New Invention Will Change the Way Bridges Are Inspected Worldwide

TendonScan™ is the first of its kind of equipment to locate air, water, and corrosion within bridge and highway Tendons. The tendons or post-tension cables connect the segments of highways together as well as hold up many of our nation’s bridges.

Although the Federal Highway Administration requires all bridges to be inspected every two years the Tendons of these structures only receive visual inspections. Inspectors will sometimes hit the tendons with a hammer and listen for differences in the sound. This technology is forty years old and you would certainly get differing results with different inspectors. Infraspect’s TendonScan™ equipment looks inside of tendons (post-tension cables) and performs a corrosion condition assessment of the steel and surrounding grout.

TendonScan™ has been demonstrated to Florida’s DOT and on the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

Florida’s contracts to inspect bridges are estimated at $1.8 billion dollars. Infraspect is determined to replace current inspection methods by developing sophisticated robots that offer more quantitative, less subjective testing results while at the same time making the inspections themselves easier, safer, and more cost-efficient.

There are approximately 126,000 segmental bridges in the U.S. and millions of miles of segmental roads. The estimated market for the bridge segment at $60,000 (very light) per bridge or an estimated $7.6 billion dollars. The segmental roadways market is similar in value to the bridge segment.

A Post Tendon scan study by the federal government concluded that “It is impossible to visually assess the condition of the embedded steel elements without using invasive methods, such as drilling a hole and using a borescope. Much of the damage associated with the cables and tendons initiated and propagated is hidden from view. Further, local corrosion damage to embedded steel elements does not generally result in visually noticeable changes to the external appearance of the bridge until it is too late. In general, corrosion may result in the complete collapse of the bridge without much warning.”

Infraspect now makes it possible to help keep these bridges properly maintained and safe for the public.

What is Infraspect’s TendonScan™?

TendonScan™ is a comprehensive external post-tension tendon inspection and monitoring system that utilizes leading-edge non-destructive testing technology to perform Tendon Condition Assessments.

For more information about TendonScan™ or other proprietary non-destructive testing methods contact the Infraspect at (888) 423-2136 or email here.