Bridges, Pavements, and Tunnels; Innovation at your fingertips!
Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques are becoming increasingly important for the assessment and maintenance of bridges and pavements. NDE techniques enable inspectors to gather critical information about the condition of these assets without the need for coring and other destructive testing. The data obtained from these assessments can be used to determine the remaining service life of the bridge decks and pavements and to prioritize maintenance and repair activities.
To keep highway infrastructure asset owners who deal with highway infrastructure performance challenges up to speed on developing and refining NDE technologies, the FHWA NDE Program initiated and developed the InfoTechnology web portal. InfoTechnology provides concise information about NDE technologies for the assessment of highway infrastructure. It is a problem focused tool that help practitioners and asset owners select the most applicable and recommended technology based on the target of investigation. This web portal provides information on the available technologies for detecting and characterizing a specific issue; allows for a better understanding of the technologies and methods of analysis; and describes limitations and advantages of NDE methods.
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InfoTechnology has an intuitive and user-friendly interface that provides an overview of most NDE technologies. A description of the technology, the engineering principles used by the method, and application of the technology, analysis procedures, limitations, and advantages are displayed in an easy-to-read format. The information is supplemented with images, diagrams, tables, and references. InfoTechnology offers a wide range of features and capabilities. For instance, navigation of the site is facilitated by easy-to-use filters enabling users to quickly identify and access information on NDE technologies used to assess conditions of bridges, pavements, and tunnels.
If you would like to learn more about FHWA InfoTechnology, please visit the web portal or contact Dr. Hoda Azari, FHWA NDE Research Program Manager.
Digital Delivery and Digital Twin at TxDOT
The Texas DOT (TxDOT) began their Digital Delivery journey back with Every Day Counts Two (EDC-2) and the deployment of 3D Engineered Models for Construction. At that time, it was providing cross sections, xsr files, upon the request of contractors. Since that time, TxDOT has embraced additional technologies and modified processes to advance the digital delivery of projects. Figure 1 presents TxDOT’s status and roadmap to Digital Delivery and Digital Twin.
 Digital Delivery is the delivery of models for bidding, construction, and as-builts of projects in lieu of traditional paper or pdf plan sets. This is sometimes called Model As the Legal Document (MALD).
Digital Twin is a virtual representation that serves as the real-time or near real-time counterpart of a physical object. The model will have sufficient data and accessible to the people who need it.
While on this journey, TxDOT has seen and anticipates seeing additional benefits in the areas of enhanced precision of design quantities, enhanced design detail, less change orders, less requests for information, improved efficiency in construction, enhanced construction management, and concluding construction with a digital as-built plan that can be used in operations, maintenance, and asset management. This all means a more efficient and effective highway transportation system.
TxDOT is currently working on the development of a pilot project for MALD (Figure 1, Step 6). The project will be a full depth reconstruction with adding of shoulders on a 0.30 miles of asphalt pavement in the San Antonio District. The project is currently scheduled to be let in March of 2024. TxDOT and the Transportation Industry are excited to advance this first MALD project.
If you would like to learn about TxDOT’s journey toward digital delivery and a digital twin, please contact Mr. Jacob Tambunga, P.E., TxDOT Director of Digital Delivery. If you would like to learn more about digital project delivery, please contact Mr. David Unkefer, Construction and Project Management Engineer, FHWA.
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e-Ticketing Peer-to-Peer Exchanges
Contact Ms. Kathryn (Kat) Weisner or phone: 202-823-2267
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Digital As-Builts Forum: Digital Project Delivery for the City of Lincoln, NE, September 25, 2023 @ 3:30-4:30 pm ET
Registration
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e-Construction Peer-to-Peer Exchanges
Contact Ms. Kathryn (Kat) Weisner or phone: 202-823-2267
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Digital As-Builts Forum: Digital Construction Management Domestic Scan, November 27, 2023 @ 3:30-4:30 pm ET
Registration
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Probabilistic Risk-Based Cost Estimation Training
Contact Mr. Michael Smith or phone: 202-603-7050
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Digital As-Builts, Virtual Regional Workshop, February 14 & 15, 2024
Contact Mr. David Unkefer or phone: 404- 764-7498
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NHI 134077, Contract Administration Core Curriculum Course
Contact Ms. Kathryn (Kat) Weisner or phone: 202-823-2267
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Construction Worker Safety Overview
Contact Mr. Wilfred Hernandez or phone: 774-991-9045
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FHWA Emergency Relief Overview (Virtual 2-hr Training)
Contact Ms. Megan Hall or phone: 202-923-5282
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Critical Thinking Skills for Managing Contract Changes, Workshop
Contact Mr. Roy Siegel or phone: 404-764-6053
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Note: The U.S. Government does not endorse products, manufacturers, or outside entities. Trademarks, names, or logos appear in this document only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.
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