ABSTRACT
Timber piles have been used to construct many aging bridges, locks, dams, levees, and other structures in the United States. Degradation of these piles may adversely affect their structural integrity and eventually cause catastrophic failure. This study utilizes state-of-the-art non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques to assist with vulnerability assessment of timber piles employed in aging bridges. Two timber piles were nondestructively tested in the laboratory, where one was undamaged and the other suffered damage at different locations. Test parameters include size and location of defects. Four NDT testing and evaluation methods were utilized for the timber piles. The NDT testing and evaluation methods are bending wave, dispersive wave, a combination of dispersive-bending wave, and parallel seismic. The Wavelet transform advanced signal processing method was used to post-process the NDT data. Peak identification method was used to detect the pile tip for both the bending wave and the dispersive wave/bending wave tests. The experimental results reveal that the dispersive wave/bending wave accurately detected the defects in the timber piles. The wavelet transform approach successfully detected the piles’ shallow defect and the pile tip. The parallel seismic testing captured the pre-planned defects accurately in the timber piles.
