TY - CONF A1 - Epple, Niklas A1 - Sanchez Trujillo, Camila Andrea A1 - Hau, Julia A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Malm, F. T1 - Structural Monitoring in an Urban Underground Metro Station Using Cod N2 - Active ultrasonic monitoring with coda wave interferometry has demonstrated its potential for structural Health monitoring in concrete structures. This study investigates its application using ultrasonic transducers embedded in the ceiling of a subway station in Munich, Germany. We evaluate the impact of environmental conditions, specifically electromagnetic interference and temperature, on data quality, as well as the influence of regular loading from passing trams. Results indicate that electromagnetic interference significantly affects measurements, while temperature effects remain minimal due to the station’s stable thermal environment. Long-term measurements and a controlled load test show that both dynamic and static loading from trams induce ultrasonic velocity changes of only 0.01%–0.06%. Although the experiment demonstrates the capacity to detect structural responses and supports the feasibility of long-term monitoring, improved electromagnetic shielding and Hardware reliability are required for successful future applications. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 CY - Izmir, Turkey DA - 24.09.2025 KW - Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) KW - Structural health monitoring (SHM) KW - Concrete KW - Ultrasonic testing KW - Urban infrastructure PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-654619 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/31706 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing (eJNDT) AN - OPUS4-65461 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grohmann, Maria A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Application of Elastic Reverse Time Migration to Ultrasonic Echo Data from Concrete Structures N2 - To enhance ultrasonic imaging of concrete structures, we adapted the geophysical migration method, Reverse Time Migration (RTM), for non-destructive testing (NDT) in civil engineering. First, two 2D elastic RTM algorithms, each considering different wave types, were implemented and evaluated with synthetic ultrasonic data. The algorithm that best resolved numerical concrete structures was subsequently applied to real ultrasonic data from a concrete specimen. Compared with conventional synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) imaging, elastic RTM reproduced a greater number of structural features in both the numerical model and the concrete specimen. In particular, elastic RTM reconstructed vertical interfaces as well as hidden lower edges of modeled cavities and tendon ducts. Notably, imaging the full cross-sections of tendon ducts, which enables direct diameter estimation, represents a novel achievement for ultrasonic NDT. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Izmir, Turkey DA - 24.09.2025 KW - Concrete Structures KW - Ultrasonic Echo Technique KW - Ultrasonic Imaging KW - Elastic Reverse Time Migration KW - Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-650350 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/31680 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing CY - www.ndt.net AN - OPUS4-65035 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Muon tomography - ready for practical application? N2 - Security and nuclear safeguards, but not yet in civil engineering. The potential is enormous, as muon tomography could replace traditional X-ray imaging of infrastructure, a method that was popular in the past but has mostly been abandoned due to concerns about radiation safety. In 2020, a report on the first large-scale muon tomography experiment on a reinforced concrete specimen was published. However, robust mobile detectors and faster data acquisition methods are still needed. This is now changing, however. Prototype mobile detectors have been announced or are in development, and data acquisition time has been reduced from weeks to days. This presentation will showcase current developments and focus on a validation experiment at BAM. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Izmir, Türkiye DA - 24.09.2055 KW - Muon tomography KW - Bridge inspection KW - Concrete PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64256 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Roumia, N. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Mazotti, C. T1 - Post-tensioned concrete inspection and imaging using 2D and 3D Dry Point Contact ultrasound array N2 - by the asset owners. Advancements were introduced to the method by distributing numerous shear horizontal Dry Point Contact (DPC) transducers in a uniform way, forming a linear array that allows for immediate two-dimensional imaging of the subsurface using Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT). Recent developments were implemented, allowing for the full potential use of the array by means of three-dimensionaldata acquisition instead of two-dimensional. This work provides a practical comparison between the 2D Linear scanning mode and the newly introduced 3D Matrix scanning mode regarding the tendon duct inspection, grouting quality, and reinforcement localization. Imaging the subsurface was performed through research-oriented software, namely InterSAFT, which allows for 2D and 3D imaging using Linear and Matrix data acquisitions. