The structural integrity of conveyance and storage systems for wastewater and drinking water is often difficult to assess, since most of these systems are underground and current intrusive assessment approaches are inaccurate and expensive. In many cases, a catastrophic failure is the primary indicator that a degradation of structural integrity has occurred. Although, this reactive maintenance type of approach is undesirable based upon health and environmental considerations, it is often the default practice due to economic and technical reasons. To successfully practice preventive maintenance, as well as, selective rehabilitation and replacement, a reliable means of structural integrity assessment with associated prediction of failure capability is needed. However, this goal is frequently hampered by the difficulty of accessing the system and efficiently inspecting it. In that regard, these difficulties can potentially be eliminated through the construction of "intelligent" systems, which prevent failures and the loss of service by automatically monitoring and identifying sections of the conveyance system that require maintenance.

The focus of this project was to conduct research, development, demonstration, and validation of intelligent systems technology that will enable effective, affordable, real-time, remote measurement, analysis, and reporting of the structural condition of conveyance and storage infrastructure to utility managers. This structural condition information will provide the basis for optimizing maintenance planning, prevention of infrastructure failures and their attendant health, environmental, and economic hazards.  

Corrugated Steel Culvert Pipe Deterioration:

The overall objectives of this research are to investigate causes of the deterioration of corrugated steel culvert pipes (CSCP), develop a plan for implementing an effective, statewide, preventative maintenance program for CSCP so that pipes can be repaired and rehabilitated before failure occurs, and to determine the best practice for using CSCP in new construction. These objectives  will be achieved through the following tasks: perform a literature search; develop methods for inventorying, inspecting, and cleaning CSCP; determine a means of assessing the condition of CSCP, estimating pipe deterioration rates, and predicting service life for pipes; investigate methodologies for determining the appropriate corrective action, i.e., to repair, rehabilitate or replace; study methods of record keeping and data storage; estimate the cost and recommend a preventative maintenance program for CSCP and best practice for use of CSCP in new construction. Consequently, design recommendations will be formulated through execution of the above tasks.