Roctest Announces New Contract for the Nam Ngum 2 Dam

Roctest Ltd, a leading manufacturer of sensors for civil engineering and industrial applications, announced it has been awarded the contract to supply market sensors and high precision measuring instruments for the Nam Ngum 2 dam in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This, the second dam on the Nam Ngum artificial reservoir, is being constructed with rockfill and a concrete face. Standing nearly 200 meters high, it will contain at least 250 high precision measuring instruments. The project manager selected Roctest due to its unique and fully integrated product offering combining different technologies. A fiber optic system will be installed to detect water infiltration at the joints between the dam wall and the rock faces while traditional vibrating wire technology will be installed within the dam’s structure.

“Our recent success in winning business from existing and new clients is a result of our unique product offering which combines vibrating wire and fiber optics technology and differentiates us from our competitors,” said Francois Cordeau, President and CEO of Roctest.

Roctest Press Release [Roctest]

Roctest Introduces New SensCore System

Roctest Ltd. announced the introduction of the new SensCore product line, dedicated to the monitoring of corrosion in reinforced concrete structures. The SensCore system is a wireless sensor network, designed to detect and predict the onset of steel corrosion in concrete. The system consists of sensors, dataloggers and a measurement hub that concentrates the data from several dataloggers and transmits it to a central database, where it can be accessed by the authorized users. The sensors are able to measure several parameters, which are critical to evaluate the present and future risk of rebar corrosion in concrete. In particular the corrosion current and the concrete humidity are measured at several depths between the concrete surface and the rebar depth, to analyze the progression of the corrosion front as well as evaluate the performance of hydrophobic coatings.

The sensors are extremely simple to deploy and can transmit their data wirelessly to the measurement hub, thus eliminating the need to install any wiring in the structure to be monitored. Because of its modular design, this system is adapted to structures of all sizes, from a small overpass to a long tunnel and can be installed in both new and existing structures. The SensCore system integrates seamlessly with all present Roctest, Télémac and SMARTEC product lines, based on electrical, vibrating wire or fiber optics technologies. It is therefore possible to combine several technologies in order to implement an optimal monitoring network for any type of structure, being it a bridge, a building, a tunnel, a dam or any other concrete structure. The SensCore System ties into Roctest’s SDB database system, providing a unified

display and interface to all monitoring data, regardless of the underlying sensing technologies.

The SensCore system has been developed in cooperation with a leading Swiss University and has already being deployed on tens of structures, including the I35 St. Antony Falls Bridge in Minneapolis recently instrumented by Roctest. “Corrosion is one of the leading concerns in reinforced concrete structures and often limits their durability” said Daniele Inaudi, Roctest’s CTO, “it is therefore advantageous to complement the current monitoring strategies with a direct measurement of the corrosion progression”.

“The SensCore system ideally expands our growing toolbox of sensing systems” added François Cordeau, Roctest’s CEO, “further positioning our Company as the leading provider of Structural Health Monitoring solutions”.

Roctest Press Release [Roctest]

Roctest wins contract for Jinping 2 dam in China

Roctest Ltd.  and its Chinese agent, Earth Products China Ltd, have been awarded a major contract for the deliveries of numerous instruments for the second highest dam in the world, Jinping 2 HPP, located on the Yalong River in China. The project started in February 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by 2014. Roctest is the main supplier of geotechnical instrumentation for the project, which is part of a network of five dams along the Yalong River, including the Ertan Dam , which was also instrumented by the Roctest Group between 1995 and 2000.

“We are very proud to have won another prestigious contract in such a highly competitive market. This not only demonstrates our ability to meet stringent requirements but also to offer a complete solution to a very complex engineering structure,” said Francois Cordeau, President & Chief Executive Officer of Roctest. “Roctest is the only instrumentation company offering a complete toolbox of solutions, providing world-class traditional vibrating-wire instruments, leading edge fiber optic sensors, the unique SensCore concrete corrosion monitoring system and the application software to monitor complex structures,” added Mr. Cordeau.

With a height of 305 meters, this concrete dam will be the second highest in the world, after the Rogun Dam, in Tajikistan at 335 meters high. The total capacity of Jinping 2 will be 4800 MW, with its eight generators at 600 MW each.

This project will require thousands of sensors, a magnitude rarely seen in the industry, and will measure different parameters such as pore pressure in the foundation of the dam, settlement, strain and other types of movement during construction and all along the lifespan of the structure.

Press Release Roctest [Roctest]

Popular Mechnics Special Report on Rebuilding Aamerica

Popular Mechanics published a series of interesting articles on rebuilding America's Infrastructure.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/rebuildingamerica/

Stories include:

5 Engineering Lessons From the New, Reopened Minnesota Bridge
Bridge's Sensors Scan Tragedy Before It Strikes
Green Tech Plans Hide Obama-McCain Disparity on Infrastructure
How to Fix American Infrastructure
4 Big Reasons the D.C. Area's New Super Bridge Took One of America's Top Engineering Honors
For Hard-Charging Innovators, Rebuilding America Means Making Deals With the Government 
10 Expert Solutions for a Smarter, Cleaner U.S. Electric Grid
10 Expert Solutions for a Better American Water Supply
New Minnesota Bridge’s Super Sensors Scan Tragedy Before It Strikes: First Look New Minnesota Bridge Is America's Smartest Yet
6 Questions for Intelligent Bridge Geek Jerome Lynch
Engineers Go Gonzo to Bombproof U.S. Bridges
Building the Earthquake-Proof Bay Bridge
10 Expert Solutions for Harder, Better, Faster and Stronger Buildings and Bridges
5 Questions for Geologist Jeff Mount on California’s Crumbling Delta Levees
Sacramento Delta Tops Experts List of 5 to Fix
The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina
6 Questions for Port of Los Angeles Chief Geraldine Knatz
5 Questions for Lillian C. Borrone on Boosting Efficiency in America's Ports
The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now
5 Disasters Coming Soon If We Don't Rebuild U.S. Infrastructure
Report Sees Dire Future for Warming's Impact on U.S. Transport
First Look: New Minnesota Bridge Plans Arise as Bad Plates Fingered in Collapse
Minn. Bridge Collapse Reveals Brittle America
Will Longest U.S. Underground Expressway See the Light?
SPECIAL REPORT: Highway of the Future
Mega Engineering: Building the World's Toughest, Strongest, Biggest Projects
Special Report: The Lessons of Hurricane Katrina
3 Ways to Re-Engineer the Gulf and Stop Katrina 2.0