NDTScan arranges vehicle-mounted radar where a job needs it, plans the survey, and interprets and reports the data with the same care as a cart survey.
What vehicle-mounted radar records
- Pavement and runway slabs. Layer thicknesses, voids beneath the slab, moisture and the location of dowels, reinforcement and buried services. See pipeline and utility location.
- Track bed. Ballast depth, fouling and the formation surface, run in a possession to locate the sections that need investigation. See rail and transportation.
- Tunnel linings. Lining thickness and voids behind the lining, from a vehicle or a rail-mounted trolley.
- Bridge decks. Deck thickness, reinforcement and delamination along the carriageway under a lane closure rather than a full closure.
Where a cart still wins
Speed costs resolution. A vehicle-mounted array records a profile along each line it drives; it does not image close reinforcement the way a high-frequency cart or handheld antenna does, and it does not see what lies between the lines. The usual pattern is a vehicle run to find the sections that matter, then a cart or handheld survey of those sections, and cores where the engineer needs a tested number. The report says which data came from which.
How it is arranged
NDTScan plans the survey, the positioning and the traffic or possession arrangements with the asset owner, brings in a towed or mounted radar system through a specialist partner where the job needs one, and does the interpretation and reporting itself. The vehicle work is coordinated by NDTScan, not claimed as equipment on its own van; the equipment page lists what is. See vehicle-mounted scanning and the equipment page.
What the engineer receives
Positioned profiles along every line driven, layer thickness and void maps along the run, the sections flagged for closer survey, the processing and positioning method and the tolerance that applied, and what the run could not resolve. The interpreted report follows within an agreed number of working days. NDTScan attends from Oxford anywhere in the UK, usually within one to two working days and same day where the diary allows.
Does vehicle-mounted radar find rebar?
It indicates reinforcement along the line driven at the resolution of the array. Detailed reinforcement mapping is done with a cart or handheld unit on the sections the run identifies.
How is the data positioned?
By GNSS where the sky allows and by distance wheel where it does not, with the positioning method and its tolerance stated in the report.
Questions we are asked
Can you survey a road without closing it?
Under traffic management, usually with a lane closure rather than a full closure, and at a speed the traffic management plan allows. Runways and track bed are done in closures or possessions.