A Day with the NDT Experts

29th of May.

📍 Location: Centro de Investigación en Tecnologías, Energías y Procesos Industriales
Campus As Lagoas, Marcosende
36310 Vigo (Pontevedra)

🎟️ Free with registration through the form at the bottom of the page.

☕ Coffee break and sandwiches included

🗓️ Seminar Agenda

1. Dr Jorge Otero - Fire Assessment on Easter Island’s Moai with Non-Destructive Testing
This presentation discusses preliminary in-situ findings on fire damage to the Rapa Nui moai sculptures following the devastating October 2022 wildfire at Rano Raraku volcano. A collaborative team from the Ma'u Henua Indigenous community and the University of Barcelona conducted non-destructive testing (NDT)—including Ultrasonic Pulse Echo, P-wave Velocity, Ground Penetrating Radar, and Leeb hardness testing—to assess potential internal structural and mechanical changes. Results revealed subsurface low-density areas up to 10 cm deep, which could pose future risks of detachment if not properly consolidated.

2. Dr. María Mercedes Solla - GPR Capabilities for Improving Risk Identification in Transport Infrastructure
This presentation will show the GPR results obtained from the projects OVERSIGHT “Geotechnologies for early damage detection in reinforced concrete pavements and bridge decks” and STRADAR “Sinkhole hazards in linear transport infrastructures. Automatic detection and risk digitization”. Apart from the capabilities of the GPR to detect risk signs like cavities or structural defects, we will show how the GPR data can be combined with other NDTs and further integrated into BIM and Augmented Reality tools. 

3. Ahmed Elseicy - Using Deep Learning Models to Accelerate GPR Interpretation for Transportation Infrastructure
This presentation will discuss how deep-learning models can improve concrete infrastructure evaluation, particularly for detecting rebars and potentially shallow delamination zones. In addition, when combined with state-of-the-art models, we will show how publicly available datasets can provide a jumpstart for building base models and further automate data annotation to reduce manual effort and improve accuracy.

4. Dr. Alex Novo - Advancing Transport Infrastructure Assessment: Application of Multichannel Ground-Penetrating Radar in Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
Use of a novel multi-channel GPR (MCGPR) system specific for bridge deck and road inspection, highlighting its advantages over standard systems in collecting unparalleled high-density data. The presentation outlines a new workflow for data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation that is being applied to a wide number of bridges and roads worldwide. This technological leap enables consistent, periodic data collection, establishing a powerful tool for long-term monitoring.