Opportunities and Future of NDT in Infrastructure on Latest Chat NDT with ASNT

Infrastructure is a national priority, with a growing need for NDT inspectors. In this month’s episode of Chat NDT with ASNT, host Debbie Segor, CAE, speaks with Nagesh Goel about the importance of NDT to address current and future infrastructure needs. Nagesh is President and Co-Founder at Atlas Evaluation & Inspection Services (AEIS), an infrastructure inspection and testing company based in South Plainfield, New Jersey. He is a mechanical engineer with more than 25 years of experience managing complex projects, with a specialization in NDT and metallurgical failure analysis. Currently, Nagesh oversees all aspects of AEIS’ services for infrastructure clients across the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas and beyond.

In the episode, Debbie and Nagesh discuss his early career and mentors, how NDT has evolved, and the importance of promoting NDT to the next generation of inspectors. The bulk of the conversation focuses on the role of NDT to address America’s current infrastructure needs. Nagesh notes the important role NDT plays in regularly analyzing and gathering data about structures, which will be essential to making America’s infrastructure safer.

One of the key takeaways from the conversation is how many different methods and techniques are used for infrastructure projects. As Nagesh notes, one of the biggest misconceptions he sees about NDT is the idea that one method or technique will catch everything. Instead, he sees NDT methods as complementary. He describes the different methods typically used at AEIS. According to Nagesh, visual testing is typically the first step in a project, with other methods and techniques being used depending on the project. For steel structures, he notes that ultrasonic testing and magnetic particle testing are often used, while for concrete and sub-surface projects, ground penetrating radar and spectral analysis of surface waves are employed. Depending on the project, his company might also utilize radiographic testing, liquid penetrant testing, phased array ultrasonic testing, and eddy current testing, among other methods and techniques.

As Nagesh’s experience demonstrates, many NDT methods will be required to evaluate America’s infrastructure in the coming years. There will be many opportunities for future NDT inspectors to enter and grow in their career.

Listen to the full conversation below or search for Chat NDT with ASNT in your favorite podcast platform.

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Haley Cowans is Educational Materials Editor at ASNT, hcowans@asnt.org.

Debbie Segor, CAE, is Marketing and Communications Manager at ASNT, and the host of Chat NDT with ASNT. To be a guest on the podcast, contact desgor@asnt.org.

Nagesh Goel is President and Co-Founder at Atlas Evaluation & Inspection Services (AEIS)

To read more about NDT and infrastructure, visit:

“On the Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Nondestructive Evaluation of Civil Infrastructure” by Andrew Ellenberg, Antonios Kontsos, Ivan Bartoli, Materials Evaluation, Vol. 76, No. 5, https://ndtlibrary.asnt.org/2018/OntheUseofUnmannedAerialVehiclesinNondestructiveEvaluationofCivilInfrastructure

To find papers that were presented at ASNT’s topical conference NDE/NDT for Highways and Bridges: Structural Material Technology (SMT), visit the ASNT online library: https://ndtlibrary.asnt.org/conference?c=SMT&y=2018