Assessing the potential to use structure-borne sound to detect survivors in collapsed buildings

Hopkins, Carl ORCID: 0000-0002-9716-0793 and Filippoupolitis, Marios (2023) Assessing the potential to use structure-borne sound to detect survivors in collapsed buildings. In: Internoise 2023, 2023-8-20 - 2023-8-23, Japan.

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Abstract

<jats:p>When victims are trapped within a collapsed structure, it can be difficult to quickly locate survivors. Airborne sound tends to be highly attenuated hence there is greater potential to detect physical movement or signals from survivors by measuring the seismic response. Recent work has used Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) and Finite Element Methods (FEM) to assess the feasibility of predicting structure-borne sound transmission across fragmented reinforced concrete structures. This has the potential to improve strategies for the detection of trapped survivors using structure-borne sound by search and rescue teams as well as seismic detection equipment. The main focus has been on vibration transmission between reinforced concrete elements that are in contact after the collapse. Laboratory experiments have been used to validate FEM models of reinforced concrete beam junctions with surface-to-surface contact conditions using Experimental Modal Analysis. This has given insights into the contact stiffness between reinforced concrete beams. FEM simulations of beams with surface-to-surface contacts as well as beam junctions with fragmentation at the junction indicate the potential to use SEA to give reasonable estimates of vibration transmission. This paper summarises the progress made to-date and considers the next steps that are needed in the research on this topic.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Unspecified)
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	30 Aug 2023 08:02
Last Modified:	15 Mar 2024 00:26
DOI:	10.3397/in_2023_0055
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3172360