Damage Evaluation of Anti-Seismic Rubber Bearing Using Acoustic Emission

Abstract eng:
To mitigate earthquake damage to highway bridges, many laminated rubber bearings were installed in Japan following the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Recently, deterioration of these rubber bearings, which affects the seismic performance of the bridges, has been reported. However, an accurate assessment of damage to rubber bearings (for early warning) is difficult because of a covering rubber that interferes checking inside. Acoustic emission (AE) method which is one of non-destructive inspections was conducted to evaluate internal damage of bearings. The AE activities and their parameters of the damaged bearings were compared with new bearings. The results showed that the internal damage of the rubber bearings could be estimated through the activities of the AE parameters and location analysis. However, laminate rubber bearing is one of the composite materials with rubber and steel plates. In order to detect the damage inside laminated rubber bearing is difficult because the elastic-wave propagation is complicated. This study conducted the damage assessment of the rubber materials using AE method. AE parameter analysis and damage location analysis were conducted. The results confirmed that the AE method could detect the propagation of elastic-wave inside rubber materials. Furthermore, the location analysis indicated the internal voids with accuracy. AE method was proved to be useful tool for on-site assessment of a laminated rubber bearing to mitigate damage of the bridge before an earthquake occurred.

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