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Izmir, Türkiye DA - 24.09.2025 KW - Ultrasound KW - Imaging KW - Concrete KW - SAFT PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-642551 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/31690 SN - 1435-4934 VL - 30 IS - 10 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - ndt.net AN - OPUS4-64255 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabe, Ute A1 - Emge, Julia A1 - Klein, Samuel A1 - Oswald, Jan A1 - Shpakova, Nina A1 - Stopp, Philipp A1 - Weingard, Christoph A1 - Koster, Dirk A1 - Schönsee, Eric A1 - Hille, Frank A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Development of distributed sensor electronics for energy-efficient and proactive maintenance of buildings N2 - Permanently installed sensor systems are becoming increasingly important for monitoring critical infrastructure. The research institutes Fraunhofer IZFP and BAM, together with industrial partners and users, are developing a concept for an electronic system consisting of an Edge-Gateway as a central high-performance node and a variable number of Sensor-Edge units that establish the connection between the sensors of the permanent monitoring system and the gateway, which also provides connection to a cloud. A software tool allows identification and localization of sensors and visualization of sensor data. The principle of the system is demonstrated using sensors installed in the road surface to monitor traffic loads as an example. Two test structures, a full-scale laboratory at Fraunhofer IZFP, Saarbrücken, and the “BLEIB” reference structure at BAM, test site technical safety (TTS) Horstwalde, were used to demonstrate the principle and the functioning of the electronic system. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Izmir, Türkiye DA - 24.09.2025 KW - Edge computing KW - Bridge monitoring KW - Multi-sensor PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-642530 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/31650 SN - 1435-4934 VL - 30 IS - 10 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - ndt.net AN - OPUS4-64253 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Sein, Sander A1 - Kervalisvil, Andrei A1 - Wöstmann, Jens A1 - Helm, Marek T1 - Muon tomography - ready for practical application? N2 - Muon tomography uses naturally occurring nuclear particles to 'X-ray' technical objects. It has applications in security and nuclear safeguards, but not yet in civil engineering. The potential is enormous, as muon tomography could replace traditional X-ray imaging of infrastructure, a method that was popular in the past but has mostly been abandoned due to concerns about radiation safety. In 2020, a report on the first large-scale muon tomography experiment on a reinforced concrete specimen was published. However, robust mobile detectors and faster data acquisition methods are still needed. This is now changing, however. Prototype mobile detectors have been announced or are in development, and data acquisition time has been reduced from weeks to days. This presentation will showcase current developments and focus on a validation experiment at BAM. T2 - NDT-CE 2025 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Izmir, Türkiye DA - 24.09.2025 KW - Concrete KW - Muon tomography KW - Inspection PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-642517 DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/31696 SN - 1435-4934 VL - 30 IS - 10 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - ndt.net AN - OPUS4-64251 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Epple, Niklas A1 - Sanchez Trujillo, Camila A1 - Fontoura Barroso, Daniel A1 - Hau, Julia A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst ED - Lienhart, Werner ED - Krüger, Markus T1 - Monitoring of Concrete Infrastructure with Active Ultrasound Coda Wave Interferometry N2 - Coda Wave Interferometry has been used in Geophysics to detect weak changes in scattering media. Past research in Structural Health Monitoring has shown that this methodology can be applied to concrete structures to detect material changes by calculation of relative velocity changes. Successive measurements with embedded ultrasonic transducers provide a repeatable signal for reliable long-term monitoring of concrete. To research the application in real-world structures, we have embedded ultrasonic transducers in a bridge in Ulm and a Metro station in Munich, Germany. This study gives an overview of the monitoring of these two structures. The results show the potential and challenges of the method. Data evaluation can be largely automated to gain insights into material changes and other influences on the structure, such as traffic-induced load and temperature variations. The experiments demonstrate the ease of installation, longevity of the sensor installation, and sensitivity of the measurement technique, but highlight problems with the application, especially if electromagnetic noise affects data quality. As no confirmed substantial damage was recorded during the monitoring period on both structures, we evaluate load tests to investigate the effect of static load on the structures and the coda monitoring results. The experiments show that the influence of load can be detected, even if the temperature influence is not removed from the data. This indicates that online damage detection with coda monitoring is possible, but further research on damage detection in real-world structures has to be conducted to confirm laboratory findings. T2 - 13th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure CY - Graz, Austria DA - 01.09.2025 KW - Active Ultrasound Measurements KW - Coda Wave Monitoring KW - Embedded Transducers PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-640582 