Inspection Guidelines Research Articles

Optimizing on-site testing for post-tensioned concrete bridges

The decreasing structural reliability of key infrastructure due to aging and degradation represents a significant challenge for engineers, infrastructure managers, and society in general. The concealed nature of tendons in post-tensioned concrete bridges makes the assessment of their structural health a crucial point of several national bridge inspection guidelines. This assessment is commonly performed by means of direct and/or indirect tendon testing. A widely spread approach to the design and quantification of the number of tests is the American FHWA method, also adopted by the Italian guidelines. Unfortunately, in light of its frequentist nature and the consequent negligence of the prior knowledge on the health state of the structure, this one can lead to test campaigns with redundant and non-optimized allocation of resources and time. The present article proposes a novel Bayesian perspective of the FHWA test quantification methodology that accounts for: (i) the prior knowledge in an explicit manner by means of Bayes’ theorem; (ii) the test uncertainties, as in the case of Nondestructive Testing. By means of a demonstrative application, this article displays how this novel methodology leads to an optimized number of tests whilst guaranteeing the required structural reliability and user safety levels.

HACCP operation in two Latin American meat packers: Case study

The hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system is a protocol aimed to guarantee food safety, especially in companies dedicated to meat processing. Companies in food international trade are subjected to intense inspection and verification processes, and international standard certifications have become a key factor in global trade. The purpose of this study was a comparative analysis of HACCP certification in the Mexican and Chilean meat packers that send meat to international markets by a field inspection of each to identify opportunities for improvement. International trade standards along with packers’ expectations and needs to be fulfilled to attain a place in world markets were bases for this study. Guidelines for field inspection came from the HACCP protocol. Field data were derived from 15 indicators — five intrinsic to the HACCP plan and ten external. The Chilean packer was superior to the Mexican packer in terms of many indicators. Thus, the first one had a chance for a better position in international markets than the latter. It was concluded that the HACCP audit is an excellent tool to measure the suitability of meat packers in achieving a place as a supplier and remaining in the international food trade.

Supervising Veterinarians as Boundary-Spanning Agents

Boundary-spanning agency is important for weaving together different ways of doing and knowing. This article examines boundary-spanning agency in the context of courtroom contestation of veterinary expertise. Analysing Finnish supreme administrative court judgments, we highlight how knowledge claims about animal welfare and about the process of supervisory inspections are deployed and contested by both veterinarians and animal owners in a bid to set down an authoritative interpretation about empirical actuality at the inspected sites. A central finding is that veterinarians, contrary to the implications of earlier studies, are in a potent position in their supervising role. Given the lack of intermediary soft law mechanisms such as inspection guidelines, the interpretative space left between animal protection law and veterinarians’ inferences about the conditions at the inspected site leaves veterinarians with a wide mandate to make decisions about ending livelihoods and euthanising the inspected animals.

Implementing mobile eye tracking in psychological research: A practical guide

Eye tracking provides direct, temporally and spatially sensitive measures of eye gaze. It can capture visual attention patterns from infancy through adulthood. However, commonly used screen-based eye tracking (SET) paradigms are limited in their depiction of how individuals process information as they interact with the environment in “real life”. Mobile eye tracking (MET) records participant-perspective gaze in the context of active behavior. Recent technological developments in MET hardware enable researchers to capture egocentric vision as early as infancy and across the lifespan. However, challenges remain in MET data collection, processing, and analysis. The present paper aims to provide an introduction and practical guide to starting researchers in the field to facilitate the use of MET in psychological research with a wide range of age groups. First, we provide a general introduction to MET. Next, we briefly review MET studies in adults and children that provide new insights into attention and its roles in cognitive and socioemotional functioning. We then discuss technical issues relating to MET data collection and provide guidelines for data quality inspection, gaze annotations, data visualization, and statistical analyses. Lastly, we conclude by discussing the future directions of MET implementation. Open-source programs for MET data quality inspection, data visualization, and analysis are shared publicly.

