Industries
Roads & Rails

MISTRAS offers advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection and structural health monitoring (SHM) solutions to ensure that roads & rails can safely and sustainably carry high-volume loads.

For roads, highways, and railroads, increasing traffic volumes moving at higher speeds than ever before causes intense pressure and stress. Transportation infrastructure is subject to a variety of defects from use, fatigue, and weather that can create a serious hazard for those utilizing the means of travel.

MISTRAS works directly with Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and other regulatory bodies to ensure the safety of these important assets. Our non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection techniques can identify signs of damage and degradation early, so flaws can be quickly and easily repaired before a dangerous and costly failure can occur.

Some of the inspection techniques we perform on roads and rails include:

• Radiographic Inspection (RT)
• Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
• Acoustic Emission (AE)
• Magnetic Flux Exclusion (MFE)

Roads and Highway Inspection Services

Heavy volumes of automotive traffic put a serious strain on roads and highways. MISTRAS has the inspection and maintenance capabilities to service all elements of automotive infrastructure, including:

• Roads & Highways
• Bridges
• Tunnels
• Retaining Walls
• Noise Reduction Walls
• Pavement

Ensuring that concrete assets are structurally sound is essential in maintaining safe conditions for both drivers and riders. MISTRAS has NDT techniques that will identify any existing or developing defects in concrete assets, including:

• Cracking
• Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete
• Erosion
• Fatigue
• Spalling
• Splicing

Public authorities tasked with constructing new roads and highways or maintaining existing ones often employ MISTRAS’ asset protection solutions throughout the lifetime of these assets. MISTRAS supports new construction projects with NDT inspections, and is also able to embed long-term, online monitoring sensors during the construction phase that report potential damages back to operators in between scheduled inspections.

Railway Inspection Services

Railroads require in-depth inspection to ensure that highly-stressed assets and equipment remain completely fit-for-service.

Transportation authorities maintain high standards for asset conditions in order to ensure public safety and prevent accidents from occurring. MISTRAS has the NDT capabilities to inspect, repair, and monitor railroads, preventing the hazard and risk of asset failure.

On cast iron, steel, special alloy, and railroad assets of a wide variety of other materials, MISTRAS can detect and repair a range of defects, including:

• Fatigue
• Corrosion
• Rail Cracks
• Head and Weld Separations
• Creep
• Thermal Stress
• Bending Stress
• Transverse Fissure

MISTRAS has also worked hand-in-hand with governments and Departments of Transportation (DOT) across the world to design and manufacture custom inspection systems to enhance railway safety.

In one such project, we provided a custom high-speed inspection system to detect discontinuities on the rail’s head, web, and base on a railway that carries millions of passengers per day.

Railway Tank Car Testing

The American Association of Railroads requires that all stub-sill railcars must undergo testing. This involves not only the vessels, but also the highly stressed areas of the chassis which are loaded during the test using a twist bar. The test detects cracking in the chassis or vessel and corrosion in insulated vessels without the need for costly insulation removal.

We also provide unmanned inspections for lined and un-lined tank cars that reduce or altogether eliminate the need for confined space entry (CSE).

We inspect for evidence of abrasion, corrosion, cracks, dents, distortions, weld defects, or any other condition that may make tank cars unsafe for transportation.