PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

How highway bridges sing -- or groan -- in the rain to reveal their health

Just a drop of water can indicate the stability of a bridge

How highway bridges sing -- or groan -- in the rain to reveal their health
2012-10-23
(Press-News.org) A team of BYU engineers has found that by listening to how a highway bridge sings in the rain they can determine serious flaws in the structure.

Employing a method called impact-echo testing, professors Brian Mazzeo and Spencer Guthrie can diagnose the health of a bridge's deck based on the acoustic footprint produced by a little bit of water.

Specifically, the sound created when a droplet makes impact can reveal hidden dangers in the bridge.

"There is a difference between water hitting intact structures and water hitting flawed structures," Mazzeo said. "We can detect things you can't see with a visual inspection; things happening within the bridge itself."

The study presents a more efficient and cost-effective method to address the mounting safety concerns over bridge corrosion and aging across the U.S. and beyond.

While impact-echo testing for bridges is nothing new to engineers, the BYU researchers are the first to use water droplets to produce acoustic responses. Current testing relies on solid objects such as hammers and chains.

The idea is to detect delamination, or the separation of structural layers, in a concrete bridge deck. The most common method involves dragging a chain over a bridge and marking spots where dull, hollow sound is produced.

However, this method can take hours to carry out for a single bridge and requires lane closures that come with additional complications.

"The infrastructure in the U.S. is aging, and there's a lot of work that needs to be done," Guthrie said. "We need to be able to rapidly assess bridge decks so we can understand the extent of deterioration and apply the right treatment at the right time."

The study results, published in the October issue of Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation International, could help transform deck surveys into rapid, automated and cost efficient exercises.

The method is as simple as dropping droplets of water on the material and recording the sound. The acoustic response indicates the health of the concrete.

"The response gives you an indication of both the size and the depth of the flaw," Mazzeo said.

Mazzeo said the method could be used to test materials beyond bridges, including aircraft composites, which are susceptible to delamination.

Though the current research is preliminary, the researchers envision a day where bridge deck surveys would take only a few moments.

"We would love to be able to drive over a bridge at 25 or 30 mph, spray it with water while we're driving and be able to detect all the structural flaws on the bridge," Mazzeo said. "We think there is a huge opportunity, but we need to keep improving on the physics."



INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
How highway bridges sing -- or groan -- in the rain to reveal their health

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Will new methods that increase blood flow to bone implants improve viability of engineered bone tissue?

2012-10-23
New Rochelle, NY, October 22, 2012—New, advanced techniques are needed that can mimic the normal blood supply that feeds natural bone to improve the viability and success of restorative procedures to replace damaged or diseased bone tissue using engineered constructs. A comprehensive review article describing the most promising strategies for vascularization of bone tissue substitutes is published in Tissue Engineering, Part B: Reviews, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online on the Tissue Engineering website. The lack ...

Breakthrough technique images breast tumors in 3-D with great clarity, reduced radiation

Breakthrough technique images breast tumors in 3-D with great clarity, reduced radiation
2012-10-23
Like cleaning the lenses of a foggy pair of glasses, scientists are now able to use a technique developed by UCLA researchers and their European colleagues to produce three-dimensional images of breast tissue that are two to three times sharper than those made using current CT scanners at hospitals. The technique also uses a lower dose of X-ray radiation than a mammogram. These higher-quality images could allow breast tumors to be detected earlier and with much greater accuracy. One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her ...

ONR to dial up faster data for the Marines

2012-10-23
ARLINGTON, Va. - Office of Naval Research (ONR) officials announced a new program Oct. 22 to optimize tactical handheld technology for quick decision-making in the field. The Exchange of Actionable Information at the Tactical Edge (EAITE) program, designed to sift through data from multiple sources for faster analysis, is among more than a dozen Future Naval Capability (FNC) programs kicking off in fiscal year 2014. ONR Director of Transition Dr. Thomas Killion explained the need for the program—and how it benefits both the U.S. Navy and industry—during an FNC overview ...

The Generation X report

2012-10-23
ANN ARBOR—Less than half of Generation X adults can identify our home in the universe, a spiral galaxy, according to a University of Michigan report. "Knowing your cosmic address is not a necessary job skill, but it is an important part of human knowledge about our universe and—to some extent—about ourselves," said Jon D. Miller, author of "The Generation X Report" and director of the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at the U-M Institute for Social Research. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately ...

Combination of Gulf oil and dispersant spell potential trouble for gut microbes

2012-10-23
A study to be published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, on Tuesday, October 23, examined whether crude oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the dispersant used on it, or a combination of the two might affect the microbes of the human digestive tract. The researchers found that although high concentrations of oil combined with dispersant are detrimental to these helpful microbial communities, the low to undetectable concentrations typically found in Gulf shellfish had no discernable effect. "The oil and the ...