Analisa Penilaian Kondisi Jembatan Sarolangun Batang Tembesi Dengan Metode Bridge Manajemen System (BMS)

Bridges are an important part of a road network system because they have a significant impact if the bridge collapses or if it does not function properly. A bridge is a structure that crosses a river or other traffic barrier, so the collapse of the bridge will reduce or hold back traffic, which as a result will disrupt the comfort of the public in traffic and disrupt economic relations. A bridge is a structure that crosses a river or other traffic barrier, which as a result disrupts people's comfort in traffic and disrupts economic relations (Bridge Inspection Guidelines 2012). Bridges are built so that pedestrians, vehicle or train drivers can cross these obstacles. However, it turns out that there are many types of bridges which of course vary both in terms of structure, strength and even construction costs. The main components of a bridge are the unity of the road embankment structure approaching the bridge, the sub-bridge structure and the bridge super-structure (BMS, 1993). The main objective of this research is to analyze the condition of the Sarolangun Batang Tembesi Bridge by observing it visually, assessing the technical condition of the bridge, and determining the priority order for bridge maintenance based on its condition value. However, the database results produced in this bridge management system are only limited to screening and ranking results in preparing bridge management programs (Directorate General of Highways, Bridge Management Systems, (1993), "IBMS General Procedure Guide", BMS, Department of Public Works of the Republic of Indonesia.

Evaluation of non-destructive techniques for inspection of post- tensioned concrete bridges

Reinforced concrete bridges with post-tensioned (PT) cables are particularly critical structures, as the degradation of the tendons is not fully detectable through conventional investigation methods and/or through visual inspections, due to the intrinsic nature of the structural typology. In fact, PT cables are encased in plastic or metal ducts which aim at protecting them from corrosion, but at the same time hide them making it impossible to evaluate their condition by visual inspection alone. Deterioration conditions of PT systems are broadly categorized into strand defects and grout defects. The deteriorated conditions of PT systems usually lead to a loss of prestressing force, with impacts on the bridge management in the form of reduced load capacity and structural safety, need for expensive rehabilitation interventions, and traffic disruption.Modern inspection guidelines have identified non-destructive (ND) methods suitable for evaluating the conditions of the tendons and the grout. Moreover, ND technologies used in other industries may have potential for PT bridge assessments. The present contribution aims at presenting a simple procedure to rank the non-destructive (ND) methods, that are currently used for investigating the deterioration of tendons and grout, through a series of metrics formulated to evaluate the various technologies under four different aspects, namely accuracy of measurement, ease of use, cost, and impact on the operation of the bridge. The goal is to provide the bridge owners with a decision tool that can assist them in the selection of the optimal ND technology for the evaluation of a particular strand or grout defect.

The Italian Guidelines for special inspections of post-tensioned concrete bridges: review and case study

Post-tensioned (PT) concrete bridges are structural systems characterized by intrinsic fragility. The assessment of their health condition is very difficult due to their nature, which prevents the detection of degradation in PT elements through conventional investigation methods and/or visual inspections. For this reason, the Italian Guidelines for the maintenance of existing bridges envisage special inspections to assess the condition of the post-tensioning system. According to the dedicated Guideline, the special inspection procedure consists of four steps. First there is Step O, which identifies the number and location of PT samples to be investigated based on the historical•critical review of available documentation and the visible defects in the post-tensioned members. Then, in Step 1 a preliminary analysis of the identified PT elements is performed, identifying the presence and location of active defects and grout voids, as well as the probability of corrosion of the reinforcement through non-destructive tests. In Step 2, the analysis of defects becomes more accurate, determining the probability of corrosion and estimating the level of stress in the concrete and in post-tensioned cables through locally destructive tests. Step 3 is applied if the outcome of Step 2 is uncertain and involves the experimental analysis of the overall structural response of the bridge. Eventually, in case the presence of damaged PT elements is confirmed, a load assessment of the structure is performed. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the investigation method proposed by the Italian Guidelines, highlighting its strengths and potential weaknesses. The procedure is applied to the Dora Riparia River Bridge, located in Avigliana (Turin) on provincial road SP197. The bridge consists of seven spans, 21.4 m long, and is characterized by a simply supported static layout; each span has four post-tensioned I-shape beams and four post-tensioned diaphragms.

