NIEE - Center of Buildings and Structures Inspection

BUILDINGS

Building structures could be affected by external factors, such  as nearby foundation construction, excavation, vibration, and  environment etc. Moreover, buildings will gradually deteriorate  along their ages without proper maintenance, building defects  will occur such as concrete spalling, steel reinforcement corrosion,  deformation and cracking, water leakage, façade delamination,  etc. Hence, DEE provides technical services including building  structural inspection & monitoring, building public component  inspection, building water leakage inspection, and aluminum  window testings. 

• Building Structural Inspection & Monitoring

To evaluate the structural condition of buildings, visual inspection  is an essential and fundamental step. Besides visual inspection,  non-destructive tests will be performed to obtain scientifi c data so  as to allow a more competent assessment. To evaluate mechanical  properties of concrete, taking cores for compressive strength test,  rebound hammer tests are the common practices. To evaluate the  durability of the structural element, halfcell potential measurement,  chloride content determination, carbonation tests, covermeter  for rebar location and petrographic analysis will be performed.  More new types of NDT will be studied on their feasibility and  applicability in structural inspection. 

When building structural problem exists, or whenever there are  site works near to the existing buildings, structural monitoring  is an essential activity to be carried out, especially during piling,  demolishing and excavation. Building inclination, foundation  settlement, crack or joint width of a building, and ambient  temperature will be the main monitoring data to be obtained  so as to trace any tendency of structural problem development.  Automatic monitoring system will be the major development in  the coming future. Moreover, 3D Laser Scanning will be adopted  more and more in the field of building monitoring in which  millions of measurement (point cloud) allow more complete and  accurate measurement of the deformation of a structure. Vibration  measurement is also important to monitor the vibration effects on  the existing buildings. 

STEEL STRUCTURES

Steel Structures are common types of structures adopted by  structural designers, such as stadiums, swimming pools, monuments,  etc. Corrosion, welded joint defects, crackings and deformation are  the most common problems occur in steel structures. Besides of  the quality consultancy service on new steel structures construction  projects, DEE also provides technical service on steel structure  inspection and load capacity evaluation. 

• Quality consultancy service

DEE has prepared MCQ and ARP of steel structure works, mainly  to provide quality control procedure for the public projects.  Inspection to steel factory is an essential activity to verify the  implementation condition of quality control works in that factory,  in terms of material control, fabrication control, welding control,  coating control and delivery control. 

• Steel Structure Inspection

DEE provides inspection to evaluate the structural condition and the  durability condition of steel structures. Corrosion situation could be  identifi ed by visual inspection and verifi cation of the corroded steel  section thickness can be performed with ultrasonic thickness gauge.  As good welding works ensure a safe and good quality connection  between steel structural members, welding inspection is essential to  ensure the quality of the welding joints. Besides traditional NDT  such as Magnetic Powder Inspection (MPI) and Ultrasonic Test  (UT), LECM has introduced Eddy Current Inspection, by which the  defects of the joints of an existing steel structures (such as surface  fatigue cracks) could be inspected without the complete removal of  the surface coating.   

• Load Capacity Evaluation
  

Load capacity evaluation could be carried out with on site structural  loading test together and structural numerical model simulation.  By measuring the deformation or stress/strain with the applied  load on the targeted structural members, the structural behavior or  any design assumption could be verifi ed. Moreover the structural  numerical model could be calibrated by the loading test results so as  to provide more solid structural assessment. 

Loading Sand Bags applied on the steel structure