Noncontact ultrasonic diagnostics in concrete: A preliminary investigation

Purnell, Phil; Gan, Tat Hean; Hutchins, David A.; Berriman, James Robert Stockwell

doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2003.12.012

Cited by 32 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The first applications of contactless ultrasound to concrete Automation in Construction 58 (2015) [155][156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163][164] and other cement-based materials involved the use of compressional waves (p-waves). Air-coupled sensors were positioned on opposing sides of a sample in a through-thickness configuration, and the airborne ultrasound p-wave pulses were projected normal to the surface of the samples [8][9][10][11]. Although generally good results were obtained by these investigators, the method is limited by the fact that access to opposing sides is required and, further, only relatively thin samples (less than or equal to 10 cm) can be tested because of the low signal amplitudes that were received.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of contactless ultrasound toward automated inspection of concrete structures

Ham¹,

Popovics²

2015

Automation in Construction

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In this paper we demonstrate the potential of contactless ultrasonic sensing for rapid and automated characterization of concrete structures. Practical generation and detection of ultrasonic surface waves are made possible using air-coupled sensors, offering the potential to overcome limitations associated with infrastructure assessment measurements. The objective is to demonstrate enhanced performance when miniature, micro-machined sensors (MEMS) and high voltage solid-state capacitance transmitters are used in a scanning configuration, suitable for automation. The employed sensors, system and testing configuration, with respect to sensor height and incident angle, are described. An optimal test configuration is defined and incorporated into a controlled scanning system. Tests with the optimized configuration were carried out on reinforced concrete elements: a pre-stressed concrete rail tie that contains rail seat damage and concrete blocks with varying levels of simulated micro-cracking damage. In both cases, obtained surface wave velocity and attenuation signal characteristics show sensitivity to concrete material damage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of contactless ultrasound toward automated inspection of concrete structures

Ham¹,

Popovics²

2015

Automation in Construction

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“…The recent development of broad bandwidth, aircoupled ultrasonic technology can now allow for noncontact testing of solid materials [13], [14], including concrete [15]. The approach can use either electrostatic transducers [13]- [15] or piezoelectric designs with multiple matching layers [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The approach can use either electrostatic transducers [13]- [15] or piezoelectric designs with multiple matching layers [16]. The wide bandwidth allows the use of sweptfrequency "chirp" signals instead of the usual short transient excitation or narrow bandwidth, tone-burst waveform.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of time-frequency analysis to the air-coupled ultrasonic testing of concrete

Berriman

Hutchins

Neild

et al. 2006

IEEE Trans. Ultrason., Ferroelect., Freq. Contr.

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Air-coupled ultrasound has been used for the nondestructive evaluation of concrete, using broad bandwidth electrostatic transducers and chirp excitation. This paper investigates the benefits of using time-frequency analysis in such situations, for both waveform retrieval and imaging in the presence of low signal levels. The use of the short-term Fourier transform, the Wavelet transform, and the Wigner-Ville distribution all are considered, in which accurate tracking of the ultrasonic chirp signals is demonstrated. The Hough transform then is applied as a filter. An image of a steel reinforcement bar in concrete has been produced to illustrate this approach.

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“…Thus, these structural components require sophisticated nondestructive techniques to evaluate a range of physical phenomena, particularly the degradation of pre-existing structures and infrastructure (Benedettia, Aliabadib, & Milazzoa, 2010;Purnell, Gan, & Hutchins, 2004). Ultrasonic testing technology has been widely used and numerous studies have attempted to use the ultrasonic velocity ( g p ; in km/s) and its amplitude as measures of compressive strength (S, in MPa) and crack damage for evaluating the performance of concrete; several datasets on the correlation between the S and n p of concrete have been presented (Gregor, Franci, & Goran, 2009;Popovics, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Embedded Sensors for Concrete Health Monitoring Based on Ultrasonic Testing

Huang¹,

Li²,

Xu³

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on the Durability of Concrete Structures

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In this article, embedded ultrasonic sensors were prepared using 1-3-type piezoelectric composite and piezoelectric ceramic as the piezoelectric elements, respectively. The frequency bandwidth of the novel embedded ultrasonic sensors was investigated. To obtain the relationship between the receiving ultrasonic velocity and compressive strength, as well as their response signals to crack damage, the sensors were fabricated and embedded into the cement mortar before testing. The results demonstrated that the piezoelectric composite sensor had wider frequency bandwidth than the piezoelectric ceramic sensor. The compressive strength and ultrasonic velocity had a positive linear relationship, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9216. The head wave amplitude of the receiving ultrasonic signal was sensitive to the changing crack damage and gradually decayed with the increasing degree of cement damage. Thus, the novel embedded ultrasonic sensors are suitable for concrete health monitoring via ultrasonic non-destructive testing.

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Noncontact ultrasonic diagnostics in concrete: A preliminary investigation

Cited by 32 publications

References 11 publications

Application of contactless ultrasound toward automated inspection of concrete structures

Application of contactless ultrasound toward automated inspection of concrete structures

The application of time-frequency analysis to the air-coupled ultrasonic testing of concrete

Research on Embedded Sensors for Concrete Health Monitoring Based on Ultrasonic Testing

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