Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Concrete Imaging And Mapping Through Ground Penetrating Radar (Gpr)

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a non-destructive testing method used to locate deteriorations and discontinuities of surface and subsurface of the concrete structures. It is sometimes confused with the concrete x-ray but it utilizes radio waves which are completely safe unlike gamma rays used in X-rays.

It can easily locate the position and size of metals and non-metals underneath the concrete and non-concrete surface. This technology provides real time data and in short reduces the  time and cost for concrete structure inspection. It is commonly used to locate utilities and some companies have created software and through R&D can no detect rebar, conduits and post tension tendon cables, determine concrete slab thickness and locate voids, water and concrete delamination.

Sometimes, clients complain that GPR survey detects conduits in the area which has been cleared by the coring and cutting methods as well as false positive. This is the result of improper GPR inspection or inexperienced GPR technician. Sometimes, GPR operators simply perform line scan (4"-6") and try to connect the dots instead of creating a high-resolution 3D grid in order to save time. Although this line scan may work in some cases (e.g. while locating rebar) but this practice is not acceptable as it can affect the result.  If for example a bridge deck inspection is required and the gpr company is not a bridge inspection company they typically have no idea how to translate their results into actionable items for the bridge asset manager. Only with extensive R&D and understanding all of the dielectric properties of the components of a bridge deck and very strong interpretation software can GPR results be beneficial to an asset manager.

Data collection by using 3D grid process may take a little long time but it can save the cost of post tensioned cables and damaging conduits. It also prevents risk of physical harm to the person performing coring or cutting the surface without knowing what lies underneath the surface.

Inspection through Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) prevents personal injury, expensive repairs, and structural damage. At Infrastructure Preservation Corporation (IPC), our trained and experienced staffs provide quick and quality results by following all the defined standards of the bridge and road inspection. Our inspection technologies are latest and take ground penetrating radar inspections to a whole new level. With IPC risks can be minimized and accuracy of the result can be maximized providing the department of transportation with results that provide a true action plan so that they can better allocate assets to conduct repairs in order of importance.

If you are interested in our product and services or you want a free estimate of our services, you can visit our website https://www.infrastructurepc.com/ or leave your contact details with us and our customer support will reach back out to you in the shortest time possible. Email:info@infrastructurepc.com

Monday, September 11, 2017

Robotics in bridge inspection

Robotics are increasingly advancing many of our most important industries. They are advancing the capabilities and mans ability to push technology forward. Moreover, it can play a very important role in fields where the risk of life is very high. Bridge inspection and transportation infrastructure is one such field which has great potential for robotics technology to increase safety and improve results.

As we can see, traditional bridge inspection has been a very time consuming and labor intensive process. It requires inspection of the entire structure and its members and is mandated to be inspected every 2 years in the US. The manual inspection causes inconvenience to the traffic as the lanes need to be closed down to avoid any kind of accident. The inspection result is also subjective and not precise as it can be by using todays technology. Many small and minor cracks and other deterioration go unnoticed using manual inspection and cannot compete with todays modern technology and robotics.

Robotics can easily handle all the above-mentioned issues. Infrastructure Preservation Corporation (IPC), a trusted name in road and bridge inspection services has implemented this technology in its services and benefited its clients in terms of effectiveness, safety, and cost savings.

Our robotic technology provides accurate and precise quantitative condition assessment results in short time which saves time, money and labor. Since it is non-invasive and nondestructive the integrity of the bridge structure remains intact, unlike traditional bridge inspection where methods like coring and sampling further damage the structure and allow air and exposure to the elements to further deteriorate the structural components of the bridge.

The latest in robotic systems utilizes technologies like infrared, electromagnetic waves, radio waves etc. to collect data from the surface and subsurface of the structure. IPC’s robotics provide real time data and also stores it for analysis. These robotics are customized to perform the exclusive assessment of different members of the bridge like stay cables, post tensioned tendons, bridge deck and bridge approach ways, etc.. These members are currently inspected manually with lane closures and heavy equipment, but our robotics system performs inspection of these members very easily and collects data from every angle up to the entire length of the member which is impossible with the traditional bridge inspection methods.

To know more about our robotics system and other infrastructure inspection services, you can log on to our website https://www.infrastructurepc.com/ or leave your contact details with us by filling up a contact form available on our site. You can also get a free estimate of our services by providing your details. Our customer support will contact you as soon as possible.