Home » Maintaining Our Infrastructure With TendonScan® |Post Tension Tendon Inspection Service

Maintaining Our Infrastructure With TendonScan® |Post Tension Tendon Inspection Service

Post Tension Tendon inspection service for bridge inspections helps keep our bridges and box girder roadways safe.

Large concrete slabs would crack and break under their own weight without being reinforced. Post Tensioning is a technique to reinforce concrete. Steel strands are placed in a duct, placed in the forms or outside the forms and tensioned prior to loads being placed.

TendonScan® is an intelligent system to evaluate any damage done to the post tension tendons in bridges and girder roadways. TendonScan® is a non-destructive post tendon inspection service that can be accomplished this with relative ease.

Post Tensioned Tendon conduits are filled with grout to prevent air and water from corroding the steel cables. Tendons when they are placed are sometimes not grouted properly and sometimes due to age or environmental issues the grout may crack. In some cases he grout does not cure properly and stays wet which can cause the beginnings of corrosion.

Locate Loss of Metallic Area Inside External Post Tension Tendons. Submit Your Scope of Work:

This corrosion can allow for air, water and other environmental contaminants to enter the steel and weaken the overall structure. If the tendons are corrupted, then the concrete slabs overhead can collapse as well. Thus it is of utmost importance to regularly scan the post tension tendons for faults. If there are known issues than the conventional method of visually inspecting tendons for faults or hammer sounding will not suffice.

TendonScan® peers through the post tension tenon to look for loss of metallic area inside a post tensioned duct. The portable unit utilizes magnetic flux leakeage nondestructive evaluation to locates areas of concern inside a post tensioned tendon.

The unit is a 16lb battery powered robot, that crawls along the tendon. A report is generated with the collected data. This data highlights the faults and discontinuations along the tendon.

Based on the percentage and amount of loss, the asset owner can determine where further actions need to be taken.

TendonScan® and signal readout.

The TendonScan® Robot

For post tension tendon inspection, the robot is attached to a particular tendon. The robot then runs along the tendon using its sensors to locate faults, openings and corrosions. It also uses a system similar to a magnetic resonance imaging that is used across hospitals. This MRI like system scans the material inside the tendon itself.

The unit also transmits data wirelessly to the human inspector in a wheeled cart above. The human inspector receives and reviews the data transferred by the unit in real time. The entire process is accomplished with non-destructive testing methods to ensure the best possible results. These methods the top of the line Electric Capacitance and Magnetic Flux. Both of these work in tandem with to produce the magnetic resonance imaging like visuals.

The results speak for themselves as well. Internal structures and makeup of the tendons are revealed. This shows the human inspectors exactly where they need to repair or replace the tendons. It also identifies places where water or air might have collected in the post tension tendons.

The entire inspection requires a minimum of 3 human personnel to operate and control the unit. The unit is automated and powered by battery. As such it does not need constant supervision. The unit is attached to the post tension tendon and the post tension tendon inspection can begin.

A quantitative data report of the post tension tendon inspection is generated and is provided to the relevant authorities. The data in the report correctly highlights exactly where any discontinuations are as well as other faults.

This allows any department to correctly allocate their resources towards the particular fault. They do not have to spend their money and resources trying to fix the entire structure but only the fault at hand.