Acoustic inspection of concrete bridge decks

Mark E. Henderson; Gary N. Dion; R. Daniel Costley

doi:10.1117/12.339927

1 February 1999 Acoustic inspection of concrete bridge decks

Mark E. Henderson, Gary N. Dion, R. Daniel Costley

Proceedings Volume 3587, Nondestructive Evaluation of Bridges and Highways III; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.339927
Event: Nondestructive Evaluation Techniques for Aging Infrastructures and Manufacturing, 1999, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

The determination of concrete integrity, especially in concrete bridge decks, is of extreme importance. Current systems for testing concrete structures are expensive, slow, or tedious. State of the art systems use ground penetrating radar, but they have inherent problems especially with ghosting and signal signature overlap. The older method of locating delaminations in bridge decks involves either tapping on the surface with a hammer or metal rod, or dragging a chain-bar across the bridge deck. Both methods require a `calibrated' ear to determine the difference between good sections and bad sections of concrete. As a consequence, the method is highly subjective, different from person to person and even day to day for a given person. In addition, archival of such data is impractical, or at least improbable, in most situations. The Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory has constructed an instrument that implements the chain-drag method of concrete inspection. The system is capable of real-time analysis of recorded signals, archival of processed data, and high-speed data acquisition so that post-processing of the data is possible for either research purposes or for listening to the recorded signals.

Citation Download Citation

Mark E. Henderson, Gary N. Dion, and R. Daniel Costley "Acoustic inspection of concrete bridge decks", Proc. SPIE 3587, Nondestructive Evaluation of Bridges and Highways III, (1 February 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.339927

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