Timber Poles and Structures
A major problem is associated with the use of wooden products as structural materials. Wood has been used as a structural material for thousands of years, and indeed acoustic emission from wooded mine struts, (which was used as a warning before roof falls), is a very early form of acoustic emission. As the timber ages, many changes take place in the material, and these changes complicate the economic application of acoustic emission techniques to such structures. Metacoustics has been involved in the research into timber aging and degradation, and has a unique facility of a pole farm and sections of old wooden bridges, in the laboratory grounds. This research has proved that the acoustic emission techniques developed by Metacoustics are applicable to wooden structures. Acoustic emission is one of very few realistic techniques to evaluate the viability of a timber structure, including timber poles.
