Ultrasonic and acoustic pulse velocity methods for non-destructive detection of early decay in wood poles

Wood poles are widely used to support overhead distribution and transmission power lines in North America and the world. These poles are vulnerable to internal deterioration due to extreme weather conditions, requiring a large number of poles to be inspected every year. This paper presents a comparative study of four stress wave-based nondestructive testing methods commonly used for condition assessment of wood poles. These include the traditional approaches of sounding, sonic pulse velocity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests; and a new approach that considers the orthotropic characteristics of wood, uncertainties in the elastic properties, ultrasonic wave velocity and attenuation. Two poles with an internal hole of 4\% of the cross-section are evaluated and compared by each method. Ultrasonic measurements of wave velocity and attenuation considering orthotropic characteristics of wood and uncertainties in the elastic properties provide a reliable wave-based NDT method for the detection of early decay in wood poles.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author