The industry of Non-destructive testing services revolves around the analysis of deep foundations and super structures. With more quality control regulations to meet global standards getting implemented by the Indian government, the NDT service industry is integrating newer technologies and keeping pace with the construction and the manufacturing industry.
In wide sense, the global market for NDT services has been projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5 percent and currently stands at a total valuation of $14.8 Billion. With industrial revolution spreading its wings all across the globe, especially in the developed and developing nations technological innovations have led to the development of advanced non-destructive testing processes with improved fault detection and safety. As far as the manufacturing sector is concerned, businesses have started realizing the importance of non-destructive testing which has resulted in the rapid growth of the NDT sector.
Geo Dynamics, based out of Gujarat has emerged as one of the trusted names in the Non destructive testing industry by providing valuable services since 1998. The company accomplishes NDT of foundations and super structures using the most advanced techniques and equipments. The team consists of dedicated professionals who have executed challenging projects in India and abroad. They take credit for introducing and popularizing NDT of pile foundations on major infrastructure and real estate projects of the country like Railways, Metro Rails, NHAI, Power sector, Oil & Gas, Offshore marine and real estate. “Starting as a company for NDT of pile foundations, we have grown considerably to provide services for testing of super structures, conventional load tests for pile foundations, span load tests, geotechnical consulting and a variety of end user specific applications,” says Ravikiran Vaidya, Founder, Geo Dynamics.
Knowledge of the Industry
It is a primary requirement for the construction industry that quality be certified by an independent company. The founder clearly expresses that Non destructive Testing in civil engineering requires significant expertise to obtain inference and quantify quality of old, existing or new construction. Since material property is not uniform in the construction industry, this creates a unique challenge compared to the other industries like mechanical, chemical or metallurgical engineering. It gets even more complex for foundation engineering as one also needs to take into account the soil type and soil structure interaction. Significant expertise is also required in providing good quality interpretative reports and outputs . The testing personnel also need to be equipped and trained to collect proper data with the right equipments followed by proper interpretation.
Poor quality reports may lead to certifying poor quality foundations which is a huge risk for the structure as substandard infrastructure that cannot be easily replaced gets certified. “Good quality testing coupled with proper understanding of soil structure interaction ensures that not only the foundation is safe, but several times it can be optimized and cost effective solutions can be provided. At the same time, weak and poor pile foundations are identified reducing future risk and conflicts between various stake holders of the project.
As a specialty testing company, we take care of the fact that each and every aspect
is covered and we are able to provide detailed reports to our clients”, he adds.
The Wind of Change
Geo Dynamics is one of the first companies in India that introduced the technology of Non destructive testing of pile foundations to the country. It created a deep foundation testing industry and demonstrated new quick and reliable testing methods to the various segments of the construction and infrastructure industry like highways, railways, ports, power and real estate projects. Hence showing the importance of NDT in deep foundations and paving the way to standardize it in India.
Starting as a company for NDT of pile foundations, we have grown considerably to provide services for testing of super structures, conventional load tests for pile foundations, span load tests, geotechnical consulting and a variety of end user specific applications
Low Strain Integrity Testing, High Strain Dynamic Testing, Sonic Logging for Pile and Deep Foundations were successfully implemented by the company and now are a part of all the project contract specifications across various sectors of the construction industry. Later it introduced Parallel Seismic method is 2012 and Bi-Directional Load Testing in 2018. The founder states, “Geo Dynamics is a market leader and is well known in the niche deep foundation testing industry for its pioneering work. The company provides its testing services to major infrastructure projects in India including Bandra Worli Sea Link in the past, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, all Metro rail and Power Projects across the country and major ports and railway divisions.”
Covering A-Z of Deep Foundation Testing
Geo Dynamics provides almost all testing services that are available worldwide for pile foundation testing and is a market leader in India in each method that we operate. Most methods are complex and need understanding of both geotechnical and structural behavior. Their expertise helps them analyze critical problems associated with pile and deep foundations.
The company is continuously innovating and updating its portfolio based on industry requirements and global developments. It is constantly evolving to match global standards in this niche segment and their recent introduction of Bi-Directional static load testing to the Indian deep foundation industry is one such example. This makes Geo Dynamics a unique company in India that offers the same level of quality and service to all segments of infrastructure and real estate industry.
The stability and safety of the structure has been their prime importance and thus their assessments and recommendations for NDT testing are based on inputs provided by the client and on the requirements of the structure. This has earned them respect from all segments of the construction industry. “Geo Dynamics is defined by its quality, trust and innovation. We respect our clients, contractors, consultants and consider that our quality of reports is due to inputs provided by them and the efforts of our in-house team”, states Ravikiran with pride.
Sustenance Assured by Quality
Geo Dynamics has created a deep foundation testing industry in India by demonstrating how complex methods can be used to assess deep and large capacity foundations. They have maintained their leadership position in the industry since inception in spite of competition from smaller and local players. As a testing and consulting organization, both their top line and bottom-line has grown over the years and the focus has always been to provide quality and independent assessments of deep foundations and not keep financial milestones as a target. It is founder’s belief that if the certifying industry has financial targets then it may be prone to abuse and manipulation which is dangerous and may end up certifying sub standard products and construction to achieve such milestones.
Road towards Further Excellence
The company will continue to consolidate its existing portfolio of deep foundation testing and continuously evaluates global scenarios to benchmark itself with the best worldwide. As soil mechanics and structures are both getting complex, Geo Dynamics will enter new areas and domains in super structure and sub structure testing for the construction industry. Apart from India, they have also executed projects across continents in Africa, Gulf, Middle East, South Asia and Australia.
They have ensured their quality standards are significantly ahead of the industry that has made them leaders in areas they operate. Speaking about the good will of the company, the founder concludes, “Geo Dynamics not only provides testing services for quality control and quality assurance of deep foundations but in case of doubts in workmanship it also works like a forensic engineering company and helps customers evaluate reasons for poor quality. We are respected in both the academic and industry forums for our impeccable integrity and trust. This has enabled us to be involved with the quality assurance of pile foundations for country’s frontier infrastructure and other mega development projects.
