TY - JOUR A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Fritsch, Tobias A1 - Stamm, Michael A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Johann, Sergej A1 - Sturm, Patrick A1 - Kühne, Hans-Carsten A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Multi–sensory Monitoring and Non–destructive Testing of New Materials for Concrete Engineered Barrier Systems N2 - The crucial part of nuclear waste storage is the construction of sealing structures made of reliable, safe and well–understood materials. We present an extended analysis of long-term multi–sensory monitoring and non–destructive testing (NDT) inspection of two laboratory specimens aiming at potential materials for sealing structures for nuclear waste repositories. Specimens with a volume of 340 litres made from newly developed alkali–activated materials (AAM) and established salt concrete (SC) were analysed using embedded acoustic emission and wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensors, ultrasonic echo imaging, active thermography, and X–ray computed tomography. The monitoring analysis showed lower heat of reaction and 50% less acoustic emission events in AAM compared to SC. However, due to the surface effects of the AAM material, the number of acoustic emission events increased significantly after approximately two months of monitoring. Subsequently performed NDT inspections reliably located embedded sensors and confirmed the absence of major cracks or impurities. The presented laboratory results show the feasibility and potential of comprehensive NDT monitoring and inspection to characterise cementitious and alternative materials as well as the need for multi–parameter long–term monitoring. Thus, our study demonstrates that tailored NDT investigations will help to develop safe sealing structures for nuclear waste repositories. KW - Radioactive waste KW - Barrier KW - Concrete KW - AAM KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.3151/jact.22.516 SN - 1347-3913 VL - 22 IS - 9 SP - 516 EP - 529 PB - Japan Concrete Institute AN - OPUS4-61461 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan A1 - Kainz, C. A1 - Braml, T. ED - Matos, J.C. T1 - Non-destructively Measurable Quantities Relevant to Reliability Assessment of Existing Concrete Bridges – Case Studies N2 - In reliability assessment of existing bridges, collected information about the structure can be utilized to modify partial safety factors and to refine characteristic values individually. In this way, uncertainties covered in initial calculation models and arising from assumptions can be reduced as well as biases identified and corrected. This allows for more realistic assessments and more appropriate decisions on actions to be taken. However, the on-site observation of information is generally associated with certain costs. For this reason, an efficient data-supported reassessment requires that only the individually relevant testing tasks are solved. Additional sensitivity analyses can further be used to specify the requirements on certain inspections, such as the testing result quality to be achieved, in order to avoid too imprecise or too expensive measurements on-site. In this contribution, the methodology for the demand-actuated definition of measurement objectives is demonstrated using the example of non-destructive concrete testing methods and findings from reassessments of two prestressed concrete bridges. Each case study includes the semi-probabilistic identification of structural weak points in ultimate and serviceability limit states, a comparison with respective probabilistic sensitivity analyses, and the subsequent derivation of parameters that are a) measurable and b) highly relevant in the individual reliability analyses. KW - Reliability KW - Assessment KW - Existing structures KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 SN - 978-3-031-60270-2 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60271-9_18 VL - 494 SP - 209 EP - 219 PB - Springer CY - Cham AN - OPUS4-60613 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Timofeev, Juri A1 - Azari, H. A1 - Satyanarayana, R. T1 - Controlled Creating of Delaminations in Concrete for Nondestructive Testing N2 - Locating and sizing delaminations is a common inspection task in the maintenance and quality control of construction and rehabilitation. Their detection is an important area of application of nondestructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). To improve this application, NDT test systems and test solutions must be compared, for which specimens containing well-defined delaminations are needed to serve as a reference. Currently, there are no widely accepted procedures available for creating such flaws locally and reproducibly. This study presents procedures for creating artificial delaminations repeatably and as close as possible to natural delaminations. To produce the discontinuities only substances were used which can occur in concrete components and do not affect the application of NDT-CE methods. Ultrasonic pulse-echo (UPE) was used to test the flaws in the specimens. The delaminations were created by applying expansive mortar in prepared through holes. Three specimens with two delaminations each were built and tested using UPE. KW - Concrete KW - Reference KW - Delamination KW - Test specimen KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-595201 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-023-01044-7 SN - 0195-9298 VL - 43 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-59520 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Strangfeld, Christoph T1 - Fluidic Ultrasound Generation for Non‐Destructive Testing N2 - AbstractAir‐coupled ultrasonic testing (ACU) is a pioneering technique in non‐destructive testing (NDT). While contact testing and fluid immersion testing are standard methods in many applications, the adoption of ACU is progressing slowly, especially in the low ultrasonic frequency range. A main reason for this development is the difficulty of generating high amplitude ultrasonic bursts with equipment that is robust enough to be applied outside a laboratory environment. This paper presents the fluidic ultrasonic transducer as a solution to this challenge. This novel aeroacoustic source uses the flow instability of a sonic jet in a bistable fluidic switch to generate ultrasonic bursts up to 60 kHz with a mean peak pressure of 320 Pa. The robust design allows operation in adverse environments, independent of the operating fluid. Non‐contact through‐transmission experiments are conducted on four materials and compared with the results of conventional transducers. For the first time, it is shown that the novel fluidic ultrasonic transducer provides a suitable acoustic signal for NDT tasks and has potential of furthering the implementation of ACU in industrial applications.