Visualization Location in Q235B Steel Structure by Using the Acoustic Emission Tomography

AET (acoustic emission tomography) is a new visualization location method for inspecting and locating the internal damages in the structures. In this paper, the AET is applied to detect and visualize damage source locations in the Q235B steel structure to validate its effectiveness. Firstly, the ABAQUS/Explicit simulation model of the steel structure with one damaged circle in its center is built. And then, the simulated AE signals are obtained to establish the AE tomography. The results show that the damaged circle in the created model can be visualized clearly with the AET in its original location. Finally, the damage source location based on AET is compared with the traditional TOA (time of arrival) location method, and the better location accuracy is obtained. And this fact that further illustrates the AET has a great potential in the application of structure damage detection.