Many take aluminum for granted since the material is used in a wide variety of consumer goods like soda cans, smart phone bodies, kitchenware, wires, sculptures, and furniture. However, in the 19th century, aluminum cost more than gold and silver because it was so expensive to refine. Over the last 150 years, scientists have worked [...]
Most people don't worry about danger when they visit their favorite amusement park. Thousands of roller coasters and smaller rides safely operate every day and offer passengers fun and excitement. However, the occasional news story about a ride malfunction that has trapped, injured, or killed riders does surface. On June 14, 2018, for example, the [...]
Underwater structures pose unique challenges to inspectors. Many testing methods inspect these structures from a single, accessible testing point by way of technology such as Long Range Ultrasonic Testing. However, there is another method of inspecting and cleaning pipes from the inside instead of a single set point called "pigging." "Pigs" are devices that [...]
Inspecting helicopter rotor blades comes with challenges as blades are manufactured with different internal and external materials. However, the early detection of defects such as fatigue cracks means the difference between life and death for helicopter operators and passengers, as has been evidenced by several helicopter crashes in recent years. November 2011 saw a fatal [...]
Ultrasonic technology revolutionized railroad track inspection procedures over the course of the twentieth century. In 1911, a disastrous train derailment in Manchester, New York took twenty-nine lives. The accident was caused by a transverse fissure, an internal crack running perpendicular to the direction of the track, that had gone undetected in visual inspections. This incident [...]
The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is the largest suspension bridge in the world that supports automobiles. The bridge links Maiko in Kobe to Awaji Island across the Akashi Strait in Japan. Also called the Pearl Bridge, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge was constructed over a ten-year period from 1988 to 1998. Before the bridge was built, the [...]
For over fifty years, livestock handlers have used ultrasonic technology to measure the body compositions of live cattle. The non-invasive technique, called real-time ultrasound technology, allows handlers to determine how much red meat they will harvest from live cattle before slaughter. Ultrasonic technicians measure the 12th-13th rib fat thickness, the rump fat thickness, the ribeye [...]
In 2006, a train pulling tanks cars loaded with denatured ethanol derailed when passing through New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Twenty-three of the cars derailed when passing over a bridge atop the Beaver River, and many fell into the water. At least twenty of the cars spilled their contents, and the ethanol caught fire. The surrounding town [...]
The technology used for inspection is continually advancing. As tools and strategies evolve, the data collected by inspectors becomes more precise, which increases safety in the workplace and around infrastructure, like bridges, dams, roadways, and trains, that people use every day. Today, a process called georectification can lend new perspectives and add another dimension to [...]
NASA is working on a new Space Launch System (SLS), a powerful rocket and launch system built to transport and protect astronauts on a deep space voyage. The system will weigh upwards of six million pounds, and that weight will be propelled from zero to over seventeen-thousand miles per hour in just a few minutes [...]
