NDT infrastructure and buildings

Real estate and infrastructure assets are very old and obsolete. They are harshly tested by natural events that threaten their integrity with the risk of serious consequences. In this scenario, technical non-invasive and/or semi-invasive tests are becoming more popular as they obtain information on the characteristics of the materials the structures are made from.

Know how to prevent and reduce risk: this is the basic principle for the verification of structures and buildings, both new and existing.

The activity is carried out in accordance with the RINA governance model, which safeguards impartiality and prevents conflict of interest situations.

Service details

RINA offers its services to public and private testers and designers, to entities responsible for controlling and auditing structures, to contractors and owners.

Our activities set out to:

• objectively determine the mechanical characteristics of materials
• build a diagnostic picture of the structures in reference to their safety and their residual life
• assess their resistance to seismic events and load variations
• safeguard real estate assets
• reduce building management and maintenance costs.

The test campaign is defined in relation to the established objectives, using specific instruments supporting recognized and reliable methodologies in order to minimize measurement uncertainty.

Tests can be performed on:

• buildings for which insufficient information is available
• structures under construction whose correspondence to design characteristics is verified
• deteriorated structures, in order to estimate their residue resistances.

Deliverables

• Estimate the damage and CAPEX
• identify risk-based priorities
• planning future investments for adjustments
• provide evidence guarantees to the workers, investors and end-users.

Q&A

Who are your main stakeholders in this field?

• industrial companies
• construction companies
• banking and insurances companies
• public bodies
• real estate companies.

What are the main test and control activities provided?

• visual inspection
• ultrasonic pulse velocity
• acoustic emission
• electromagnetic cover measurement
• pull out
• rebound hammer test
• corrosion test
• on-site chemical
• Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
• load and monitoring tests
• core extraction for compressive strength test
• structural monitoring of crack patterns
• thermography.