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Volume 2, No. 2
Summer 2006
- Army Experts Brave Hostile Habitat to Detect Water Leaks
Finding leaks in Fort Hood's water supply lines is not easy. The 339-square-mile Army base has 328 miles of buried water lines that supply potable water, and fixing leaks along these pipelines is costly. Last year the Army Corps of Engineers introduced a new acoustic sensor system that picks up the sounds of water leaks. When two Corps experts travel across miles of west Fort Hood to collect sensor data, they have to be wary of the heat, ammunition fire, and even stinging insects.
- Army Uses Smart Technology to Fight Corrosion at Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg supports the country's most venerable training program for Army troops. At the 88-year-old fort in North Carolina, millions of personnel days are dedicated to training soldiers to operate aircraft and tactical equipment for combat. For the vehicles used to conduct routine maneuvers, caked mud, heat, humidity, sand, and swamp water are the real enemy. When training exercises are completed, soldiers have to clean and decontaminate the vehicles in the fort's Central Vehicle Wash Facility to prevent corrosion. Lately it has gotten easier for those who maintain the wash facility's piping system to keep it corrosion-free and fully operational, thanks to an Army Corps of Engineers study of the merits of smart fluorescent and self-healing coatings.
- Team Leader Pivotal in Improving DoD Material Quality
Keeping standards high for Navy aircraft material quality is an ongoing challenge. One Navy official has devoted his career to ensuring that corrosion prevention materials used for Navy aircraft are reliable. As Division Head for Materials Engineering at NAVAIR, Steve Spadafora has managed a Department of Defense (DoD)-wide effort to qualify materials designed to reduce the impact of corrosion on military aircraft.
- Expert Offers Tips on DoD Project Selection
To corrosion experts in the private sector, the steps required to get a project considered by the military can be a labyrinthine undertaking. Recently an expert in the DoD Corrosion Office offered tips on how private companies can take steps to submit a project for possible funding by the DoD. In his presentation, George Keller discussed how to tailor projects to suit the DoD mission and the importance of offering taxpayers a high return on investment.
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