In Phase I of this study, the purpose was to compare mechanical and physical wood properties from current wood supplies to those from previous studies (Newlin and Wilson 1917, Markwardt and Wilson 1935, wood handbook 2010). The results indicate that minor changes have occurred in the hardwood species values from the previous two studies with a few exceptions. Differences, where they occurred, could be explained by the growth locations of each sample. Differences between pine values occurred for MOE and MOR, an increase in MOE and a decrease in MOR. The objective of Phase II was to correlate the non-destructive and destructive testing methods. The non-destructive test by longitudinal vibration wave can be used to predict the static modulus of elasticity since it is strongly correlated with the destructive static bending test for all the three methods used (A-Grader, FFT and Smart-Thumper).

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Since the MINER Act of 2006, the minimum static load of in-situ underground mine seals has been increased from 20-psi to either 50-psi if monitoring is conducted or 120-psi if left unmonitored. These minimum strength requirements in seals must be designed, built, and maintained throughout the lifetime of the seal. Due to this, it has become necessary to assess the effectiveness of non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies to determine seal integrity, which in this case, are explored using sonic waves and tracer gases. Through both small and large scale testing, two NDT methods were evaluated on their abilities to determine integrity of the seal. A sonic wave technique to observe a change in wave velocity to identify faults within the seal material. As a NDT method, tracer gases may be used as a potential indicator of a connection between both sides of the seal material through a series of faults and cracks within the material itself. This paper reviews the history of underground mine seals and discusses the overall assessment of sonic waves and tracer gases to serve as NDT methods for estimating the integrity of these seals. / Master of Science

X-ray computed tomography is a technique that has been successfully utilized to characterize internal microstructure of asphalt mixtures. The city of Linköping (Sweden) developed an action plan to reduce noise; accordingly KTH and VTI developed a method to determine air void content in porous asphalt using x-ray computed tomography and an image processing software called ImageJ. The present study is a continuation of the previously mentioned work and focuses on the investigation of aggregate structure in porous asphalt by x-ray computed tomography. First the previously proposed method to estimate air void content was validated. Then, the assessment of aggregate structure including qualitative and quantitative analysis was completed. Qualitative evaluation was performed to determine the quality of slices in regard to establishing challenging areas, and the extent of beam hardening present in the X-ray images. This evaluation produced quality slices for each sample in Y-direction to work as a reference to establish general threshold ranges and image enhancement procedures, as well as identifying the interface between the top and bottom layer of the porous asphalt. The quantitative analysis consisted of analysing aggregate structures in the porous asphalt and developing a method to estimate the aggregate size distribution in porous asphalt layers. The gradation curves from the quantification of aggregate size distribution in all directions (X, Y, Z) were compared to the gradation curves from laboratory sieving tests previously performed on the drilled asphalt cores. To determine the accuracy of the method a perimeter analysis was performed to evaluate the suggested method to measure the aggregates. The results obtained indicate that to quantify the aggregates in porous asphalt, enhancement of the images is needed, as well as morphological operations to deal with beam hardening and overlapping stones due to unsuccessful separation of aggregates when thresholding. This further indicates that ImageJ Fiji is more suitable for complex cases, such as cases where aggregates and mastic are hard to distinguish from each other, rather than the original ImageJ software. This is due to the extended plugins available in ImageJ Fiji, where more options of for example filtering and enhancing of images are available. The results also suggest that the proposed method is a suitable method to determine the aggregate size distribution in porous asphalt pavements, as it allows to quantify the aggregate distribution and produces realistic results with slight inaccuracies due to the analysis being performed in 2D. Future development will be focused on automizing the determination of air void structure and aggregate size distribution, but also on the development of procedures to determine other relevant parameters such as mastic and binder content to establish a complete methodology to investigate the internal structure of a porous asphalt pavement, as well as 3D analysis to determine these parameters.

