NONDESTRUCTIVE STRENGTH ASSESSMENT OF IN-SITU TIMBER PILES

METHODS FOR RELIABLY ASSESSING THE IN-SITU STRENGTH OF TIMBER PILES WILL BE STUDIED USING NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATIONPROCEDURES INVOLVING SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF LONGITUDINAL STRESS WAVE PARAMETERS. THESE PROCEDURES ARE BASED ON THE EXTENSION OF THE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION OF THE STRENGTH OF WOOD UTILITY POLES, WOOD COMPOSITE PANEL PRODUCTS, LUMBER AND NEW TIMBER PILING DURING PRODUCTION. NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION OF IN-SITU PILES USING SONIC WAVE SPECTRAL ANALYSIS WILL PROVIDE NUMEROUS WAVEFORM PARAMETERS FROM A SINGLE LONGITUDINAL STRESS WAVE WHICH CAN BE CORRELATED WITH AXIAL LOAD CAPACITY; LINEAR AND NONLINEAR MULTIVARIABLE REGRESSIONTECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR PREDICTING THE STRENGTH OF INDIVIDUAL IN-SITU TIMBER PILES. DEVELOPMENT OF RELIABLE NONDESTRUCTIVE ASSESSMENT PROCEDURESFOR IN-SITU WOOD PILES WILL ENABLE STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS TO EVALUATE THE STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY AND REHABILITATION POTENTIAL OF EXISTING PILE STRUCTURES.