Nondestructive evaluation of in-isolation pile shaft integrity by wigner-ville distribution

The Wigner-Ville Distribution is a new numerical analysis tool for signal process technique in the time-frequency domain and it can offer assistance and enhance signal characteristics for better resolution both easily and quickly. Time-frequency transform can describe how a spectrum of signals changes with time owing to defects and boundary conditions. In this study, five single pre-cast concrete piles have been tested and evaluated by both sonic echo method and Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD). The appropriateness of time-frequency domain analysis is discussed. Furthermore, two difficult problems in nondestructive evaluation problems are discussed and solved: the first one is with a pile with slight defect, whose necking area percentage is less than 10%, and the other is a pile with multiple defects. The results show that WVD can not only recognize the characteristics easily, but also locate the defects more clearly than the traditional pile integrity testing method.