Abstract
Timber bridges are used on all types of rail lines including important main transcontinental rail lines. A combined structural dynamic and ultrasonic inspection approach is proposed for testing these bridges. This paper presents results of preliminary field tests. Dynamic excitation of the system is used to identify suspect elements in the bridge. Ultrasonic inspection is used to evaluate the suspect elements identified from global testing. The potential for on-site evaluation based on two different dynamic excitations is investigated. Testing of a bridge member using dry coupled ultrasonics is shown to demonstrate this technique on aged timber.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 43-48 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | NDT and E International |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1999 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported in part by the Association of American Railroads under Contract Number TRAC-95-445 and by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University.
Keywords
- Bridges
- Structural dynamics
- Timber
- Ultrasonics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science (all)
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Mechanical Engineering