The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 13, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 05, 1998
Hiroaki Sakamoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Toru Inaguma, Kawasaki, JP;
Yasuhiro Nakata, Tokyo, JP;
Mitsuhiko Yazaki, Tokyo, JP;
Nippon Steel Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a method of diagnosing the fatigue life of structural steelwork according to the present invention, a Barkhausen noise measurement is performed under the condition of 5 .mu.m.ltoreq.d.ltoreq.1 mm where d is the detection depth of Barkhausen noise, by using a magnetic head constituted by an air-core coil detection head and a magnetic excitation head obtained by winding a copper wire such as an enameled wire on a U-shaped core made of a soft magnetic material such as a silicon steel sheet or an amorphous magnetic material. The degree of fatigue damage of a target measurement portion is diagnosed using the root-mean-square (RMS) voltage or voltage amplitude value of the Barkhausen noise. According to this method, the degree of fatigue and degradation by stress and strain in the structural steelwork can be accurately diagnosed prior to development of cracking without any limitation on diagnostic locations. A member of steelwork having a life diagnostic function is obtained by mounting the above magnetic head on a brace- or wall-like vibration-damping device made of very low-yield steel. According to this member of steelwork, the wall or covering material of a bridge or the like need not be removed even in practicing a fatigue life diagnosis. The degree of fatigue degradation in structural steelwork can be easily and accurately diagnosed prior to development of cracking even in a location where an operator cannot access due to the structural limitation.