DO - https://doi.org/10.3217/978-3-99161-057-1-012 SP - 45 EP - 51 PB - Technische Universität Graz CY - Graz AN - OPUS4-64058 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grohmann, Maria A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Low-frequency ultrasonic pulse-echo datasets for geometry determination of a reinforced concrete step specimen with embedded polystyrene foam cuboids in non-destructive testing N2 - The dataset comprises raw data collected using the ultrasonic pulse-echo method on a concrete specimen. The specimen addresses two fundamental non-destructive testing (NDT) challenges in civil engineering: locating built-in elements and determining dimensions to analyse both the internal and external geometry of concrete structures. For data acquisition, the surface of the concrete specimen was automatically scanned point by point, with pulse-echo measurements performed at each measuring point. The automation of the measurement process ensured high repeatability and precision as well as a high measurement point density. Two low-frequency probes were used, each capable of both transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves: one for longitudinal waves and one for shear waves. The longitudinal wave probe operates at frequencies of up to approximately 160 kHz, whereby a frequency of 80 kHz was used for the ultrasonic measurements here. The shear wave probe operates at up to 100 kHz, with a frequency of 50 kHz used for the measurements in this study. This article includes additional technical specifications of the two ultrasonic probes used, as well as information on their geometric specifications and directivity patterns. It also provides a detailed description of the further measurement equipment used. The ultrasonic raw data are stored in a universally readable format, with each time signal (A-scan) spanning two milliseconds and a sampling rate of two mega-samples per second. The provided data support comparative studies in signal analysis, imaging as well as interpretation and can be used for evaluation purposes in various practical NDT scenarios. KW - Civil engineering KW - Concrete structures KW - Ultrasonic echo testing KW - Reference data PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639100 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2025.111956 SN - 2352-3409 VL - 62 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-63910 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - ZfP-Bau post Carolabrücke: Chancen und Herausforderungen N2 - Der Einsturz der Carolabrücke hat die Fachwelt, Politik und Öffentlichkeit aufgerüttelt. Während die Diagnose der Ursachen noch andauert (aber wohl zum Vortragzeitpunkt abgeschlossen sein wird), werden erste, nach Ansicht vieler Experten überfällige Konsequenzen gezogen. Zahlreiche Brücken werden vorsichtshalber gesperrt, intensive Prüfungen und Überwachungsmaßnahmen sind veranlasst und werden ausgeweitet. Die Untersuchungsmethodik für Brücken mit dem Verdacht auf Spannungsrisskorrosion und ohne „sicheres“ Ankündigungsverhalten vor Versagen – übrigens keineswegs auf die östlichen Bundesländer beschränkt – steht auf dem Prüfstand. Dabei erhält wohl auch die zerstörungsfreie Prüfung eine veränderte und wichtige Rolle, ebenso wie Methoden zur Dauerüberwachung. Dabei wird aus gutem Grund auf den Stand der Technik zurückgegriffen. Der Vortrag beleuchtet die Rolle der ZfP und die verwendeten Methoden im Rahmen dieser Untersuchungen. Er weist aber auch auf Technologien hin, die in den nächsten Jahren in die Praxis eingeführt werden dürften und zukünftig bei der Untersuchung und Überwachung von Stahl- und Spannbetonbauwerken eine Rolle spielen dürften. T2 - DGZfP Jahrestagung CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 26.05.2025 KW - Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung KW - ZfPBau KW - Brücken KW - Stahlbeton PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63230 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Emerging technologies for non destructive testing and monitoring of concrete structures in nuclear facilities N2 - For a long time, practical application of non-destructive testing in civil engineering has been limited on simple (but useful) methods such as rebound hammers, ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements, rebar detectors or potential mapping. Since the late 1990ies new methods and devices have been developed for geometry and damage detection, including radar and ultrasonic echo array techniques which brought progress in condition assessment of buildings and infrastructure assets. However, there are still gaps, especially for massive concrete structures used in nuclear facilities, including lack of penetration depth, resolution, or translation of NDT parameters to engineering properties. Recent research tries to fill these gaps. Currently, new ultrasonic devices with greater penetration depth and better resolution depth are developed, including imaging methods revealing greater details of the interior of concrete constructions. Ultrasonic technologies are also extended to nonlinear methods providing baseline free damage assessment and monitoring capabilities. Another example of a technique with a huge potential for concrete constructions is muon tomography, where first field experiments are underway. A review of the potential and limitations of these methods will be given in the presentation. T2 - IAEA ICARST 2025 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 07.04.2025 KW - NDT-CE KW - Ultrasound KW - Muography KW - Concrete KW - Emerging PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63003 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - NDT-CE Qualification and Certification N2 - Due to the increased demand for NDT investigations and assessment of energy and traffic infrastructure, a qualification and certification system for NDT personel is urgently needed. Up to now, only Italy, Malaysia and Germany have set up such systems. The talk gives an overview of the demand and current activities, including those of IAEA. T2 - IAEA ICARST 2025 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 07.04.2025 KW - NDT-CE KW - Qualification KW - Certification PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63002 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Condition monitoring for lifetime extension of interim storage facilities N2 - The German interim nuclear storage facilities are designed for a 50 year service life and 40-year operating period. They will be needed much longer, as a final repository will not be available until 2050 at the earliest. The objective of ZuMoBau-ZL is to develop a suitable condition assessment and monitoring concept suitable for the structures in interim storage facilities, including life prediction models, with which the remaining service life can be predicted, verified, and monitored as realistically as possible. T2 - IAEA ICARST 2025 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 07.04.2025 KW - Nuclear waste KW - Interim storage KW - Liefetime extension KW - Reinforced concrete PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62984 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst ED - Meyendorf, Norbert ED - Ida, Nathan ED - Singh, Ripi ED - Vrana, Johannes T1 - NDE 4.0 in Civil Engineering N2 - There is a tremendous potential for NDE-CE due to the current changes in the construction industry. On the way to a digitized and digitalized way of work, including a shift from traditional ways of planning towards building information modeling, NDE-CE can be of help by providing quality assurance data during and directly after construction, condition data during operation, and missing information about older constructions before rehabilitation or demolition. However, to be successful, NDE-CE methods must be integrated into the data structures used by designers, planners, builders, owners, and users: it must go digital as well. Formats,interfaces, and reliable trusted storage sites for NDE-CE data are urgently required. A working group at DGZfP (“AG ZfPBau 4.0”) and various research project and initiatives are working on these issues but still must get more momentum. KW - NDT-CE KW - NDE 4.0 KW - Digitalization KW - BIM KW - Diconde PY - 2024 SN - 978-3-030-48200-8 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48200-8_1-2 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Springer CY - Cham AN - OPUS4-62199 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Applications of a Multi-Channel Ultrasound System for Assessing Large Concrete Structures N2 - Non-destructive testing (NDT) plays a vital role in the assessment of large concrete structures, where the detection of internal defects is particularly challenging due to size, material heterogeneity and complex geometries. In this study, the use of a multi-channel, large-aperture ultrasound system is demonstrated for improving the ultrasonic pulse-echo method for evaluating these large structures. The large aperture of the ultrasound system allows for broader coverage and enhanced sensitivity to internal features such as cracks, voids, and embedded components within the concrete. By capturing data from multiple channels simultaneously, the system improves both resolution and depth penetration. A weighted sum of the Kirchhoff migration is used to post-process the data, resulting in better visualisation and a more detailed interpretation of the internal condition of the structure. This approach is particularly effective for thick and complex materials where conventional methods face limitations. In addition to the pulse-echo method, time-of-flight (TOF) tomography is used to provide quantitative analysis of internal structures. Time-picking techniques allow for the precise mapping of anomalies within the material, offering insights into the condition of concrete with varying geometries and compositions. Together, these two methods: pulse-echo imaging with the large-aperture multichannel system and TOF tomography imaging, offer different possibilities for assessing the internal condition of large concrete structures. The pulse-echo technique focuses on providing detailed images of structural defects, while the TOF tomography provides quantitative data on internal features. This combined approach offers a comprehensive and reliable method for the assessment of large infrastructures. T2 - ISNT NDE 2024 CY - Chennai, India DA - 12.12.2024 KW - NDT-CE KW - concrete KW - ultrasound KW - imaging KW - Kirchhoff KW - tomography PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62204 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Elastic Reverse Time Migration for Improved Ultrasonic Imaging of Concrete Constructions N2 - The ageing concrete infrastructure worldwide requires a thorough inspection and assessment. The traditional visual and tap testing methods required by many national and international standard have been meanwhile amended by more sophisticated tools like ultrasonic or radar echo technologies. While they can provide a much more detailed image of the interiors of concrete constructions, there are still several unsolved testing tasks on the wish list, such