Nondestructive Quantitative Inspection Instrument For Concrete Deterioration

The Navy's reinforced concrete structures represent an invaluable asset to the nation's defense preparedness. However, some facilities are approaching a critical state of disrepair and represent a substantial facility management burden due to uncontrolled severe deterioration of reinforced concrete in marine environments. Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center's professionals estimate that the Navy expends in excess of $300 million annually worldwide to repair such damage. Both the need to preserve the Navy's mission from the perspective of maintaining readiness of marine facilities worldwide and today's legislative and fiscal mood demand effective and efficient management of these facilities. While well-implemented maintenance management practice is comprised of a broad array of technical and project management competencies; reliable, practical diagnostic nondestructive examination tools for enabling the Navy's facility management staff to rapidly evaluate presence, extent, and severity of ongoing deterioration would certainly advance the Navy's ability to adapt to 21st century infrastructure rehabilitation challenges. Based on lessons learned from successfully developing various nondestructive testing technologies for task- specific needs, CTL's Phase I approach will critically examine, focus, and validate capabilities of the most promising quantitative NDT technologies to the Navy's benefit including full scale feasibility trials.