This thesis is about assessment of a bridge construction influenced by fire accident. The bridge is situated at the highway D46 beyond the town Držovice. Within this construction research, there will be mentioned diagnostic methods – A non- destructive method (Ultrasonic pulse method and hardness tests) and destructive methods (borehole and tear off tests). For find out in which way was the concrete of the bridge damaged and hurt while facing a high temperature of fire, there were taken samples, which were analyzed by physical and chemical test. We can analyze composition and microstructure of the concrete. The result of this tests will be evaluated, and the actions of a remediation will be suggested.

The aim of this thesis is a complex evaluation of reinforcement in reinforced concrete construction and its comparation with contract documents. In the next step we will calculate static reviews for each part of the construction. In case that some of the parts will fail this review, we will have to project such a solution that the construction wont get damaged from excessive load. In the end we will make an all in all evaluation of the examination and the construction.

Atlikus projekto analizę, buvo pasirinktas optimalus, ekonomiškiausias ir racionaliausias projekto variantas, padėsiantis užtikrinti mažiausias statybos ir eksploatavimo sąnaudas, taip pat ilgiausią tilto eksploatavimo laiką. Ruošiant suvirinimo procedūrų aprašus atlikti ardomieji ir neardomieji bandymai virintinėms jungtims. Bandymai užtikrina, kad virintinės jungties kokybė atitiks standartų keliamus reikalavimams. Neardomieji tyrimo metodai: apžiūrimoji kontrolė, skvarbiųjų dažalų kontrolė, ultragarso kontrolė. Ardomieji tyrimo metodai: tempimas, lenkimas, smūginis tąsumas, kietumas, mikroskopinis ir makroskopinis tyrimai. Darbą sudaro 6 dalys: įvadas, literatūros šaltinių apžvalga, tilto techninio projekto apžvalga, medžiagų skaičiuotiniai stipriai, išvados, literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis – 74 p. teksto be priedų, 43 iliustr., 12 lent., 4 grafikai, 49 bibliografinių šaltinių. / After completing the project analysis, the most optimal, economical and rational project option was chosen, which will secure the lowest construction and manufacturing costs as well as the longest exploitation time. Making welding procedure specification, destructive and non destructive parts were tested for welding joints. The tests showed that the quality of welded joints will be sufficient for the standard requirement. Non destructive research methods: visual testing, penetrant testing, ultrasonic testing, destructive research methods: tensile test, bend test, impact test, hardness test, microscopic and macroscopic tests. The structure of work : introduction, theory research, overview of the bridges' project, calculated strengths of the materials, conclusions, bibliography. Thesis consist of - 74 pages of text, 43 illustrations, 12 tables, 4 graphs, 49 sources.

Crystallographic texture in polycrystalline HCP and cubic materials, often developed during thermomechanical deformations, has profound effects on properties at the macroscopic or component level. Given the respective natures of current detection techniques, a non-destructive, three-dimensional bulk texture detection method for these materials has not yet been developed. This thesis aims to achieve this goal through systematic studies on the relationship between ultrasonic wave velocity and texture. The feasibility of such development is firstly reviewed via the combination of computational and experimental studies on exemplary HCP materials. Numerical results obtained via a representative volume element (RVE) methodology reveal that the wave speed varies progressively and significantly with changing texture, and experimental ultrasound studies combined with EBSD characterisation demonstrate distinguished velocity profiles for samples with different textures. Thus the possibility of the development is demonstrated from these combined results. A novel convolution theorem is then presented, which couples the single crystal wave speed (the kernel function) with polycrystal orientation distribution function to give the resultant polycrystal wave speed function. Firstly developed on HCP and then successfully extended to general anisotropic materials, the theorem expresses the three functions as harmonic expansions thus enabling the calculation of any one of them when the other two are known. Hence, the forward problem of determination of polycrystal wave speed is solved for all crystal systems with verifications on varying textures showing near-perfect representation of the sensitivity of wave speed to texture as well as quantitative predictions of polycrystal wave speed. More importantly, the theorem also presents a solution to the long-standing inverse problem for HCP and cubic materials, with proof of principle established where groups of HCP and cubic textures are recovered solely from polycrystal wave velocities through the theorem and the results show good agreements with the original textures. Therefore the theorem opens up the possibility of developing a powerful technique for bulk texture measurement and wave propagation studies in HCP, cubic materials and beyond.