Wavelet Analysis of Transient Signals in Civil Engineering

In this paper, the use of wavelet analysis is examined for the processing of transient signals in civil engineering. These signals generally decay with time; they are frequency modulated and they can be considered asymptotic. After an introduction about the use of wavelet analysis in the processing of transient signals, the procedure for the treatment of asymptotic signals with wavelet transform is shortly presented and the local time and frequency resolutions are given when the mother wavelet is the Cauchy wavelet. The procedure is then applied to two sets of signals obtained from civil engineering experiments. The applications concern the improvement of the impact-echo method and the processing of free oscillations of buildings after non-destructive shock tests.