient project schedules.
The Elmsford laboratory brings the same technical expertise and quality clients have come to expect from GTX, closer to where they work. Experienced engineers, geologists, and laboratory specialists provide responsive support throughout the project, while advanced laboratory equipment, automated systems, and proprietary technologies developed by Geocomp, support accurate, repeatable results.
Comprehensive Testing. Trusted Expertise.
GTX provides full-service geotechnical testing solutions for soils, rock, concrete, aggregates, geosynthetics, and specialty geotechnical testing. With the new NY location, clients throughout the region have greater access to these capabilities while benefiting from the resources of one of the nation’s largest geotechnical laboratory networks.
Quality remains at the core of every GTX laboratory. Accreditations, rigorous quality control processes, and experience supporting complex infrastructure projects give clients confidence in the data they use to make critical project decisions.
The Elmsford laboratory is led by Ayushi Kale, Laboratory Manager, and is supported by the broader GTX team of technical and laboratory specialists. This combination of local accessibility and national expertise gives clients the responsive service of a regional laboratory without sacrificing the depth of capabilities available through a larger network.
Built to Support Growing Infrastructure
The New York laboratory strengthens GTX’s ability to support the region’s growing infrastructure needs, including transportation, commercial, and public infrastructure projects.
And the benefit doesn’t stop at one location. GTX’s national network allows clients to coordinate testing across multiple laboratory locations when projects span regions or require specialized capabilities. The goal is simple: make it easier for clients to access the right testing resources, wherever their projects take them.
Growing Our National Network
The opening of the Elmsford laboratory builds on GTX’s existing laboratory presence in Massachusetts and Georgia, giving clients access to GTX facilities across three key regions of the country.
And we’re not stopping there. GTX plans to continue expanding its laboratory network into additional regions in the future, bringing local access, fast and reliable turnaround, comprehensive testing capabilities, and trusted technical expertise to even more clients nationwide.
Root Cause Investigation of Premature Bridge Distress in Structural Settlement Study
A U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has engaged Geocomp to lead a forensic investigation into significant and premature structural distress observed across numerous bridges built roughly 25 years ago throughout the western region of the U.S. The affected bridge approaches span a range of design types, including one- and two-stage Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) walls, geofoam embankments, and sloped fill embankments.
Facing widespread and varied distress across an aging bridge inventory, the DOT sought a team capable of determining root cause and contributing factors, evaluating findings across multiple structure types, and ultimately developing a comprehensive design for
effective repairs and long-term mitigation. Geocomp was selected to lead Phase 1 of the study.
Geocomp led the assembly of a multidisciplinary team, pairing its own geotechnical forensics expertise with subconsultant partners’ structural analysis and field instrumentation capabilities, to provide the DOT with a single, cohesive resource capable of addressing the project’s technical demands in a timely and cost-effective manner. Work kicked off this past summer, with the Phase 1 study on track for completion by the end of 2026.
What Phase 1 Will Deliver
Central to the plan will be identifying the specific methods and approaches needed to measure, track, and evaluate the performance and underlying causes of several observed deficiencies, including:
- Poor ride quality through the affected corridors
- Potential voids behind MSE wall panels and within the roadway prism
- Performance of MSE wall panel connections
- Condition of MSE wall facing panels and coping
- Degradation of transverse and longitudinal pavement joints and gaps
- Distress in bridge parapets and roadway barriers, including moment slabs
Setting the Stage for Long-Term Repairs
While Phase 1 does not produce final repair designs, its findings will directly shape everything that follows. The recommendations developed now will determine the scope, methods, and priorities carried into Phase 2’s detailed investigation and monitoring work,
and ultimately into Phase 3’s design of repairs and mitigation strategies for structures exhibiting distress across the region. By grounding the eventual repair program in rigorous forensic data rather than assumption, Geocomp’s team aims to help the DOT with solutions implemented down the line that are both technically sound and cost-effective — protecting critical infrastructure for decades to come.
