MISTRAS helps US state with bridge inspections
18/12/2008
MISTRAS Group Inc has teamed up with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) in their effort to improve state and local bridges. Select steel bridges throughout Ohio will have critical gusset plate condition testing done with the Pocket UTTM, said to be the world's first hand-held, battery powered C-scan imaging system.The Pocket UT, when accompanied by an R-scan, uses ultrasonic testing techniques to gather thickness data faster and display a graphical image to show areas of corrosion. The system runs on Windows CE and Pocket UTWin for data acquisition, analysis and archiving and has the capability to perform A, B and C-scan imaging. The data, retrieved by the two-pound unit, is stored on a 1 GHz compact flash card that can be easily transferred to a laptop computer.
Home to more than 42,000 bridges, Ohio requires more inspections than any other state. Trained bridge inspectors currently use conventional thickness gauges to take spot readings of ageing and deterioration of key areas such as gusset plates in steel bridges.
With the addition of the Pocket UT to ODOT's bridge inspection and preservation programme, inspectors will be able to pinpoint divots and loss in a fraction of the time, unlike a typical gauge used in bridge inspection. This information is stored on the devices as a permanent record for future reference and readings.
"The Pocket UT is a huge time saver, because not only will it limit the amount of time we have to inconvenience the public with the shutting down of bridges, but it allows us to receive better data, faster," said Michael Loeffler, an inspector for the Ohio DOT. "Also, the less time our inspectors have to spend on a bridge is a saftey factor that cannot be measured. It's a win-win situation."
In another development, MISTRAS Group, Inc has combined its Inspection Engineering Services and enterprise PCMS Software resources worldwide in order to create an Asset Integrity Management Services (AIMS) Center of Excellence (COE). Jim Redmon, presently PCMS Division Manager has been elevated to the position of Vice President for the AIMS COE. Jim will focus the COE to utilise the knowledge and resources from the entire MISTRAS Group that includes engineering services, PCMS Software, Risk Based Inspection (RBI), Fitness for Services (FFS), online web based NDT solutions and internet customer reporting and data management and archiving.Jim Redmon has led the development and implementation of PCMS Software for the past 13 years that has resulted in hundreds of users worldwide. During this time, Jim has focused on understanding the needs for NDT inspection services, data cataloguing, reporting and managing for customer compliance codes and governmental needs and regulations in order to extend the life of their major assets. The new AIMS COE, along with MISTRAS's existing engineering and information technologies, will rely heavily on emerging mechanical integrity and RBI methodologies and practices to offer innovative implementation solutions to customers in a wide variety of industries.
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