“Research the availability, feasibility, and reliability of available Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) technologies for detecting and locating of buried utilities"

The purpose of this study is to investigate the availability, feasibility, and reliability of available NDE technologies to locate buried utilities, to identify proper NDE technologies for achieving QL-A and QL-B, and to develop a suite of innovative applications for existing NDE technologies that can address the complexity of varying utilities, site soil, geology, environmental conditions, pipes sizes and depths, and operation beneath either paved streets, roadways, soils, or backfilled utility trenches. Varying geologic conditions inhibit the effectiveness of some NDE techniques in different ways; therefore, a need exists to identify or develop effective NDE methods that can offer subsurface utility engineers and geophysical service providers the best chance to completely and accurately detect and locate buried utilities at any location across the United States. It is of interest to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to conduct a comprehensive study to investigate and document the reliability of existing and promising NDE technologies for mapping buried underground utilities and to identify and demonstrate innovative applications of existing NDE technologies for mapping buried utilities.