Safety and Soundness of Submerged Timer Bridge Piling

摘要

Despite a recent underwater inspection of the piling, an unanticipated failure occurred to a timber supported bridge at Denton, Maryland in early 1976. The underwater inspection had indicated reasonable soundness of the timber but later laboratory tests indicated substantial reduction in material strength during the life of the piling. This project deals with the development of a nondestructive testing technique for determining the in-place residual strength of timber piling due to damage to the wood microstructure that causes loss in strength and density.