Buildings Services

Structural Support and Construction Issues

LPI routinely examines building structures and infrastructure and related construction issues. LPI performs assessments of degraded steel or concrete sections by performing on-site examination of the material and possibly removal of samples for laboratory analysis. Stress analysis can subsequently determine mode of degradation and the fitness for continued service. LPI also works on building infrastructure like heat exchangers, steam systems, electrical distribution, heating and ventilation, in-building transportation, and other systems. Frequently these projects require the determination of current condition through non-destructive examination or on-site data collection. Subsequent analysis or trending of data will define the condition of structures or components or the cause of the failure.

LPI work on construction has ranged from failure analysis to assessment of the condition of degraded equipment to the development and qualification of new construction techniques. Failure evaluation has included building collapse during construction, crane failures, concrete adequacy assessment, and structural steel material assessment. New construction methods have included, for example, development of methods for qualification of structures and equipment used in modular construction for new nuclear plant installations.