Evaluation of Total Stress in W-Flange Members Using Ultrasonic Shear Waves
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 38, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper discusses the development of ultrasonic stress measurement (USM) technology as a potential tool for structural heath monitoring and evaluation of buildings and bridges. The proposed approach utilizes acoustic birefringence to assess the total stress in steel members. Acoustic birefringence describes the difference in velocity between orthogonally polarized shear waves as a result of anisotropy in the material. This anisotropy comes from texture produced during the manufacturing process and stresses (i.e., strains) in the plate under loading. The relationship between the birefringence and stresses may be a viable method to evaluate the total stress in a steel member, which includes stresses produced from all applied loads, including both dead loads and live loads. This paper investigates steel wide-flange (W-flange) rolled sections under tension and bending. The results indicate that birefringence shows a strong linear correlation with strain. The variation in the in situ birefringence was found to be significant and varied between different locations on the same cross section. If the acoustic constants ( and ) that relate the birefringence to the strain are known, laboratory tests showed that stress can be approximated to within () (2% of the material yield strength, ). If average values of constants across all laboratory testing were used, the error increased to () (28% ). These results indicate that ultrasonic stress measurement based on acoustic birefringence measurements may be a viable method for the evaluation of total stress in steel members but needs additional research to identify and mitigate the sources of variation in critical acoustic constants that affect the accuracy of the approach.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Student support for Ahmed Al-Zuheriy was provided by the Higher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor. The author also acknowledges the assistance Dr. Paul Fuchs for electronics and software design, and Pedro Ruiz-Fabian, M.S., and undergraduate researchers Juanyuan Ren and Min Chen for assisting with testing, data analysis, and USM system operation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 38 • Issue 1 • February 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 30, 2023
Accepted: Sep 20, 2023
Published online: Dec 12, 2023
Published in print: Feb 1, 2024
Discussion open until: May 12, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Acoustics
- Continuum mechanics
- Dead loads
- Detection methods
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engineering mechanics
- Field tests
- Laboratory tests
- Live loads
- Materials engineering
- Metals (material)
- Methodology (by type)
- Nondestructive tests
- Seismic waves
- Shear stress
- Shear waves
- Solid mechanics
- Static loads
- Statics (mechanics)
- Steel
- Stress (by type)
- Structural analysis
- Structural engineering
- Tests (by type)
- Waves (mechanics)
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