as the reliable sizing of internal objects, e.g. tendon ducts. Reverse Time Migration (RTM) is an imaging technique which is in use in the oil and gas industry for the exploration of new resources with seismic waves as a standard tool. Since about ten years there has been R&D effort to use RTM for imaging of ultrasonic echo data. As it uses the entire wavefield, RTM has some advantages compared to traditional SAFT, e.g. the ability to image vertical structures or the backside of objects. However, this comes with the cost of having to perform full wavefield simulations. We have adopted, improved, and used open source 2D full elastic codes (P/SV waves and SH waves) from geophysics to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of RTM for the imaging of certain features in concrete constructions. We can show the advantages of SH-wave RTM in comparison to SAFT, acoustic RTM and P/SV-based RTM. The findings are demonstrated based on simulated and real data, using a reference test specimen available at BAM. Position and diameter of tendon ducts have been determined with a sub-cm accuracy. T2 - ISNT NDE 2024 CY - Chennai, India DA - 12.12.2024 KW - NDT-CE KW - Ultrasound KW - Imaging KW - Reverse Time Migration KW - Concrete KW - RTM PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62203 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Paths towards digitalization in NDT for Civil Engineering N2 - This presentation shows the concepzual way how to intergrate NDT results into BIM, Digital Twins and more. The concept of BIM, Digital Twins and exchange data formats such as DICONDE and IFC (industry Foundation Classes) are explained. Two examples for Digital Twins are shown. T2 - ISNT NDE 2024 CY - Chennai, India DA - 12.12.2024 KW - NDT-CE KW - Digitalization KW - BIM KW - Digital Twin KW - DICONDE PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62202 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - NDT-CE Qualification and Certification in Germany and Elsewhere N2 - Recently first qualification and certification schemes for NDT-CE testing personnel have been introduced and are well booked. The presentation focuses on the two level scheme recently put into standards in Germany. International activities, which favor the traditional three level ISO 9712 scheme, are also discussed. T2 - ISNT NDE2024 Pre-Conference Tutorial on NDT-CE CY - Chennai, India DA - 11.12.2024 KW - NDT-CE KW - Inspection KW - Qualification KW - Certification PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62198 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Current Use of NDT-CE For Infrastructure Inspection and Monitoring in Germany N2 - This presentation gives an overview on current use of NDT-CE for infrastructure inspection and monitoring in Germany. It reflects on challenges, applied standards and guideline including currently developed upgrades. Ways to select proper NDT methods are shown as well as a way how to use NDT results in quantitative, probabilistic strctural assessment. T2 - ISNT NDE2024 Pre-Conference Tutorial on NDT-CE CY - Chennai, India DA - 11.12.2024 KW - NDT-CE KW - Inspection KW - Assessment KW - Standards KW - Guidelines PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62197 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Coronel Subia, Hernan Alejandro A1 - Inzunza Araya, Ernesto A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Influence of velocity changes on acoustic emission monitoring of masonry walls under diagonal compression load N2 - Acoustic emission (AE) is a highly sensitive, non-destructive method which has great potential in damage event detection and assessment in masonry structures exposed to e.g., seismic loads. However, the highly heterogenous nature of the masonry structures and their low densities cause high attenuation and distortion of the signal. Localization of the AE events is challenging because the AE waves propagate through various masonry constituents (i.e., bricks and mortar joints) at different velocities. We present an attempt to locate the sources of AE events from the signals recorded during the diagonal compression loading, and analyze the influence of different wave velocities on its accuracy. T2 - 36th Conference of the European Working Group on Acoustic Emission CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 18.09.2024 KW - Acoustic emission KW - Masonry KW - Compression test PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61689 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Küttenbaum, Stefan A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst ED - Rogge, Andreas ED - Meng, Birgit T1 - Baulicher IST-Zustand zur Bewertung von Betonbrücken auf der Grundlage messtechnischer Kennwerte - ZfPStatik N2 - Das Projekt „ZfPStatik“ entwickelt eine Handlungsempfehlung zur Bewertung bestehender Bauwerke mit Hilfe zerstörungsfreier Messdaten. Durch die Bauwerksprüfungen können Unsicherheiten bei der Nachrechnung reduziert werden, wodurch realistischere Beurteilungen der Standsicherheit und Gebrauchstauglichkeit ermöglicht werden. Zudem wird die Entwicklung neuer Ingenieurdienstleistungen gefördert. Zerstörungsfreie Prüfverfahren haben insgesamt das Potential, die Entscheidungsgrundlagen für die Beurteilung und Erhaltung bestehender Bauwerke zu verbessern. T2 - 11. Jahrestagung des DAfStb mit 63. Forschungskolloquium der BAM Green Intelligent Building CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 16.10.2024 KW - Betonbrücken KW - ZfPStatik KW - Bauwerksprüfungen PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-613290 SN - 978-3-9818564-7-7 