Heavy and mechanically welded infrastructure such as bridges, towers, pylons, wind turbines and off-shore platforms are subject to harsh operating conditions and stringent safety regulations.

To prevent damage or rupture that would have catastrophic consequences, constant monitoring is necessary, and effective timely solutions are required.

NOMAD portable equipment, using STRESSONIC® technology in its weld impact treatment application, also known as UIT or HFMI, is a proven and cost-effective solution for treating new welds or following repairs to an area with cracks.

Improvement of fatigue resistance has been clearly demonstrated, as has the positive impact of HFMI/IUT technology in reducing stress corrosion phenomena. SONATS continually invests in our partnerships with many institutes, universities and collaborative projects, and thus has the expertise and solutions to provide high-performance IUT/HFMI technology that is fast and responds to the IIW recommendations.

Recently, our equipment was successfully used to repair the George Washington Bridge in New York, a bridge known for having the largest traffic flow in the world.

AASHTO’S RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING UIT

In the United States of America many welded components on existing bridges are prone to fatigue failure. The US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) estimates that $76 billion is necessary to repair deficient bridges throughout the country.

In 1996, the Federal Highway administration launched a study to measure the benefits of Ultrasonic Impact Treatment, (UIT) on weldments prone to failure. Their findings showed that the fatigue life of welds where UIT was applied was 8 times longer than welds where it was not. Further studies were conducted on welded girders and cover plates yielding similar positive results.

Subsequent research conducted by Purdue University in 2018 has shown that Ultrasonic impact treatment is a highly effective technique for increasing the fatigue life of welded girders. The study was recently extended to prove that equipment manufactured by Empowering Technologies is accepted as a reliable option for UIT application. The “AASHTO LRFD Bridge Construction Specifications” was modified as such in the 2020 Interim Revisions released in September of 2019. Empowering Technologies and their partners are dedicated to supporting the repair of our nation’s bridge by Increasing the fatigue life of weldments and decreasing the cost of future weld repair.

AASHTO: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials