1. NONDESTRUCTIVE CONDITION ASSESSMENT OF CONCRETE RAILROAD TIES
Paul Fisk, NDT Corporation

2. CORPORATION Nondestructive Concrete Testing Services
18 Years-600+ projects
Developed Sonic/ultrasonic NDT Equipment

3. BACKGROUND
Union Pacific Railroad Call
Test Out of Service Ties
Test Siding Ties
Test Plymouth Commuter Rail
Comparison of Impact Velocity Results with AMTRAK Rating

4. Impact Velocity and Echo Measurements
Impact Velocity Measurements
Compressional, Shear and Surface Wave Velocity
Moduli Values
Average Dynamic Strength
Crack Density
Impact Echo Measurements
Thickness
Delaminations

5. Impact Velocity
Impact Echo

6. Properties Detected by SONIC/ULTRASONIC Testing
Velocity
Concrete Condition (strength, cracking)
Thickness Resonant Frequencies
Thickness
Delamination
Signal Attenuation
Sample Test Data

13. CONCLUSION
Sonic/ultrasonic results can be used to evaluate and document the current condition of concrete railroad ties
Ties can be classified as
Functional
Marginally Functional-should be retested in the near future
Non-Functional- take out of service

23. Automated Testing
Estimated 1 tie per sec

24. SUMMARY
Sonic/ultrasonic pulse velocity data can be used to evaluate and document the current condition of concrete railroad cross ties
Ties classification correlates with systems currently used by rail roads
Automated Sonic/ultrasonic data acquisition is fast
(1 sec/tie)

25. QUESTIONS ????