Inspection of Illumination Pillars Using Electromagnetic Ultrasonic Guided Wave

Maintenance of aging infrastructure facilities in urban area is a critical issue. Actually, in Kobe city, two illumination pillars fell down because they had corrosion at the base of them. This study deals an ultrasonic guided wave to detect corrosion in illumination pillars. Guided wave inspection enables quick and long-range inspection of piping systems and is also suitable for nondestructive testing of the illumination pillars. In this study, the guided wave is generated by magnetic device using a magnetostrictive effect. An acoustic emission sensor detects the reflected wave from the base of illumination pillars or corrosion. Effectiveness of the proposed method for screening of corrosion in the illumination pillars is verified through laboratory experiments using retired illumination pillars.