Jacobs Technology is the contract engineering/project management firm for the Michoud NASA facility in New Orleans, LA.  They manage and engineering all facility upgrades and construction projects that happen around the large Michoud Assembly Building.  Jacobs had three specific projects coming up in which concrete saw cutting and excavation were going to take place.  With the nature and age of the facility they work in, they were concerned about hitting unknown utilities and conduits beneath the ground and concrete.  They contact Ground Penetrating Radar Systems out of Orlando, FL to see if GPR would be an applicable non-destructive testing method for locating these conduits and utilities.  They talked with Chris Moore in Orlando, FL and determined that GPR along with radio detection would indeed be a good method of conduit and utility locating.   Jacobs had just under 50,000 square feet of area they needed surveyed.  GPRS mobilized two technicians to the site (Chris Moore and James Althauser) to perform the surveying. 

Once onsite GPRS used all testing methods available to provide the most accurate and complete utility survey available.  They used both 400 and 1500MHz ground penetrating radar antennas along with radio detection to map the utilities on site. Many utilities were found including water lines and large electrical conduits. GPRS painted all of their findings directly on the surface.  They also marked approximate depths for each utility discovered and marked each line on the plan view Jacobs provided.  This then gave Jacobs field markings along with a marked plan view for records.  In addition to the field survey work GPRS also provided a brief report of the findings.  This report detailed the survey tools, methods and overall results.

On the whole Jacobs was very pleased with the locating service Ground Penetrating Radar Systems provided along with the customer service and product knowledge the GPR technicians possessed.  Jacobs was confident that they could continue with the excavation schedule knowing what types of utilities they may run into during the digs.

Utility locating of this nature is becoming more and more prevalent for Ground Penetrating Radar Systems around the country.  If you have questions about the capabilities of ground penetrating radar on your site, please call us.  We will be more than happy to answer all questions and provide you with a competitive price quote.

Chris Moore runs GPRS operations in the pan handle region of Florida.  He is based in Orlando, FL and he can be reached at (312)331-2127 or by email at chris.moore@gp-radar.com. James Althauser runs GPRS operations in North East Ohio and North West Pennsylvania.  He may be reached at 330.352.0145 or by email at jamie.althauser@gp-radar.com.

In this photo James is using a 1500MHz
antenna to search for and locate
electrical conduits in the concrete.

In this photo Chris uses the 1500MHz antenna
to double check the locations of a few
electrical conduits in the concrete.

In this photo Chris walks with the radio detection
want to check for “live” electrical conduits.