Assisting Food Household Industries in Implementation of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) on Frozen Meat Kebab in Sidoarjo District

Background: Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a reference that explains the procedures to produce processed food so that it is of high quality, safe, and suitable for public consumption. The Food Safety Facilitator's role is to help register the processed products of SME (Small Medium Enterprise) X to obtain an NIE( Nomor Izin Edar) number. Objectives: The SME assistance aims to improve the implementation of GMP so that it can meet the GMP level that meets the requirements of the Regulation of the Head of the Food and Drug Administration on Guidelines for Inspection of Processed Food Production Facilities. Methods: Initial observations were made with a form based on the standards of the Food and Drug Administration to determine the score and value of SME X, then mentoring and training were carried out to correct GMP non-conformities. Results: The first observation of SME X showed that there were aspects that did not comply with the GMP requirements. With several non-conformities obtained, SME X received a grade of D or very poor, so it needs improvement to get an NIE number from BPOM. The results of the final inspection indicated an improvement in the score from D (very poor) to B (good) so that SME X could obtain the NIE number. Conclusions: Assistance and training to SMEs contributed to the improvement of SMEs' GMP implementation scores so that SME X was able to obtain a distribution license number for its food products

Road safety inspections: Basic principles

Some European Union Directives which were implemented by the various Member States, have established the fundamental guidelines for safety inspections of road infrastructures, according to the principle of the independence of the inspectors with respect to both the owner of the infrastructure and of its manager. This article addresses the practical implementation of the guidelines based on some inspections carried out on motorway sections in Italy.

Comprehensive Analysis of Phenolic Compounds, Carotenoids, and Antioxidant Activities in Lactuca sativa var. longifolia Cultivated in a Smart Farm System

Smart farming is a promising strategy for future agriculture, and the global market for smart agriculture is growing rapidly. The aim of this study was to compare the quality of agricultural products based on their cultivation method. The components and antioxidant activities of Lactuca sativa (LS) var. longifolia cultivated using conventional agriculture methods (CAMs) and smart farm agriculture methods (SAMs) were compared. ABTS+ and DPPH radical scavenging activity assays were performed to compare the antioxidant activities of LS grown using CAMs and SAMs. High-performance liquid chromatography with a reverse-phase column was employed to analyze the phenolic and carotenoid compounds. In both the SAM and the CAM, β-carotene was found to be the most abundant compound. LS grown using the CAM had high total polyphenol content and ABTS+ radical scavenging activity, while LS grown using the SAM had high individual phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging activity. This study developed a new method of SAM and confirmed that SAM produces a higher quantity of phenolic compounds and total flavonoid contents than CAM in LS. This study also highlights the SAM’s functioning, gives crop quality inspection guidelines, and standardizes LS. The new SAM is effective for application in undeveloped urban spaces, is more convenient than the CAM, and represents a way to develop and manage LS quality.

Inspection and evaluation of damage mechanisms in two-phase vertical separator

Pressure vessels are critical components in various industries that store or transport fluids under pressure. Ensuring their mechanical integrity prevents catastrophic failures and maintains safe and reliable operations, regular inspections are necessary to identify potential defects and damages that can compromise the vessel's integrity. However, practical guidelines for pressure vessel inspection are often not readily available in educational institutions and require specialized certification courses or on-field experience. This article aims to provide a comprehensive and practical approach to inspecting a two-phase vertical separator commonly used in oil and gas based on industry standards and codes, specifically targeting mechanical engineers, engineering students, and professionals entering the inspection field. It demonstrates the application of a standardized methodology for inspecting a pressure vessel and analyzing its damage mechanisms. The inspection standards applied in this study include API-510, API-571, API-572, API-579, and API-580. The inspection process encompasses both external and internal evaluations. External inspections focus on identifying conditions that may affect the mechanical integrity of the vessel, such as support structures, corrosion, or external damage. Internal inspections utilize visual and non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques to detect damage or discontinuities within the vessel. It includes inspection planning, component selection, thickness measurements, and NDT techniques. The external inspection findings include thickness measurements of the shell, nozzle, and coupling areas. The identified material loss percentages are compared to design limits, enabling the determination of remaining structural integrity and the need for repairs or further evaluations.

