INFRASTRUCTURE RESEARCH PROGRAM

AUTOMATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTANANCE

Field Demonstration

The Thermal Spray Laboratory (TSL) was responsible for the design of the ATSS and for the coordination of the on-site testing, thereby delegating all equipment and manpower requirements to the various agencies involved. The first step involved contacting the NYSDOT and presenting a detailed description of the automated system and its possible benefits. Once it was decided that pursuing such a project would be beneficial to all sides, Region 10 of the NYSDOT was contacted. The function of Region 10 is to supervise and maintain all road and bridge work on Long Island. A time-table was set up and the bridge maintenance section of Long-Island was asked to provide technical assistance. The following list details the responsibilities of TSL regarding the on-site bridge test of the ATSS.

Figure shows the participation diagram detailing the organization of the demonstration. On December 9th 1994, a general bridge test using the ATSS was performed on bridge # 1056230 over County Route 58 near Riverhead, Long Island. The test included a field set-up procedure, lead- based paint removal and a final Zinc coating of the exposed bridge section. Both the blasting nozzle and the thermal spray gun were mounted on the ATSS itself and were controlled from the ground. The following is a detailed description of the test procedure and the field configuration. The Bridge Maintenance Division of Long Island provided all technical support that included the man-power and state vehicles needed for such an endeavor. The demonstration required strict planning so that all necessary equipment and manpower would be present, as well as to avoid redundancy. The following pictures detail the bridge cleaning and coating processes during the demonstration.

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last updated 03/15/96 by Dr. J. Karthikeyan