For a marine survey at Scrabster, NDTScan brings the methods and the access together: ultrasonic thickness on steel from the boat or the foreshore, ground penetrating radar and condition recording on concrete, drone coverage above the waterline and ROV below it. Scrabster harbour appears in the Department for Transport's freight statistics as a minor port, so commercial cargo still crosses its quays. Those structures are what NDTScan measures.
The survey at Scrabster is planned around the tide. Steel is measured from the survey boat at the right state of water and from the foreshore at low water; concrete is scanned and tested from the deck and the face; the drone covers the superstructure and the ROV covers what never dries. Readings are located on a plan of the structure, and thinned or deteriorated zones are shown as shapes so the engineer sees where the problem is rather than reading a table.
NDTScan concentrates most of its effort after the site visit. Thickness readings are checked against the original sections, corrosion maps are drawn, radar data is post-processed and the concrete condition record is cross-checked against the photographs. The Scrabster report is written for the engineer or estates team that has to act on it, and it is written to stand up in front of an insurer, a funder or a tribunal.
Marine access is the expensive part of any repair at Scrabster, which is why the survey has to be right before the scaffold, the barge or the divers are booked. NDTScan measures the structure, interprets the readings and reports them in a form the engineer can design from, so the repair is sized to the condition that exists rather than the condition that was feared.
Scan before you repair. That is the standing advice for every Scrabster client, and the reason NDTScan reports what the concrete contains before anyone specifies what to do about it.
Services at Scrabster
- Ultrasonic Thickness Testing Remaining wall thickness and corrosion mapping on steel piles, sheet piles, jetty beams, dolphins, lock gates, pontoons and hulls at Scrabster, measured on a repeatable grid from the boat, the deck or the foreshore.
- Concrete Condition Surveys Reinforcement and cover mapping by ground penetrating radar, carbonation, chloride and strength testing, and unit by unit condition recording on quay walls, sea walls, breakwaters, pier decks and slipways.
- Drone and ROV Inspection Drone survey of decks, fenders, ladders and superstructure above the waterline, and inspection-class ROV coverage of the piles and walls that stay submerged, all located on one plan of the Scrabster structure.
Marine Work at Scrabster
Typical Scrabster instructions: ultrasonic thickness surveys of sheet pile quays and tubular jetty piles; corrosion mapping of lock gates and dolphins; condition surveys of concrete sea walls, breakwater crowns and promenades; reinforcement mapping and strength testing before repair; drone inspection of deck and superstructure; ROV inspection of submerged piles; and independent reports for insurers after storm damage or vessel impact.
NDTScan also surveys marine structures at The Forth, Glensanda, Sullom Voe, Aberdeen, Cairnryan and The Clyde and every other port and harbour in Scotland. The service is described in full on the marine surveys page.
About NDTScan
NDTScan is a specialist non-destructive testing company based in Oxford and led by Neil Smuts. Its marine work brings together ultrasonic thickness testing and corrosion mapping of steel, concrete scanning and condition surveys, drone inspection and ROV inspection, delivered from its own survey boat or from land. NDTScan is a Level 4 UKCSS Operator, the first in the UK to achieve that certification, and it attends Scrabster and the whole of the UK coast from its Oxford base.