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved KW - Aeroacoustics KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Fluidics KW - Harsh environment KW - Laser Doppler vibrometer KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-594273 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202311724 SN - 0935-9648 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-59427 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan A1 - Braml, T. A1 - Heinze, M. A1 - Kainz, C. A1 - Keuser, M. A1 - Kotz, P. A1 - Lechner, T. A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Reinke, K.-D. A1 - Schulze, S. A1 - Soukup, A. A1 - Stettner, C. A1 - Taffe, A. A1 - Wöstmann, Jens T1 - Guideline on NDT-supported reliability assessment of existing structures - Current developments in Germany N2 - Information about an existing structure can be collected at certain costs to evaluate the reliability and condition as realistically as necessary. This information can be relevant or irrelevant, true or biased, precise or imprecise. The incorporation of relevant and quality-assessed measured information into reliability reassessment offers the chance to extend remaining lifetimes and support decision making about optimal actions or maintenance strategies. This paper shows recent developments in a national research project that aims to produce a guideline on the NDT-based, structure-specific modification of partial safety factors. The general methodology, results from recalculations according to the Eurocodes and metrologically solvable testing tasks relevant in the recalculation of the concrete bridges are shown and compared with the non-destructive testing methods applicable to concrete bridges. A case study is used to demonstrate that as-built drawings, in this case of the positions of tendons and shear reinforcement, can be verified using the radar method. KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Concrete bridges KW - Partial safety factor modification PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-584862 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cepa.2168 SN - 2509-7075 VL - 6 IS - 5 SP - 537 EP - 543 PB - Ernst & Sohn CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-58486 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Borchardt-Giers, Kerstin A1 - Aßmann, Norman A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Low frequency ultrasonic pulse-echo datasets for object detection and thickness measurement in concrete specimens as testing tasks in civil engineering N2 - The dataset contains raw data gathered with the ultrasonic pulse-echo method on concrete specimens. The surfaces of the measuring objects were automatically scanned point by point. Pulse-echo measurements were performed at each of these measuring points. The test specimens represent two typical testing tasks in construction industry: the detection of objects and the determination of dimensions to describe the geometry of components. By automating the measurement process, the different test scenarios are examined with a high repeatability, precision and measuring point density. Longitu- dinal and transversal waves were used and the geometrical aperture of the testing system was varied. The low-frequency probes operate in a range of up to approximately 150 kHz. In addition to the specification of the geometrical dimensions of the individual probes, the directivity pattern and the sound field characteristics are provided. The raw data are stored in a universally readable format. The length of each time signal (A-scan) is two milliseconds and the sampling rate is two mega-samples per second. The provided data can be used for comparative studies in signal analysis, imag- ing and interpretation as well as for evaluation pur- poses in different, practically relevant testing scenarios. KW - Validation KW - Puls-echo method KW - Ultrasonic KW - Non-destructive testing KW - SAFT KW - Reconstruction algorithm PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-575185 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2023.109233 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 48 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-57518 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Azari, H. A1 - Shams, S. A1 - Köpp, Christian A1 - Timofeev, Juri A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Development of reference specimens for nondestructive evaluation of concrete bridge decks N2 - Decades of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) for the quality assurance of concrete bridges revealed the necessity of developing procedures for building reference specimens for different defects. External objects have been widely used in specimen construction to represent defects. However, embedded materials can alter the actual defect characteristics, interrupting the NDE responses. This study proposes new approaches to fabricating reference specimens for reinforced concrete that feature substantial defects, including cracks, delamination, honeycombing and rebar corrosion, without external objects. As a result, realistic responses can be acquired to identify promising NDE methods for characterising actual deteriorations. The procedures were produced with the intent of being