Application of stress wave propagation technique for condition assessment of timber poles

Abstract

Abstract The stress wave propagation technique can be effectively used to assess the condition of timber utility poles. However, reliable detection of damage based on the reflected wave within the time domain is not always possible. Therefore, various signal processing methods such as frequency-domain analysis and time-frequency analysis can be adopted to overcome this problem depending on the application. In this paper, Hilbert–Huang and continuous wavelet transforms are selected as signal processing methods to analyse the reflected wave. The signal is initially subjected to an empirical mode decomposition process prior to the computation of instantaneous frequencies of the decomposed signals using the Hilbert–Huang transformation. The anomalies in the instantaneous frequency plots can be used to identify any damage and its location along the pole. Additionally, the decomposed signals are subjected to a wavelet transformation to further confirm the existence of damage. The combined Hilbert–Huang and continuous wavelet transform technique is applied to the stress wave signal recorded from the in-service poles to assess the accuracy of the proposed method. This method increases the confidence level of defect identification of timber utility poles.