Structural Testing Equipment

Ultra Technologies represents the interests of various overseas companies in the field of Non Destructive Evaluation and Structural Monitoring. These companies include James Instruments Inc., USA, Olson Instruments Inc., USA and Bridge Diagnostics Inc., USA, who are the world leaders in their respective fields.

James Instruments Inc. USA is the leading manufacturer of non-destructive test equipment for concrete and other coarse grained materials. We supply the instruments that measure and analyze strength, structure, corrosion and moisture in concrete Instruments for

Strength Testing - A Family of rugged instruments designed to measure the strength of new or mature concrete, overlays and mortar
Rebar location - Field instruments designed for locating and discerning the depth and size of reinforcement bars in concrete.
Testing of Fresh Concrete - State of the art instruments for the monitoring of freshly poured concrete
Moisture Testing - Specialized instruments to measure moisture in granular materials, as well as in solid structures such as walls and floors.
Ultrasonic Testing - Ultrasonic instruments and transducers for the detection of flaws and voids in concrete and other coarse grained materials
Corrosion Testing - A plethora of instrumentation for testing concrete structures for corrosion and to identify and analyze areas of potential deterioration.

Olson Instruments Inc., USA manufactures state-of-the art field ruggidized battery power systems for Non Destructive Evaluation and Data Acquisition. The Freedom Data Acquisition System manufactured by Olson Instruments is the world's most ruggedized, battery powered instrument for general purpose testing and data acquisition in automobile, aerospace, manufacturing, structural health monitoring and other industries. Internal 5B modules for easy to switch modules to support strain, temperature, pressure, potentiometer, LVDT's, vibration accelerometers, etc. National Instruments Labview software based data acquisition for up to 16 channels.

Olson Instruments manufactures NDE systems for the following fields

Foundation Depth & Integrity Systems:

Crosshole Sonic Logging Series : System designed for testing of newly placed critical drilled shaft foundations and slurry walls using ultrasonic logging between water filled access tubes

Impulse Response : For low strain integrity and foundation length determination. Tests both new and existing foundations.

Parallel Seismic : For length determination of unknown foundation depths for bridges and buildings even if foundation tops are not accessible.

Sonic Echo : For low strain integrity and foundation length determination. Tests both new and existing foundations.

Crosshole Tomography Software : For situations where simple CSL in not enough, TOMO-1 allows users to create an image of the size, shape, and severity of any defects present in a drilled shaft. Tomography tests with 2-D and 3-D display.

Ultra Seismic Pulse Velocity : Variation of the SE method (above), developed by Olson Engineering. Foundation testing on abutments, walls, and other non-shaft type foundations.

Crosshole/Downhole System : For download method of determining seismic velocities and properties of soil and rock by measuring their compression and shear wave velocities.
Structural Pavement & Tunnel Systems:

Impact Echo : Flaw detection and thickness evaluation of concrete and masonry structural materials with one-sided access for testing.

Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves : For determination of stiffness profiles, i.e., velocity and thicknesses of thin layered systems such as pavements, tunnel liners, structural concrete, etc. without coring and with one-sided access.

Structural Tomography Software : For concrete and masonry structural elements of buildings, bridges and other structures, tomography allows the user to create an actual image of the size, shape, and severity of hidden, internal defects. Tomography test and analysis software includes 2D and 3D displays with animation...

Ultra Sonic Pulse Velocity : For measuring the speed of sound and signal strength in concrete, wood, masonry, rock and other coarse-grained material with two-sided access.
Geophysical System Solutions:

Crosshole/Downhole Seismic Series : For download method of determining seismic velocities and properties of soil and rock by measuring their compression and shear wave velocities.

Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves : For measuring seismic velocities and identifying soil and rock layer thicknesses without drilling borings

Geotomography Seismic System : For imaging of subsurface soil, rock and karst/sinkhole conditions based on multiple angled sonic pulse velocity measurements. Also applicable for condition evaluation between drill holes of concrete and masonry dams (shown on left), footings and other massive structures.