Effects of Raster Angle on the Elasticity of 3D-Printed Polylactic Acid and Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol

Because of its numerous advantages, 3D printing is widely employed for a variety of purposes. The mechanical characteristics of 3D-printed items are quite important. 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA) is a common thermoplastic polymer due to its excellent characteristics and affordable cost. Because of its enhanced characteristics, polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) has recently received a lot of attention. Despite PETG’s potential appeal in the 3D-printing field, little research has been conducted to explore its qualities, such as the impacts of raster angle on elasticity, which could lead to the development of more accurate guidelines for inspection and assessment. In this regard, this study examines the mechanical characteristics of polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) 3D-printing specimens with different raster angles. Test specimens with raster angles of 15° and 30° were printed, and the stress–strain responses were recorded and compared with the simulated profiles generated using ANSYS software. The results showed that the raster angle significantly affected the mechanical properties of both types of materials. The simulated profile matched well with the experimental profile only in the case of PLA printed with a raster angle of 15°. These findings imply that extra effort should be made to ensure that the raster angle is tailored to yield the optimal mechanical properties of 3D-printed products.

Damage Assessment of Similar Martensitic Welds Under Creep, Fatigue, and Creep-Fatigue Loading

Abstract For the assessment of welds under high-temperature conditions in the creep or creep-fatigue regimes, the knowledge of the damage location and its temporal evolution is of high importance. The local failure behavior of weld joints is not reflected in design guidelines using weld reduction factors or in typical assessment approaches. The evaluation of local strains and stresses in the heat affected zone (HAZ) is essential for a more detailed consideration of weld behavior and has a high potential for improvement of design and inspection guidelines. In this paper, an overview of current developments in the assessment of weld joints is given. Uni-axial creep, component tests, low cycle fatigue (LCF), and creep-fatigue experiments with base material, weld joints and microstructure simulated HAZ material are presented. The use of test results of microstructure simulated HAZ material allows the parameter identification of numerical material models for the HAZ and improves the simulation of the local stress and strain behavior of weld joints. Two assessment methods, one for creep and one for fatigue/creep-fatigue were presented, based on the local behavior determined by the numerical simulations. The assessment approach for pure creep loads was validated using several uni-axial creep tests and two component tests. The approach for the fatigue/creep-fatigue loads is still in the developmental stage but the first results were presented and further areas for improvement were identified.

Teilstationäre Versorgung im Fokus – Entwicklung wissenschaftsgestützter Impulse zur Gestaltung von Tagespflegen für ältere Menschen