Highly efficient production of advanced biofuel by metabolically engineered microorganism

2012-10-23
Daejeon, Republic of Korea, October 23, 2012—Fuels including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are derived from fossil oil thorough the petroleum refinery processes. Increased concerns over environmental problems and limited fossil resources drive scientists and researchers to turn their attention to developing fossil-free, bio-based processes for the production of fuels from renewable non-food biomass. Utilizing systems metabolic engineering, a Korean research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has succeeded in demonstrating an optimized ...

Experts call for wildlife conservation network

Experts call for wildlife conservation network
2012-10-23
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- It's time to establish a national network for wildlife conservation, bringing together state, federal and private initiatives to coordinate planning and work toward common goals, 11 prominent wildlife biologists and policy experts write in the journal BioScience. Vicky Meretsky of Indiana University and her co-authors say established state wildlife programs provide "strong building blocks" for such a network. But they make a forceful argument that national cooperation and coordination are needed to protect at-risk wildlife species and habitat and ...

Scientists build 'mechanically active' DNA material

Scientists build mechanically active DNA material
2012-10-23
Artificial muscles and self-propelled goo may be the stuff of Hollywood fiction, but for UC Santa Barbara scientists Omar Saleh and Deborah Fygenson, the reality of it is not that far away. By blending their areas of expertise, the pair have created a dynamic gel made of DNA that mechanically responds to stimuli in much the same way that cells do. The results of their research were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This is a whole new kind of responsive gel, or what some might call a 'smart' material," said Saleh, associate professor ...

Your Credit Report May Be More Important Than Your Credit Score

2012-10-23
When people think about their credit, they often think only of the number that corresponds to their credit score. However, a credit score is simply a bare-bone representation of the information contained in another, potentially more important part of a person's credit profile: his or her credit report. Context Matters A credit report can be even more important than a person's credit score because it provides context for the credit score and shows how an individual got to a particular point in their credit history, rather than just a snapshot of where the individual ...

How to Avoid Tax Audits When Running a Small Business

2012-10-23
How to Avoid Tax Audits When Running a Small Business Contrary to popular misconception, small businesses are frequently targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for tax audits. As anyone who has ever been through a tax audit knows, the experience can be a major ordeal -- even for those who have done nothing wrong. Therefore, small-business owners should take the time to learn about the steps they can take to help protect themselves from the risk of being audited by the IRS. Keep Business and Personal Accounts Separate For any small business owner, particularly ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

AI detects fatty liver disease with chest X-rays

KIST develops high-performance memory devices that dissolve in water, addressing the E-waste problem

Tiny ocean migrants play a massive role in Southern Ocean carbon storage

Leafy greens could be good for the heart

How AI is making 2D materials stronger: An AI-driven framework to improve material design

Cascading impacts of groundwater input to coral reefs

Finding the enzymatic needle in the database haystack

In-line NMR guides orthogonal transformation of real-life plastics

Neopred: A dual-phase CT AI tool for preoperative prediction of pathological response in NSCLC

Discovery of ‘mini halo’ points to how the early universe was formed

Attention scan: How our minds shift focus in dynamic settings 

Do you have a nosy coworker? BU research finds snooping colleagues send our stress levels rising

Research explores human factors in general aviation plane crashes

Study reveals mechanisms behind common mutation and prostate cancer

Beyond the big leagues: Concussion care in community sports

Further insights into the consequences of abnormal chromosome numbers

UC Irvine-led team uncovers cell structures that squids use to change their appearance

New research explores how food insecurity affects stress and mental health

New study confirms that the oldest rocks on Earth are in northern Canada

Study finds link between brain injury and criminal behavior

New research aims to better predict and understand cascading land surface hazards

Deeper sleep is more likely to lead to eureka moments

Hadean-age rocks preserved in the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, Canada

Novel “digital fossil-mining” approach uncovers hidden fossils, revealing squids’ ancient origins

Review: New framework needed to assess complex “cascading” natural hazards

Flipping an evolutionarily disabled switch unlocks ear tissue regeneration in mice

Ancient squids dominated the ocean 100 million years ago

Public attitudes around solar geoengineering become less politically partisan with more familiarity

COVID-19 pandemic significantly eroded American public’s trust in US public health institutions like the CDC, shows longitudinal assessment from 2020-2024

Extreme droughts in LMICs are associated with increased sexual violence against girls and young women

[Press-News.org] How highway bridges sing -- or groan -- in the rain to reveal their health
Just a drop of water can indicate the stability of a bridge