@article{ref1,
title="Structural health monitoring based on acoustic emissions: validation on a  prestressed concrete bridge tested to failure",
journal="Sensors (Basel)",
year="2020",
author="Tonelli, Daniel and Luchetta, Michele and Rossi, Francesco and Migliorino, Placido and Zonta, Daniele",
volume="20",
number="24",
pages="e7272-e7272",
abstract="The increasing number of bridges approaching their design life has prompted  researchers and operators to develop innovative structural health monitoring (SHM)  techniques. An acoustic emissions (AE) method is a passive SHM approach based on the  detection of elastic waves in structural components generated by damages, such as  the initiation and propagation of cracks in concrete and the failure of steel wires. In this paper, we discuss the effectiveness of AE techniques by analyzing records  acquired during a load test on a full-size prestressed concrete bridge span. The  bridge is a 1968 structure currently decommissioned but perfectly representative, by  type, age, and deterioration state of similar bridges in operation on the Italian  highway network. It underwent a sequence of loading and unloading cycles with a  progressively increasing load up to failure. We analyzed the AE signals recorded  during the load test and examined how far their features (number of hits, amplitude,  signal strength, and peak frequency) allow us to detect, quantify, and classify  damages. We conclude that AE can be successfully used in permanent monitoring to  provide information on the cracking state and the maximum load withstood. They can  also be used as a non-destructive technique to recognize whether a structural member  is cracked. Finally, we noticed that AE allow classifying different types of damage,  although further experiments are needed to establish and validate a robust  classification procedure.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1424-8220",
doi="10.3390/s20247272",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s20247272"
}