BackgroundDespite its important role in the elderly care system, day care in Germany has so far rather little attention paid to it. Keeping their patients’ health and self-reliance and facilitating relief and support for family caregivers are central tasks of day care, regulated by law. Nevertheless, there is not only a lack of findings about the working methods and effects of day care, but also of orientation in terms of how to configure high-quality care on a structural, process-related and conceptual level. The aim of the TpQ project (“Weiterentwicklung und Qualitätsverbesserung von Tagespflege in Nordrhein-Westfalen”, “further development of and quality improvement in day care facilities in Northrhine-Westphalia”) was to close this gap and to offer the institutions a catalogue of impulses that contains current national and international research findings as well as the perspectives of every stakeholder associated with day care. MethodIn an explorative sequential mixed-method design, we conducted a search for and a synthesis of the literature in the form of a scoping review, qualitative interviews with guests, relatives, non-users, employees and managers of day care, association representatives, nursing scientists and business consultants, a quantitative paper-based survey among guests, relatives, employees and managers of day care and an expert conference for result validation. The sample received study information either directly by mail or through the staff of the recruited adult day care facilities. The survey-area is the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The analysis of the qualitative data was conducted according to the qualitative content analysis and was used for the development of the quantitative surveys. The quantitative data analysis was descriptive. Based on the comparison with literature analysis and qualitative findings, the impulses for the design of day care were finally formulated and validated during an expert workshop. ResultsFrom the literature (N=49) and the interviews (N=85), different expectations and wishes with regard to day care were generated. These included staff and structural requirements as well as concrete ideas of the conceptual orientation of day care. The quantitative survey (N=392) showed considerable agreement with the content-related and organizational requirements of the qualitative survey and allowed us to identify the relevant quality aspects from the point of view of guests, relatives and staff of day care facilities. In summary, 15 dimensions for the design of day care (conception/basic principles, quality management, nursing care, transport/driving service, opening hours, equipment, networking, staff, introduction of new guests, activity offers, health promotion and prevention, promotion of social participation, support of relatives, public work, counseling) were defined as relevant quality areas and explained with 81 impulses. Discussion and conclusionAddressing the perspective of users, family caregivers and other persons involved in adult day care reveals complex requirements and opportunities for the design of adult day care. In contrast to existing quality inspection guidelines, the impulses can be used to independently assess adult day care with the goal of contributing to the further development and sharpening of the profile of adult day care.

Intelligent Inspection Technology of Substation Secondary System Based on Machine Vision

To solve the problems of low efficiency and poor precision in the current inspection of substation secondary systems, machine vision technology is introduced to conduct the design and research of inspection technology. It acquires equipment images and manufactures an image data set of that secondary system equipment of the transformer substation. It also processes and segments an inspection guideline image using machine vision technology and realizes itinerant inspection of the secondary system instrument equipment of the transformer substation based on the acquired inspection image. The comparative experiments show that the efficiency and accuracy of the new inspection technology have been significantly improved.

Bridge Inspection – Progression of Bridge Inspection Toward Preservation and Corrosion Mitigation for Improving Asset Management

The primary intent of bridge inspection is safety. Thus, the focus during the initial development of bridge inspection guidelines, including National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), was on making sure structures are safe for the traveling public. NBIS are mandated by federal statute at 23 U.S.C. 144 and implemented under 23 CFR 650 subpart C. Most changes since the inception of NBIS have been due to failures, but recently the focus has shifted to include bridge/ asset management. As such, there has been an increased emphasis on using inspection data for bridge management purposes and on preservation to make sure these structures are not only safe but also can be maintained cost-effectively to minimize life cycle costs. This requires shifting the focus from predominantly visual inspection to supplementing visual inspections with advanced technologies. In this paper, the authors discuss the changes that have occurred since their 2009 Materials Evaluation article.

Ultrasonic guided wave testing on pipeline corrosion detection using torsional T(0,1) guided waves

Ultrasonic guided wave testing (UGWT) is used in rapid screening to detect, locate and classify corrosion defects. This non-destructive testing technique can perform wide-range inspection from a single point, thus reducing the time and effort required for NDT. However, the mode conversion phenomena and the dispersive nature of the guided waves make corrosion detection difficult. Hence, the parametric studies on the response signals of a T (0, 1) wave from pipe defects were presented in this paper. Firstly, a mathematical model of 6-inch schedule 40 pipes was developed. The corrosion profile of various geometries was then constructed on the outer surface of the pipeline by varying the circumferential length and depth. The numerical study was performed to analyse the characteristics of the response signals when a torsional guided wave impinges on the corroded pipelines. A five-cycle Hanning tone-burst signal with a central frequency of 30k Hz was used throughout the study. The results demonstrated that mode conversion to a flexural mode F (1, m) occurs when the stimulated T (0, 1) strikes non-symmetric defects. Nonetheless, as the circumferential extent of the corrosion increased, the response signals tended to behave symmetrically, and there was less mode conversion detected. Thus, the presence of flexural mode F (1, m) can be used as the criteria to distinguish symmetric and asymmetric faults. In addition, the results demonstrated that the reflection coefficients increase monotonically with the defect's depth due to the increases in the estimated cross-sectional area loss (ECL). As a result, a more significant proportion of the transmission wave was reflected. These findings serve as guidelines for on-site inspections. With the known speed of guided wave propagation, it is possible to precisely forecast the position of faults.