Bridge Diagnostics Inc., USA, based on their experience of more than 250 field tests since 1989, provides the most efficient structural load testing services available. In addition, BDI manufactures equipment specifically designed for bridge testing, including Structural Testing System II (BDI-STS II), Long-Term Structural Monitoring System (BDI-SMS) and Fatigue Monitoring System (BDI-FMS). BDI has also developed the High-Speed Clearance Master 3000™ System (CM-3000™) for measuring overhead clearances at highway speed.

Structural Testing System

The Structural Testing System II by Bridge Diagnostics, Inc. (BDI-STSII) has been designed expressly for performing live-load tests on highway and railroad bridges. Developed through the experience of field testing more than 200 structures, the BDI-STSII is very portable, lightweight, and efficient to implement.

The BDI-STSII was developed because most data acquisition systems are so application-general that they require an electrical engineer or computer specialist to configure them. Furthermore, other systems often require soldering and other tedious procedures in order to assemble them. The BDI-STSII eliminates these hassles and allows the structural engineer to concentrate on evaluating the structure.

Long Term Structural Monitoring System :

Ideal for monitoring structural movement over the long-term such as: motion of bridge piers or building walls, the status of cracks in concrete and masonry, and strain levels induced during construction.

Very Flexible: Data can be recorded manually or automatically. The BDI-SMS can be configured by the user to record data for a few days, weeks, months, or years.
Low Cost and Low Maintenance: All hardware is very rugged and has been field-proven to be reliable, even in harsh conditions.
Sensors are Entirely Re-Usable: They can be attached with adhesive for short-term testing or permanently mounted with anchor bolts or welding for longer-term investigations.
Excellent Stability: The sensors are based on vibrating-wire technology, proven to be among the most stable for long-term measurements. The system can also record temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction.
Stand-Alone Capability: For locations without power or phone lines available, the BDI-SMS can use its own cellular phone for communications and solar panels for power.

Intelliducers & other Sensors

Based on the successful use of the BDI Strain Transducers for structural testing, BDI have modified them to identify themselves to the BDI-STSII. With "Intelliducers™”, there is no need to track channel numbers or calibration factors since they are automatically detected and applied. You only need to write down the Intelliducer ID number and it’s location on the structure. You know how valuable this is if you have run field tests with many channels. In addition to recording strains (either with BDI Strain Transducers or foil strain gages), the BDI-STSII can easily accommodate LVDT's, accelerometers, and other full-bridge type sensors.

Bridge Fatigue Monitoring System

The BDI Bridge Fatigue Monitoring System (BDI-FMS) is designed for use by Civil Engineers interested in quantifying live-load induced fatigue cycles due to normal traffic patterns. Data can be downloaded and remotely viewed in real time or stored on a periodic basis. BDI assembles and configures these turnkey systems so that the engineer can concentrate on evaluating data rather than spending time with electronics.

For Monitoring Bridge Responses Under Normal Traffic Conditions: System is set to trigger at a selected stress level to capture live load responses.
Low Cost and Low Maintenance: All hardware is very rugged and has been field-proven to be reliable, even in harsh conditions.
Sensors are Entirely Re-Usable: The BDI Strain Transducers can be attached with adhesive for short-term testing or permanently mounted with anchor bolts or welding for longer-term investigations.
Stand-Alone Capability: The BDI-FMS can use its own cellular phone for communications and solar panels for power.

Cable Force Measurement System:

The BDI Cable Force Measurement System was designed for engineers to easily determine tension forces in several cables at one time. In many situations, the advantage of this approach is that while the force in one cable is adjusted, the forces in the remaining cables can be monitored in real time. This allows for much more efficient force adjustment procedures when compared to taking one set of readings with a single-channel system, making adjustments, and going back and making individual readings again. The single channel approach requires the operator to manually record the information, leading to the possibility of making mistakes, especially when large numbers of force measurements are required.

Overhead Clearance Measurement System

The CM-3000™ system is mounted on the vehicle using a custom Class III hitch mount and continuously records clearance measurements as the vehicle crosses below the structure at highway speeds! Both laser and ultrasonic ranging technologies are utilized, providing an overall accuracy of better than 1/2 inch (13mm). The complete profile of the bottom of the structure is recorded, and the minimum measurement is then extracted and stored. Various mounting options allow the unit to be installed either on the front or rear of the vehicle.