Abstract

This study carried out the laboratory tests for AE signal attenuation to determine the attenuation coefficient () of silo concrete in Gyeongju low and intermediate-leveldisposal environments. The concrete samples were prepared by satisfying the concrete mixing ratio used in the Gyeongju disposal silo, and these samples were additionallyexposed depending on the temperature conditions and saturation and, dry condition. As a result of attenuation tests according to the transmission distance on three concretespecimens for each disposal condition, the AE amplitude and absolute energy measured on the saturated concrete were higher than that of the dry concrete in the initialrange of the signal transmission distance, but the  of the saturated concrete was higher than that of the dry concrete. Regardless of the saturation and dry conditions, the tended to decrease as the temperature increases. The  had a more major influence on the saturation and dry condition than the temperature condition, which means that thesaturation and dry condition is the main consideration in measuring the signal attenuation of a concrete disposal structure. The  of concrete in the disposal environment expect to be used to predict the integrity of silos concrete in Gyeongju low and intermediate-level disposal environments by estimating the actual AE parameter values at the location of cracks and to determine the optimum location of sensors.