<title>Use of cooling down thermography in locating below-surface defects of building facades</title>

Abstract

By using quantitative thermal scanning of the surface of various building structures, defects and thermal bridges can be found and recognized. In controlled conditions, it is also possible to classify the type of defects applying non-stationary heat-transfer models. By heating the structure with an energy pulse and monitoring the surface temperature changes, the structural details and defects in the near-surface region can be clearly seen in the thermal images, based on the different thermal parameters of these structures. In this paper, experimental results of laboratory studies of a test wall (thermal cabin) are presented. Using relatively low energy pulses and short heating-up times (15 mm), different surface temperatures and different rates of cooling visualize the structural details of the cabin. The paper is partially based on the presentation at Eurosense, June 1 999 .

Quantitative analysis of plastered mosaics by means of active infrared thermography

“…Based on the aforesaid, the main objective of this study was to investigate and assess the reliability and suitability of active thermography based on the cooling down thermographic principles [16,17], in order to test multilayered structures and identify hidden mosaic artefacts beneath layers of plaster. Moreover, the combination and comparison of results derived from experimental testing and numerical simulations were investigated, with the goal to quantitatively characterise the subsurface features of interest (mosaic layers) and provide a complete set of information regarding their location, thickness and the determination of their thermal properties.…”