A M.Sc. Thesis entitled “Damage Detection in Masonry Piers of Hydraulic Structures using Dynamic Measurements”

Eng. Ahmed Mostafa Ahmed Abd Elwaly, Assistant Researcher at the Construction Research Institute (CRI) of the National Water Research Center (NWRC), has recently earned his M.Sc. degree in Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering - Cairo University on the thesis entitled “Damage Detection in Masonry Piers of Hydraulic Structures using Dynamic Measurements”. In this research, Damage Index Method (DIM) was used to detect and determine the location of the cracks that exist at masonry piers. Different types of masonry piers with different configurations were represented experimentally. Modal analysis was performed on sound and damaged condition to extract their dynamic properties and a comparison between dynamic properties of the two cases was conducted. The thesis showed that the (DIM) has the ability to detect and determine locations of single and double cracks accurately. A Synthetic study was conducted on different structures (Beams, slabs and piers) with various cracks configurations. The results showed that the accuracy of determining the cracks locations increased with increasing the number of the recorded points of the tested structure. The results showed also detecting and determination of the cracks location using the modal curvatures was more accurate than using the modal displacements. Calculating the modal curvatures was very difficult especially for limited number of reading, so the modal displacements were used instead. It should be confirmed that the complete of damage identification process depends severely on the accuracy and completion of the identified structural dynamic characteristics. Finally, refinement of results was performed by taking strips at damage locations and the results were compared with the results of full and limited readings and showed a good agreement with them.