There is disclosed a device for use in evaluating the integrity of soil behind a wall of an infrastructure. The device generally has a frame having a plurality of rests adapted to be received onto the wall during use; a hammer assembly having an actuator fixedly mounted to the frame and a hammer element having a head movably mounted to the frame, the actuator being actuatable to move the head to strike the wall while the plurality of rests hold the frame in a fixed position relative to the wall; and a sensor configured and adapted to sense vibrations of a portion of the wall resulting from the strike and to generate a vibration signal indicative thereof.

An armor plate system includes an integrated damage detector which may permit field testing of an armor plate. The system includes a ceramic plate and a piezoelectric transducer attached to lateral face of the ceramic plate. The piezoelectric transducer may apply a signal to the ceramic plate and receive a reflected signal. The applied signal may form a compression wave. An ultrasonic signal may be applied.

This application relates to a method of analyzing dynamic characteristics of a carbon composite material. This application also relates to a method of calculating sensitivity indices for structural stiffness and a viscous damping coefficient of a carbon composite material and a method of analyzing dynamic characteristics of a carbon composite material by using the same. Respective sensitivity indices for structural stiffness and a viscous damping coefficient according to a direction (angle) of carbon fiber for a carbon composite material are calculated. A change in the dynamic characteristics of the carbon composite material is evaluated through a proportional relationship between the sensitivity indices, thereby conducting a more accurate and efficient analysis.

A defect detection apparatus is provided that can inspect a measurement region of a target object at one time and without inconsistencies arising within the measurement region. A defect detection apparatus 10 includes: a generation unit (signal generator 11 and vibrator 12) for generating an elastic wave in a target object S; an illumination unit (pulsed laser light source 13 and illumination light lens 14) for performing stroboscopic illumination onto a measurement region of a surface of the target object S; and a displacement measurement unit (speckle shearing interferometer 15) for collectively measuring displacements in a normal direction at each point of the measurement region with respect to at least three mutually-different phases of the elastic wave by controlling a phase of the elastic wave and a timing of the stroboscopic illumination. Defects in the measurement region are detected based on the displacements in the normal direction at each point of the measurement region with respect to at least three phases that are obtained by the displacement measurement unit.

Provided is a member state evaluation method that makes more highly accurate instantaneous understanding of various states of a member to be tested possible without reliance on the shape of the member, the testing environment, or the skill level of the tester. The member state evaluation method is provided with: a state evaluation database construction step for constructing a state evaluation database by determining a plurality of vibration points and measurement points for each analysis model, carrying out vibration at the vibration points, measuring the acoustic signal generated by the vibration at the measurement points, carrying out frequency analysis, and thereby obtaining, as state evaluation data, frequency distribution data acquired for each vibration point and each measurement point that includes the natural frequencies for each of a plurality of modes; an actual measurement state evaluation data acquisition step for acquiring, as actual measurement state evaluation data, frequency distribution data for the member to be tested that includes the natural frequencies of each of the plurality of modes; and a state evaluation step for evaluating the member to be tested by comparing the acquired actual measurement state evaluation data and all the state evaluation data of the state evaluation database.

Degradation of a pipe can be easily detected. A piping inspection system 1 includes an excitation unit 100, a wave detection unit 210, and a diagnosis unit 220. The excitation unit 100 excites waves of different wave modes simultaneously at a first position of a pipe 300. The wave detection unit 210 detects the waves of different wave modes at a second position of the pipe 300. The diagnosis unit 220 diagnoses degradation of the pipe 300 based on a velocity of one of the waves of different wave modes, the velocity being calculated by using a detection time difference between the waves of different wave modes.

A measuring device for measuring an inspection target on the basis of vibration generated when the inspection target has been irradiated with laser light includes a condensing position deriving portion configured to derive an amount of adjustment of a distance between condensing lenses of a laser condensing unit configured to condense the laser light on the basis of a distance between a laser device configured to radiate the laser light and an irradiation location of the laser light and a communicating portion configured to transmit control information including information representing the amount of adjustment to the laser condensing unit.

Material selection systems and methods for constructing a musical instrument and/or where a selected material is a wood material are disclosed. One example material selection system includes a rating module and a rating database. The rating module includes an excitation device configured to act upon material samples; a vibration receiver in cooperation with the excitation device; a rating computer coupled to the vibration receiver, the rating computer configured to execute stored instructions for determining a set of material sample ratings based on FFT analysis of data collected by the vibration receiver; and an output device operatively coupled to the rating computer, the output device configured to output the determined set of material sample ratings to a rating database. Each set of material sample ratings is associated with a material sample. Another example material selection system may further include a selection module with a selection computer coupled to the rating database.

A method of sorting chips divided from a plate-shaped workpiece into acceptable chips and defective chips includes an ultrasonic vibration applying step of applying ultrasonic vibrations to chips, a fracture confirming step of confirming whether the chips have been fractured in the ultrasonic vibration applying step or not, and a sorting step of sorting those chips which have been confirmed as not fractured in the fracture confirming step as acceptable chips. The ultrasonic vibrations applied to the chips in the ultrasonic vibration applying step are set to values that do not cause chips to be fractured if the chips are free of minute fractures and cause chips to be fractured if the chips contain minute fractures.

A system for detecting structural damage to a rigid structure, the system comprising: at least one impact generator capable of applying a one-time impact on the structure; an acoustic sensor; a vibration sensor; and a processing circuitry configured to: provide an indication of the structural damage to the rigid structure upon (a) a first deviation above a first threshold between an expected acoustic wave profile, expected to radiate from the structure, absent the structural damage, and an actual acoustic wave profile being measured by the acoustic sensor in response to an application of the one-time impact, or (b) a second deviation above a second threshold between an expected to vibration profile of expected vibrations of the structure, absent the structural damage, and an actual vibration profile in response to the application.