EVALUATION OF THE AIR KANYUT BRIDGE CONDITIONS, BANGKA REGENCY, BANGKA BELITUNG PROVINCE USING THE BRIDGE INSPECTION METHOD DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF BINA MARGA

Bangka Regency is one of the regencies in Bangka Belitung Province, which has several potentials for improving regional economies, such as agriculture and plantation, fisheries and marine, mining and industry, and tourism. Bridges have an important role in supporting activities in the sector, but there are bridges that are estimated to have critical conditions in Bangka Regency, namely, Air Kanyut Bridge. Special handling is needed in the maintenance and repair of bridges and roads, so all of activities supporting economy can run well. Bridge maintenance conducted with regular and periodic inspections, if there is damage during the inspection, then proceed with a special inspection to determine the required preservation measures. The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing through the Directorate General of Bina Marga has a guideline used in conducting bridge inspections, namely Bridge Inspection Guidelines Number 01/P/BM/2022. The guidelines contain general provisions and technical provisions regarding the planning, preparation, and implementation of bridge inspections required for inventory inspection, detailed inspection, routine inspection, and special inspection of bridge conditions.

Visual Assessment pada Bangunan Gedung Terhadap Sistem Keamanan Kebakaran

Fire is a hazard caused by an uncontrollable flame, resulting in both material and moral losses. Fire problem occurs when firefighting equipment is often ignored during the construction planning of a building, for that we need to check and supervision the fire safety system in multilevel buildings. The purpose of this research is to determine the level of reliability of building fire safety system in Forriz Hotel Yogyakarta and is expected to be a refence fire protection system in other commercial buildings in Yogyakarta. this research used a method by direct observation on fire protection system with reference to fire safety inspection guidelines for building (Pd-T-11-2005-C). The result of this research is reliability value of building safety for each component consisting of the value of completeness of the site of 22,7% (less), means of the rescue of 16,4% (less), active protection of 15,1% (less), passive protection of 24,3 (less). The calculation results for the reliability of the building of Hotel Forriz Yogyakarta is 78,5% or in the Enough category. Based on the research result Hotel Forriz Yogyakarta cannot be used for reference to the implementation of the fire protection system in buildings.

Prognostics of unsupported railway sleepers and their severity diagnostics using machine learning

Railway sleepers are safety–critical components of a railway structure. They support ballasted track superstructure and are a critical factor in track geometry and track components’ deterioration. Unsupported sleepers are a common issue incurred after tracks have been utilized. When unsupported sleepers are present, they cause differential settlements of track superstructures, additional dynamic loading, and excessive train-track vibrations which affect passenger comfort, safety, and maintenance cost. This study is the world's first to develop new machine learning models to prognose and better diagnose defect severities of unsupported sleepers aligned with practical track inspection guidelines. Data used to develop machine learning models are based on a verified finite element model with actual field measurements, enabling unbiased full data ranges that govern all defect conditions. Different conditions of unsupported sleepers can be explored by varying locations of unsupported sleepers and the number of unsupported sleepers. Also, other operational parameters can be addressed such as speeds of rolling stock, the roughness of rail surface, and vertical stiffness of wheel-rail contact. In total, 2016 data sets have been obtained. Axle box accelerations are adopted as key indicators for machine learning models. Machine learning techniques used in the study are the convolutional neural network, recurrent neural network, ResNet, and fully convolutional neural network. Data fusion and assimilation have been conducted since the data points are dependent on the train speeds. Our new results reveal a breakthrough essential for real-world applications that the convolutional neural network model provides the best accuracy in both unsupported sleeper prognostics and severity identification. The accuracies of detection and severity identification are 99.34% and 97.02% respectively.