Holding Back the Water: Geocomp’s Dam Safety Work Across the United States
Across the country, aging dams and locks are facing new pressures, from decades-old concrete chemistry to the demands of climate-driven drought resilience, the infrastructure protecting our water resources needs more data to keep pace. From a historic lock in Tennessee to a major reservoir expansion in Georgia, Geocomp’s geotechnical testing and instrumentation and monitoring expertise is helping engineers and owners understand exactly how these critical structures are performing in real time.
Chickamauga Lock Replacement, Tennessee
Geocomp’s testing division, GeoTesting Express, has supported the Chickamauga Lock Replacement Project for nearly a decade, providing soils, concrete, and aggregate testing for lock construction.
The project centers on a uniquely stubborn engineering problem: since shortly after the original dam’s construction in 1940, a reaction between the alkali in the cement and the aggregate known as Alkali-Aggregate Reaction (AAR), has caused the concrete structure to physically grow. Despite decades of maintenance, this ongoing expansion continues to threaten the lock’s structural integrity and has driven the need for an entirely new 110-foot by 600-foot lock chamber.
More recently to help manage this challenge, Geocomp has been selected to support the next phase of construction and to implement an extensive geotechnical instrumentation and structural monitoring system that continuously tracks structural movement, stability, and environmental conditions — protecting both the historic legacy structure and the new lock throughout construction.
Dog River Dam, Georgia
In Douglasville, Georgia, Geocomp is supporting the $440 million Dog River Dam and Reservoir Expansion project for the Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (DDCWSA). The project began in mid-2025, with substantial completion targeted for late 2028.
The project will raise the reservoir’s normal pool elevation by 35 feet to strengthen long-term drought resilience for the region — requiring modifications to two existing earthen embankments, construction of a new saddle dam, and an 800-foot-long reinforced concrete labyrinth spillway. Given the scale of the earthwork and structural changes involved, performance monitoring is essential to managing construction risk.
Geocomp is providing the core technology behind this effort: automated instrumentation hardware that logs data continuously and wirelessly feeds it directly into iSiteCentral®, our web-based data management platform, giving the project team round-the-clock insight into how the dam is responding as construction progresses.
For both projects, the common thread is clear: Geocomp is giving engineers and stakeholders the real-time data they need to build, repair, and safeguard the infrastructure communities rely on. We’re proud to be part of the teams keeping these structures and the water behind them safe and secure.
Geocomp in Brazil: Three Visits, One Shared Commitment to Geotechnical Progress
Great customer support doesn’t stop at the sale — it’s about empowering our clients with the tools, training, and expertise they need to push their research and industry work forward. This past month, Geocomp’s João Machado, Geotechnical Engineer, traveled across Brazil to do exactly that, training client teams at two leading universities while also strengthening Geocomp’s ties with the broader geotechnical industry.
UFOP: Building Capacity for Brazil’s Mining Sector
At the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP), João helped the university expand its lab capabilities with the addition of Cyclic Triaxial testing, Bender Elements, and additional pumps to support a growing volume of triaxial testing. Over three days, João completed the full installation and trained 11 faculty members, researchers, and students on how to run the new tests.
UFRJ: Supporting Offshore Geotechnical Research in Rio
In Rio de Janeiro, Geocomp worked with the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) to add Cyclic Triaxial testing to their existing triaxial system. Our team provided hands-on training to graduate students and researchers who will use this equipment to support offshore geotechnical research.
Pimenta d’Ávila: Partnership, Publication, and Industry Insight
Rounding out the trip, our team visited Pimenta d’Ávila (PdA), one of Brazil’s leading geotechnical engineering firms, known for managing critical dams and dry stacking operations for major mining companies. João was welcomed by Andrea Faria (Engineer of Record) and Mauro Pio (Head of Geotechnics) — longtime industry collaborators — and together, with contributions from two Vale engineers, co-authored a paper that has just been accepted to the 2026 Tailings and Mining Waste conference, where it will be presented by João this November.
From equipment upgrades and hands-on training to research partnerships and industry dialogue, these visits reflect what sets our customer support apart: we don’t just deliver equipment, we invest in our clients’ success. As Brazil’s mining and geotechnical sectors continue to grow, we’re proud to be a trusted partner every step of the way.
