Global Monitoring of Large Concrete Structures Using Acoustic Emission and Ultrasonic Techniques: Case Study

Global monitoring of civil structures is a demanding challenge for engineers. Acoustic emission (AE) is one of the techniques that have the potential to inspect large volumes with transducers placed in strategic locations of the structure. In this paper, the AE technique is used to characterize the structural condition of a concrete bridge. The evaluation of AE activity leads to information about any specific part of the structure that requires attention. Consequently, more detailed examinations can be conducted once the target area is selected. In this case, wave propagation velocity was used as a means to evaluate, in more detail, the condition of the region indicated by the AE analysis.

[1]  M. F. Kaplan,et al.  The effects of age and water/cement ratio upon the relation between ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength of concrete , 1959 .

[2]  T. Shiotani,et al.  Repair evaluation of concrete cracks using surface and through-transmission wave measurements , 2007 .

[3]  B. Stawiski,et al.  Non-destructive strength characterization of concrete using surface waves , 2000 .

[4]  T. Shiotani,et al.  GLOBAL MONITORING OF CONCRETE BRIDGE USING ACOUSTIC EMISSION , 2008 .

[5]  Masayasu Ohtsu,et al.  DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS QUALIFIED BY ACOUSTIC EMISSION , 2002 .

[6]  Christian U. Grosse,et al.  Localization and classification of fracture types in concrete with quantitative acoustic emission measurement techniques , 1997 .

[7]  Sandor Popovics,et al.  Analysis of the concrete strength versus ultrasonic pulse velocity relationship , 2001 .

[8]  V. M. Malhotra,et al.  CRC Handbook on Nondestructive Testing of Concrete , 1990 .

[9]  Thomas Vogel,et al.  Acoustic emission for monitoring a reinforced concrete beam subject to four-point-bending , 2007 .

[10]  M. Forde,et al.  Predicting the ultimate bending capacity of concrete beams from the “relaxation ratio” analysis of AE signals , 2005 .

[11]  J. Bungey,et al.  Using compression wave ultrasonic transducers to measure the velocity of surface waves and hence determine dynamic modulus of elasticity for concrete , 1996 .

[12]  Laurence J. Jacobs,et al.  Characterization of dissipation losses in cement paste with diffuse ultrasound , 2007 .

[13]  T. Philippidis,et al.  Experimental study of wave dispersion and attenuation in concrete. , 2005, Ultrasonics.

[14]  T. Shiotani,et al.  Evaluation of long-term stability for rock slope by means of acoustic emission technique , 2006 .

[15]  Tarun R. Naik,et al.  The Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Method , 2003 .