November, 2024 Presentation

Speaker: J. Darrin Holt, PhD, PE, F.ASCE

Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024

Topic:  Non-Destructive Testing Methodologies for Structural Assessments

Presentation: Video

Summary: Rehabilitating existing structures requires a thorough knowledge of their in-situ construction and condition. As-built plans often do not exist or may have been lost or not accurately represent what was built. When evaluating capacity, details regarding embedded reinforcing steel, foundation sizes and depths, and qualitative condition are integral parts of the Engineer’s investigation. Visual and destructive testing procedures have been commonly used, but can be time consuming and may not gather enough information. Towards this end, nondestructive testing (NDT) methods have been successfully used in industry to augment these inspections. Though helpful, careful consideration must be given to the particular methods employed to ensure the appropriate field measurements and data reduction techniques are used. This presentation will involve case histories to introduce and demonstrate some of the common problems and solutions encountered by the author through his work in the NDT field.

Bio: Dr. Holt is a licensed Professional Engineer with expertise in nondestructive testing (NDT) and advanced digital signal processing techniques used for evaluating civil structures. He is licensed in 48 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, a Master of Science focusing on structural mechanics, and a PhD concentrating in computational and applied mechanics, all from NCSU. He is a pioneer in the development and implementation of Dispersive Wave Propagation methods used for infrastructure assessments and the author of many publications and field manuals. As an entrepreneur, Darrin was a co-founder of the FDH family of companies that offered NDT services throughout the western hemisphere, and subsequently grew to employ over 300 persons with offices in six US states.