Anecdotal history of acoustic emission from wood
T.F. Drouillard · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1990
The development of acoustic emission technology has primarily been with metals, and more recently with composites. Currently there is a growing interest in the study of acoustic emission from wood. This has led to the preparation of a special bibliography of AE literature on wood by T. F. Drouillard and F. C. Beall, which in turn, prompted a look into the history of acoustics associated with wood, wood products, and wooden structures. Little historical material and relatively few publications were found on the subject. This article presents a historical review on the dearth of information that could be found -- from the reports of miners relying on the audible sounds from mine support timbers providing a warning of impending failure and the beginnings of the study and documentation of acoustic emission from wood, starting with experiments reported as early as 1934 by F. Kishinouye in Japan, up to the introduction of fracture mechanics of wood in 1964 by A. W. Porter -- all collated into the general history of acoustic emission. Included are a number of anecdotes relative to the history of sound and acoustic emission.