Integrated nondestructive testing approach for damage detection and quantification in structural components

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Reliable damage detection and quantification is a difficult process because of its dynamic and multi-scale nature, which combined with material complexities and countless other sources of uncertainty often inhibits a single non-destructive testing (NDT) technique to successfully evaluate the extension of deterioration in critical structural components. This paper presents an integrated non-destructive testing approach (INDT) for effective damage identification relying on the intelligent integration of the Acoustic Emission (AE), Guided Ultrasonic Waves (GUW) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) methods. The proposed system has been utilized to identify wire breaks in seven-wire steel strands and crack initiation and development in masonry concrete walls and is based on the cross-correlation of heterogeneous damage-related NDT features. Conventional AE monitoring relies on damage monitoring by evaluating multiple extracted and/or computed features as a function of load/time. In addition, advanced post-processing methods including mathematical algorithms for statistical analysis and classification have been suggested to improve the robustness of AE in damage identification. Unfortunately, such approaches are often found to be unsuccessful, due to challenging environmental and operational conditions, as well as when used on actual civil structural components, such as bridge cables and masonry walls. This paper presents the framework for successful correlation of AE features with GUW and mechanical parameters such as full field strain maps, which can provide a route towards actual cross-validated damage assessment, capable to detect the initiation and track the development of damage in structures. The presented INDT approach could lead to reliable damage identification approaches in mechanical, aerospace and civil infrastructure applications.