A hammering test system includes a hammering test device including a target, a flying unit, and a hammering test mechanism configured to conduct a hammering test on a test object, a surveying instrument including a scanner for acquiring point cloud data by scanning with scanning light, and configured to be capable of performing tracking and distance and angle measurements of the target, and an arithmetic processing unit including a point cloud data analyzing unit configured to calculate shape data by analyzing point cloud data acquired by the scanner, and a flight plan calculating unit configured to calculate a flight plan of the hammering test device based on the shape data calculated by the point cloud data analyzing unit, and the surveying instrument tracks the target of the hammering test device and makes distance and angle measurements when the hammering test mechanism conducts a hammering test.

A high-temperature biaxial strength tester for a CMC turbine vane includes a test stand, a thermal insulation box, a vane fixture, a biaxial loading device, thermocouples, a multi-channel thermometer, quartz lamps, a digital image correlation (DIC) system, and a cooling circulation system. The biaxial loading device includes two loading mechanisms arranged at 90° to each other. Each of the two loading mechanisms includes an electric cylinder and a ceramic push rod. One end of the ceramic push rod is connected to the electric cylinder, and the other end of the ceramic push rod extends into the thermal insulation box to contact an outer platform of the CMC turbine vane. The electric cylinder is provided with a load-displacement sensor. The thermocouples are arranged on the thermal insulation box. The quartz lamps are arranged inside the thermal insulation box. The multi-channel thermometer is connected to the thermocouples.

A method to assess the integrity of a structure is provided and comprises the steps of: i) applying a sinusoidally varying force to the structure at a frequency or frequencies below the lowest frequency that could cause resonance in the structure whereby to set up a dynamic response dominated by the stiffness of the structure; and ii) monitoring the dynamic response of the structure. A device to assess the integrity of a structure is also provided.

Systems, methods and apparatuses for inspecting a tank containing a flammable fluid are provided. The system includes a vehicle having a propeller, a latch mechanism, a pressure switch, and an inspection device. The system includes a control unit in communication with the propeller, the latch mechanism, and the inspection device, and electrically connected to the pressure switch. The control unit powers on responsive to the pressure switch detecting an ambient pressure greater than a minimum threshold. The control unit receives, from the latch mechanism, an indication of a state of the latch mechanism. The control unit determines that the cable used to lower the vehicle into the tank containing the flammable fluid is detached from the vehicle. The control unit commands the propeller to move the vehicle through the flammable fluid. The control unit determines a quality metric of a portion of the tank.

A method of retrieving a mobile platform from a tank at least partially filled with a non-conductive, energetic substance includes configuring the mobile platform to include at least a retrieval system including a buoyant body, an electrically conductive member, and a tether. The tether electrically isolates the buoyant body from the enclosure. The method further includes the steps of releasing the buoyant body to convey the tether toward a surface of the non-conductive, liquid energetic substance; conveying an electrically conductive cable to the electrically conductive member using the tether; electrically connecting a voltage neutralizing end of the electrically conductive cable to a voltage differential neutralizing body in a spark inhibiting ambient condition; electrically connecting a mobile platform end of the electrically conductive cable to the electrically conductive member of the mobile platform while the electrically conductive member is below the surface of the non-conductive, liquid energetic substance.

Embodiments described herein utilize Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) scan data obtained during a process performed on a surface of a structure to update a location of an NDI scanner on the surface. A subsurface feature within the structure is detected based on the NDI scan data, which are correlated with pre-defined position data for the subsurface feature. A measured location of the NDI scanner on the surface is corrected based on the pre-defined position data for the subsurface feature.

Robotic devices that can be utilized on pipes of any material and of a variety of pipe diameters are provided. The robotic device utilizes a ducted fan to create the normal forces needed to adhere to any part of a pipe. The chassis of the device can be segmented to allow for application on various diameter pipes.

A drone system for collecting structural condition data about a structure having an array of sensors disposed at various locations on the structure and methods of using such a drone system are disclosed herein. The drone inspection system leverages neural networks to calculate a drone flight path to classify the location of passive sensors and calculate a drone flight path to collect structural condition data about the structure using line of sight sensors for digital twin generation. Some of the sensors disposed on the structure may be passive sensors that comprise energy harvesters and must be energized to report the structural collection data to the drone. The drone inspection system may comprise an energy transfer module for energizing the passive sensor via the energy harvester.

A method for determining road loads includes preparing a road map (15) that contains information about the local configuration of a plurality of roads. For each of a plurality of vehicles (1) a vehicle location is determined and at least one vehicle location signal (So) that characterizes the location of the vehicle concerned is generated. Using the vehicle location signal (So) and the road map, the vehicles (1) are assigned to the roads. For each vehicle (1) a vehicle load mass is determined and at least one vehicle load mass signal (Sm) that characterizes the vehicle load mass is generated. At least one road loading signal (Sb) that characterizes a road load is generated for each road using the vehicle load mass signals (Sm) of the vehicles (1) assigned to it.

A movable system for automatically monitoring the correlated wind and temperature filed of a bridge, including a bridge monitoring subsystem, a cloud server, and a client. The system monitors the meteorological parameters of a bridge surface and a temperature of a bridge structure, performs data analysis and processing on a cloud server, and performs visual data interaction by using a client. A bridge surface-specific meteorological parameter monitoring module is movable, such that the location of the sensor for meteorological data monitoring can be adjusted at any time to monitor an entire bridge deck in a time-sharing manner. A lower cantilever structure has an adjustable height, such that the sensor for meteorological data monitoring can track a height of a boundary layer of the bridge surface. A bridge structure-specific temperature monitoring module adopts distributed patch-type temperature sensors, which can detect the temperature of the bridge structure in all directions.