Federal Highways Administration- Geophysical Imaging Resource Site

HOME /ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS / BRIDGE SYSTEM - SUBSTRUCTURE

Integrity Testing...

Road features such as bridges often use drilled shafts to bear the load of the bridge. During construction, the drilled shafts can be imaged using various testing methods for integrity assessments. This is important since defects in the shaft may result in structural instability and/or safety concerns. These tests are called Nondestructive Tests (NDT) and involve measuring various physical properties of the shafts. NDT are increasingly being used in the United States for quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) on highway projects that use deep foundations, and to assess the integrity of other civil engineering structures.

Integrity Testing of Foundations

Crosshole Sonic Logging (CSL)
Crosshole Sonic Logging Tomography (CSLT)
Gramma-gamma Density Logging (GDL)
Sonic Echo/Impulse Response (SE/IR)
Single Hole Sonic Logging (SSL)
Ultaseismic (US) Profiling

Integrity Testing of Other Bridge Substructure Elements

Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV)
Impact Echo (IE)
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW)
Acoustic Emissions (AE)
High Energy Radiography