Historic Preservation Services at ISE

ISE’s historical preservation services are a natural extension of our structural dynamics services which we have applied successfully to dozens of historic properties, including ones on the National Register. We take the concept of nondestructive testing to its logical conclusion by combining wave theory with structural mechanics in archaic, antiquated, and historic structures. Since any structure can only move a certain number of ways based upon its geometry, mass, and material stiffness, we utilize this knowledge to our advantage to ‘see’ inside the structure to determine structural integrity, anomalies, and areas of weakness and/or potential failure before they occur.   

All ISE historic preservation work is performed in accordance with Code of Federal Regulations, 36 CFR Part 61 (Secretary of the Interior’s Standards). 

Typical historic preservation services provided by ISE include:

• Background search of properties, significance, and history.
• GIS mapping of historic assets and past aerial mapping.
• Physical inspection and structural reporting of dated, questionable, or historic structures.
• Pre- and Post-construction structural surveys.
• Preparation of Historical Property Preservation Plans (HPPP).
• Seismic construction and blast modeling and monitoring.
• Nondestructive testing of structural elements, or entire structures, using forced excitation (modal analysis) methods or random vibration methods.
• Location of  weak and/or potential areas of failure.
• Determination of structural element loading using dynamic response characteristics.
• Determination of foundation and soil transmissibility to external force excitation from sources such as construction activities or blasting.
• Deployment of remote warning systems for historic structures.