"The technology being developed involves combining data from a host of electronic sensors - including embeddable low-profile piezo-electric sensors - and new methods that analyze and rapidly assess data on bridge corrosion, cracking due to fatigue and other defects, even before they're visible to the eye," said USC associate professor Dr Paul Ziehl, an associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering.
USC's part of the study includes passive acoustic emission sensors, which can detect cracks in steel bridges and measure damage caused by corrosion, for example, in reinforced bridges. There will also be active sensors, which have the ability to study the structure at will and image damage remotely. Active emission monitoring has been used to detect structural safety in other areas such as jets but has not been used widely in civil engineering, says USC.
