Acoustic Emission Safety Monitoring of Intermodal Transportation Infrastructure

Principal investigator:

Vitali Khaikine, M.S., Research Scientist, Dept. of Engineering, Hampton University, Hampton VA 23668, USA. Telephone: (757) 727-5741

Email: vitali.khaikine@hamptonu.edu

Start date: Aug 1, 2013
End Date Dec. 31, 2014
NCITEC Funds: $138,143

Project Summary:

The theme of NCITEC is to promote the development of an integrated, economically competitive, efficient, safe, secure, and sustainable national intermodal transportation network by integrating all transportation modes for both freight and passenger mobility. Safety is a critical component in the development, implementation, operation and maintenance of the transportation system, and therefore it is imperative to conduct research on utilization of technologies that will allow enhancement of the highway structures safety by monitoring and predicting failures. With these goals in mind, the proposed project will conduct research on the application of acoustic emission non-destructive evaluation technologies to address the safety and integrity of highway structures that are exposed to impacts of several modes of transportation interacting with each other. Utilizing the established partnership with the Virginia Department of Transportation, acoustic emission monitoring integrated with remote access and analytical data post-processing is proposed to be used to study the corresponding causes and effects as related to the safety of these structures. Student involvement and education are an important integrated part of this project and will address the task of education and training of the future generation of transportation workforce.