Infrastructure Preservation Corporation Puts Safety of Nation's Infrastructure

First with Robotic Post Tension Tendon Bridge Inspection Service

More than a fourth of the 607,380 bridges in the US are over 50 years old, and 108,000 of the
bridges are constructed with pre-stressed concrete. All bridges are supposed to be inspected every 2
years but even when inspections are done, it is still the archaic visual inspection or listening to the
change of tone by hitting the cable with a hammer. These outdated methods lead to subjective, often
inaccurate conclusions. Critical clues are missed and lives are at risk.

New York, NY, March 27, 2018 --(PR.com)-- A nation's infrastructure is too precious and too enmeshed
with human lives, to leave decision-making to guessing or subjective interpretation. Data is a crucial
factor in deciding what is wrong with a piece of infrastructure, especially the aging bridges of the United
States.

Bridges are mostly connected with post tensioning, a technique developed in the 1930s to reinforce
concrete. In 1933, a young French civil servant, Eugene Freyssinet, produced three large pre-stressed
concrete girders and inserted them underneath the quay in LeHavre, in France, to prevent its collapse.

Over the years, civil engineers began using post-tensioned cables for safety of large concrete structures.
Millions of miles of such cables, embedded in grout and enclosed and sealed in rubberized exteriors,
known as post-tensioned tendons, support and hold up hundreds of thousands of bridges and highways in
the US. They enable larger spans, thinner slabs and greater distances between support columns of bridges.
The concrete floors of parking garages, apartment buildings and condo's are reinforced in the same
manner. This allow for longer and thinner slabs of concrete to be used.

In the building of complex bridges, post-tensioned tendons are filled with grout to prevent corrosion. Low
quality grout and admixtures and improper grouting procedures, ageing and weather conditions could,
subsequently, lead to separation of grout within the tendon. The grouting creates a high alkaline
environment to prevent corrosion, but grout separation, water and air intrusion creates oxidation leading
to corrosion and loss of metallic area and tendon failure.

It is a fact that corrosion of post-tensioned tendons in complex bridges have become a significant problem
in recent times. In 2016, a report by the Florida Department of Transportation refers to “severe corrosion”
of post-tensioned tendons in the Ringling Causeway Bridge in Sarasota, Florida. The report explains the
corrosion with reference to separation of grout and the high moisture content in the immediate
environment. However, the bridge was built in 2003. The question arises why the corrosion went
unnoticed for 13 years, and was only being looked at when the condition had considerably worsened.

Back in 1998, the US Federal Highway Administration, (FHWA), estimated the annual cost of corrosion
on highway bridges as $8.3 billion. The worldwide corrosion authority, NACE International,
headquartered in Houston, Texas, estimates the current annual direct cost of corrosion on highway
bridges as $13.6 billion.

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More than a fourth of the 607,380 bridges in the US are over 50 years old, and 108,000 of the bridges are
constructed with pre-stressed concrete. All bridges are supposed to be inspected every 2 years, but that
does not happen consistently. Even when inspections are done, it is still the archaic visual method
producing subjective results. These outdated methods can lead to inaccurate conclusions. Critical clues
are missed through human error. It is imperative for the DOT to adopt modern technology into the
inspection process.

The technology exists today to go way beyond subjective testing says Doug Thaler of "IPC"
Infrastructure Preservation Corporation, Technology along with the inspector can conduct these
inspections more efficiently with fewer lane closures and at a price consistent with the manual inspections
being done today.

Following six years of R&D, IPC has launched TendonScan® to its service range, able to scan the inside
of the tendon and locate vulnerability to corrosion by analyzing air, water and bleeding grout within the
tendon as well as locating loss of metallic area. Using the latest Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and
Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technologies, TendonScan® is able to track the size and shape of the
developing abnormality, and guide timely and necessary repairs with razor-sharp accuracy. Locating
developing issues before they become problems, and paving the way for early repairs to extend the
lifecycle of tendons and save millions of taxpayer dollars.

TendonScan® is able provide baseline condition assessment for both preventative maintenance or to
locate existing section loss in the steel, and, has surpassed all available technology to inspect
post-tensioned tendons in bridges before they become a danger to the traveling public.

Rust build up in construction, especially steel concrete bridges, is notoriously stealthy. Furthermore,
bridges have to endure so much - vagaries of the weather like icy winters and blistering summers, heavy
traffic and emissions and steel-unfriendly ice-melting salts. All of these conditions contribute to rusting of
bridges.

If ignored, rust can lead to deadly consequences like total collapse of bridges.

Why would engineering firms and the department of transportation wait until the last straw piles up on
the camel's back? What is holding them back from embracing new technology?

American investor James O'Shaughnessy said, “By relying on the statistical information rather than a gut
feeling, you allow the data to lead you to be in the right place at the right time.” It is just the asset owners
or their representatives desire to step beyond convention and utilize these existing technologies to update
those 50 year old manual methods to keep the public safe.

For more information on TendonScan® go to http://www.infrastructurepc.com or email

info@infratructurepc.com

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Contact Information:
Infrastructure Preservation Co.
Doug Thaler
561-665-1477
Contact via Email
www.infrastructurepc.com
info@infrastructurepc.com

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/748953

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