AE MONITORING OF A REINFORCED CONCRETE ROAD BRIDGE

The acoustic emission (AE) method is a statistical and theoretical 'soundness' evaluation method by detecting elastic wave occurred from defects such as cracks of material, which has large possibility as a non-destructive inspection for the soundness evaluation of concrete structures. However, application of AE technique (AET) to the actual bridge maintenance business is yet rare even now. In this study, AE monitoring under the in-service traffic load and AE measurements under the on-site loading test using large heavy vehicles were carried out, because the opportunity of tentative adoption of AET was obtained in practical soundness investigation of a 45 years old reinforced concrete road bridge, and the basic consideration on the practical application of AET to the maintenance business was carried out. For the covering abstract see ITRD E122906.