The inspection team at TÜV Rheinland Industrial Solutions (TRIS) in North America is accustomed to using computed radiography to assess structural integrity of welds and castings for pipes, tanks, pressure vessels, and bridges. Occasionally the team gets to apply “industrial” radiography on nontraditional items, such as electronics, safety devices, firearms, concealed paintings, and even a dinosaur.

The Fort Pitt Block House in Pittsburgh was another nontraditional project. It was the first site where TRIS put its skills to work to diagnose the health of a historic structure.

The Block House is all that remains of Fort Pitt, the largest and most elaborate British fort in North America built during the last days of the French and Indian War in 1764. Given to Allegheny County’s Fort Pitt Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1894, the Block House has welcomed visitors from around the world for more than a century.

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