reproducible in any laboratory. Destructive and non-destructive testing methods were performed to verify the effectiveness of the processes in creating defects. This study provides research laboratories with techniques for fabricating reference specimens for characterising defects and assessing the performance of NDE technologies. KW - Concrete structures KW - Reference KW - Specimen KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Laboratory tests PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1680/jfoen.21.00030 SN - 2043-9911 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - ICE Publishing AN - OPUS4-56957 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scherr, J. F. A1 - Kollofrath, J. A1 - Popovics, J. S. A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Grosse, C. U. T1 - Detection of Delaminations in Concrete Plates Using a Laser Ablation Impact Echo Technique N2 - This study investigates the non-destructive detection of delaminations in concrete plates using non-contact laser ablation, instead of the conventional hammer excitation, as part of the impact echo method. We performed tests on five concrete specimens of different sizes, two of which contained artificial delaminations. A range of steel ball hammers was used as reference impulse sources, the responses of which were compared with wave excitation generated by a 7 ns pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with 150 mJ pulse energy. Signals were recorded by surface-mounted accelerometers and two contactless methods: microphones and a laser Doppler vibrometer. The laser generates frequencies across a broad range of frequencies (0 to 150 kHz) but with much less energy than the hammers' narrower frequency spectra; the laser pulse energy transferred into the specimen is 0.07 mJ, corresponding to about 0.5 ‰ of the impulse source energy. Because of this, the thick intact plates' characteristic thickness stretch resonance frequency can be reliably detected by the hammer excitations but not when using laser excitation. However, the laser can excite low-frequency flexural vibration modes over a shallow delamination at 3 cm depth. The low-frequency flexural vibration results are verified by numerical natural frequency analysis. KW - Concrete testing KW - Defect detection KW - Lamb waves KW - Impact echo KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Vibration PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-567932 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-022-00921-x SN - 0195-9298 VL - 42 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-56793 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Strangfeld, Christoph A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Hauke, M. A1 - Schweitzer, T. A1 - Maack, Stefan T1 - Frequency modulated, air-coupled ultrasound generated by fluidic oscillators N2 - The majority of ultrasonic devices used for non-destructive testing in civil engineering require contact with the surface of the concrete (specimen), which significantly increases the time required for the measurement. This makes it impractical for extensive investigation of large-scale structures such as bridge decks, foundations, or tunnels. In a pioneering approach, fluidic oscillators are used as contact free ultrasonic sources to overcome the aforementioned limitations. These robust and cost-effective actuators require only pressurised air and are ideally suited for harsh environments. At a constant supply pressure, they generate a continuous mono-frequent actuation signal. Further, varying the supply pressure via a fast pressure regulator was found to generate a frequency modulated signal which enabled time-of-flight measurement with an added advantage of increased signal to noise ratio. To demonstrate the feasibility of this novel idea of non-contact ultrasound, the results of the initial tests are presented. T2 - IEEE International Ultrasound Symposium CY - Venice, Italy DA - 11.10.2022 KW - Air-coupled ultrasound KW - Frequency modulation KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Civil engineering KW - Building materials KW - Fluidic oscillators PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/IUS54386.2022.9958740 SP - 1 EP - 4 AN - OPUS4-56073 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan A1 - Bühling, Benjamin A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Low frequency ultrasonic dataset for pulse echo object detection in an isotropic homogeneous medium as reference for heterogeneous materials in civil engineering N2 - The dataset presented contains ultrasonic data recorded in pulse echo mode. The investigated specimen is made of the isotropic homogeneous material polyamide and has a drill hole of constant diameter running parallel to the surface, which was scanned in a point grid using an automatic scanner system. At each measuring position, a pitch-catch measurement was performed using a sampling rate of 2 MHz. The probes used are arrays consisting of a spatially separated receiving and in-phase transmitting unit. The transmitting and receiving sides each consist of 12 point-shaped single probes. These dry-point contact (DPC) probes operate according to the piezoelectric principle at nominal frequencies of 55 kHz (shear waves) and 100 kHz (longitudinal waves), respectively, and do not require a coupling medium. The measurements are performed with longitudinal (100 kHz) and transverse (55 kHz) waves with different geometric orientations of the probe on the measurement surface. The data presented in the article provide a valid source for evaluating reconstruction algorithms for imaging in the low-frequency ultrasound range. KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Ultrasound KW - Pulse-echo method KW - Reference material KW - Reconstruction algorithm KW - Validation PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-547326 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108235 VL - 42 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-54732 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -