NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION CENTER LABORATORY FACT SHEET

Research that is Essential, Indispensable, and Connected to Our Customers.

The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center 

(TFHRC) has more than 24 laboratories for 

research in the following areas: safety; operations, including intelligent transportation 

systems; materials technology; pavements; 

structures; and human centered systems. The 

expertise of TFHRC scientists and engineers 

covers more than 20 transportation-related 

disciplines. These laboratories are a vital 

resource for advancing this body of knowledge created and nurtured by our researchers. 

The Federal Highway Administration’s Office 

of Research, Development, and Technology 

operates and manages TFHRC to conduct 

innovative research to provide solutions to 

transportation problems both nationwide 

and internationally. TFHRC is located 

in McLean, VA. Information on TFHRC is 

available on the Web at www.tfhrc.gov.

This RD&T fact sheet provides concise information about a TFHRC facility.

P U R P O S E

The Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Center 

was established by the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA) in 1998 in an effort 

to centralize and better coordinate research 

related to nondestructive testing. Since its 

establishment, the center has acted as a 

resource to the FHWA and States for information and expertise on nondestructive testing tools and technologies. Researchers at 

the center develop and evaluate NDE technologies that can be used to assess the 

condition of highway bridges. This assessment includes evaluating current technologies and developing new tools that 

will advance the practice of bridge inspection.

A goal for the NDE Center is to provide 

advanced NDE research within the context 

of an integrated view of highway facilities 

that include bridges, pavements, and other 

structures such as culverts, retaining walls, 

and tunnels. The key aspect of this vision is to 

augment the research focus to not only the 

internal elements of the highway bridge but 

also to global structural health monitoring 

(SHM) so that the bridge is viewed as a 

component in the overall highway system.

D E S C R I P T I O N

The NDE Center is staffed with a multidisciplinary team of experts working on 

tools and techniques to assess the condition 

of in-service highway bridges and bridges 

under construction. Laboratory researchers

work closely with State transportation departments throughout the United States to 

identify and solve inspection challenges.

Areas of research at the laboratory include 

ultrasonic testing methods for steel and 

concrete, ground penetrating radar (GPR), 

passive and active infrared thermography,

fatigue crack detection and assessment 

methods, magnetic flux leakage, radiography, 

noninvasive measurement of girder deflections, and electromagnetic NDE techniques. 

Researchers also develop nonlinear finite 

element models of bridge structures and 

components using parallel supercomputers as 

an aid to understanding optimal application 

of NDE technologies.

M A J O R C O M P O N E N T S

The center is comprised of a laboratory that 

is equipped with state-of-the-art instruments to help researchers develop and test 

NDE tools. The laboratory also has access to 

shared resources with the Turner-Fairbank 

Highway Research Center Structures Laboratory, including a structural load floor and 

mechanical testing equipment. In addition to laboratory resources, the center has 

local in-service test bridges, and it develops

instrumentation and devices.

The laboratory is equipped with a number 

of commercial NDE tools as well as specialized instrumentation used to assess bridge 

structures. Some of the laboratory and field 

equipment include the following:

•	 Conventional and phased array ultrasonic 

testing systems.

•	 Eddy current array systems.

•	Fatigue crack detection and monitoring 

systems.

•	Infrared camera systems.

•	 GPR systems.

•	A multisensor bridge deck inspection system.

•	 Ultrasonic array and impact echo systems 

for concrete imaging.

•	An interferometric microwave radar system.

•	Acoustic emission systems.

Additional capabilities of the laboratory 

include the following:

•	 General purpose data acquisition systems for 

laboratory and field testing.

•	Vehicles equipped with instrumentation 

necessary for field testing.

•	 Parallel processor computer systems with 

the capability to perform finite element 

modeling.

Specimens and outdoor testing facilities at 

the laboratory include the following:

•	A bridge deck test pit for evaluating vehiclemounted deck inspection methods.

•	Full size segmental concrete specimens.

TURNER-FAIRBANK HIGHWAY RESEARCH CENTER • Office of Infrastructure R&D
•	Local test bridges that are open to traffic and 

available for testing.

•	 Bridge component specimens with known 

defects.

A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S

Working with State transportation departments, 

the NDE Center has developed many methods 

and tools to assess the condition of highway bridges. For example, the center recently

completed phase I of a research program to 

assess technologies to monitor and detect 

fatigue cracks in steel highway bridges.

The laboratory has also developed a handson training course to expose State transportation department personnel to commercially available NDE instruments. Known as 

the Bridge Inspector NDE Showcase (BINS), 

the course seeks to familiarize bridge 

inspectors with various NDE tools. The 

FHWA NDE Web Manual supplements this 

training with a fundamental understanding 

of NDE tools. As a result of BINS and the 

NDE Web Manual, updates will likely be 

provided to the National Highway Institute’s 

(NHI) Bridge Inspector’s Reference Manual

and other inspection-related courses offered 

by the NHI.(1)

C U R R E N T R E S E A R C H

The laboratory is active in a number of 

areas related to the inspection of steel bridges 

including the following:

•	 Fatigue crack detection: The center is 

conducting a study to assess fatigue crack 

detection and assessment technologies to aid 

in the inspection of steel bridges. The study 

includes laboratory and field evaluation of 

advanced NDE methods for crack detection 

and monitoring.

•	Gusset plate inspection: Subsequent to the 

collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 

MN, in 2007, the inspection of gusset plate 

connections has become a priority. The 

NDE Center is working on a project to 

determine the capabilities of advanced 

inspection techniques for areas that are 

difficult to examine in order to aid inspectors in determining the condition of typical 

gusset plate connections.

The laboratory is also performing the following 

research on concrete bridge inspection technologies to advance current critical inspection 

practices:

•	 Bridge deck corrosion assessment:

The center is researching the use of multiple

techniques to assess corrosion in concrete bridge decks. This includes active 

thermography using induction heating, 

GPR, impact echo, and other methods.

•	 Prestressed strand assessment: The 

center is also researching better methods to 

assess the condition of ducted and unducted 

prestressing embedded in concrete bridge 

components. The aging population of prestressed concrete girders and recent problems 

encountered by a number of State transportation departments has made this inspection problem a national priority.

The laboratory is also conducting the following 

research in areas of load rating and SHM:

•	Rapid load rating: The center is assessing 

methods to load rate bridges more rapidly 

and effectively and to globally assess bridge 

structures. This includes SHM using computer 

modeling techniques.

Finally, the laboratory is performing the 

following technology transfer and outreach 

efforts related to NDE technology:

•	NDE Web Manual: The NDE Web Manual 

is a comprehensive Web-based collection of 

NDE techniques and methods prepared by 

NDE to aid State transportation department

personnel in the selection and proper application of NDE systems.

•	 BINS: BINS is a hands-on training course 

designed to expose State transportation department personnel to a selected group of commercially available NDE technologies, which 

include coursework material, video presentations to illustrate equipment operation, 

and hands-on equipment demonstrations.

P A R T N E R S H I P S

The NDE Center has partnerships and cooperative agreements with several organizations 

as follows:

•	State transportation departments, other 

FHWA offices, and Federal agencies are all 

partnered with the NDE Center. All 50 States

have participated in laboratory activities

since it opened in 1998.

•	 NDE experts from various institutions and 

organizations are partnered to compile the 

comprehensive NDE Web Manual on NDE 

techniques and methods related to the inspection of transportation-related structures.

•	 NHI develops new NDE-related course 

material for the BINS course.

•	 Transportation pooled fund studies with State 

transportation departments are partnered to 

conduct NDE research. This includes a project lead by the West Virginia Department of 

Transportation to find methods to rapidly

load test bridges as well as a project lead 

by the New York State Department of Transportation to develop procedures and practices 

for use of NDE methods.

•	Various universities around the country 

were selected for partnership including the 

University of Virginia, Drexel University, the 

University of Vermont, and Rutgers University.

•	 The National Research Council is partnered 

with the NDE Center, including a research 

program that provides a research fellow from 

the Federal Institute for Materials Research 

and Testing (BAM) in Germany.

•	International organizations such as BAM in 

Germany and Laboratoire Central des Ponts 

et Chaussées in France are partnered. The 

NDE Center and BAM have worked to deploy 

an NDE compendium of technologies and 

applications to aid in the dissemination of 

information on NDE techniques.

REFERENCE

1. Federal Highway Administration. (2004). 

FHWA Bridge Inspector’s Reference Manual, 

Report No. FHWA-NHI 03-001,002,004, 

Department of Transportation, Washington, DC.

C O N T A C T

Frank Jalinoos

Program Manager, FHWA NDE Center

E-mail: frank.jalinoos@dot.gov

Telephone: (202) 493-3082

FHWA-HRT-10-036

HRDI-10/03-10(1M)E