SP - 303 EP - 308 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-61329 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Chapuzet, C. A1 - Ben Lagha, S. A1 - Zovini, C. A1 - Uras, S. A1 - Doupou, S. A1 - Köpp, Christian T1 - Assess potential technologies for implementation phase, considering cost-benefit ratio and availability (Technology Selection) N2 - Technology selection is an important part of the planning process when setting up a waste management programme. This continues to be crucial during implementation of the programme to evaluate if suitable technologies are being implemented. This Domain Insight document provides guidance on the assessment and selection of potential technologies for implementation during the pre-disposal phase of the waste management lifecycle, considering factors such as cost-benefit ratio and availability (EURAD Pre-disposal theme overview, domain 2.1.3, Technology Selection), as a part of the sub-theme “Planning pre-disposal management of radioactive waste in close cooperation with waste generators” (Planning) and, on the broader theme 2 “Pre-disposal Activities prior to geological disposal” (Pre-disposal). In the planning process for a waste management programme, it is critical for the waste owner to assess the feasibility of technologies for processing, storage, and monitoring, taking economic constraints into account and considering subsequent stages in the waste management lifecycle, including final disposal. In addition, technology selection must be based on the waste inventory that has been generated, planned waste stream composition and the evolution of resulting waste packages in storages. The accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency of the technologies deployed in a facility require periodic review and update, as needed, throughout the lifetime of the facility. KW - Radioactive waste KW - Management KW - Final disposal KW - Intermediate storage KW - Technology selection PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-608795 UR - https://predis-h2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/EURAD_PREDIS-DI-2.1.3.-Technology-selection.pdf SP - 1 EP - 16 AN - OPUS4-60879 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Kühne, Hans-Carsten T1 - Acoustic emission monitoring for engineered barriers in nuclear waste disposal N2 - To safely dispose of nuclear waste in underground facilities, engineered barrier systems are needed to seal shafts and galleries. The material used in these barriers must be adapted to the host rock parameters. Shrinking and cracking must be avoided to provide a barrier with almost zero permeability. For repositories in salt rock environments, several types of salt concrete (SC) are possible construction materials. Within the project SealWasteSafe, we compared the behavior of an innovative alkali-activated material (AAM) with standard SC in their hydration and hardening phase. To monitor the microstructural changes within the two materials SC and AAM, acoustic emission (AE) signals have been recorded for up to ~250 days on 340-liter-cubic specimens. The phenomenon of AE is defined as the emission of elastic waves in materials due to the release of localized internal energy. Such energy release can be caused by the nucleation of micro-fracture, e.g., in concrete while curing or when exposed to load. The occurrence of AE events gives first rough indications of microstructural changes and potentially occurring cracking and thus, provides insights for structural health monitoring (SHM). The results show, that for the first 28 days after casting, less AE activity was detected in the AAM compared to SC. After 61 days, in the AAM material, the number of AE events exceeded those observed in the SC. However, the majority of the AE detected and located in AAM was related to surface effects, and not to microstructural changes or occurring cracks within the bulk volume. Additionally, the source location analysis indicated, that despite lower activity in SC, we observed some clustering of the events. In contrast, in AAM, the activity inside the specimen is randomly distributed over the whole volume. The monitoring results help to estimate the material’s sealing properties which are crucial to assess their applicability as sealing material for engineered barriers. T2 - 11th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2024) CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 10.06.2024 KW - Acoustic emission monitoring KW - Nuclear waste repositories KW - Event localization KW - SealWasteSafe project PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60552 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Kühne, Hans-Carsten T1 - Microseismicity monitoring in materials for nuclear waste storage repositories N2 - One of the major tasks in nuclear waste management is to design safe and reliable sealing structures for radioactive waste repositories. Particularly for salt as a host rock, engineered barrier systems for underground waste disposal must be constructed of well-understood (cementitious) materials that will sustain environmental conditions and ensure high durability. Within the SealWasteSafe project, we studied two materials with a potential for sealing structures for nuclear waste repositories: an innovative alkali-activated material (AAM) and standard salt concrete (SC). To analyze the development of microstructural changes within the materials, we monitored microseismicity (aka acoustic emission monitoring) occurring during the hardening and setting period in two 340-liter-cubic specimens for up to ~250 days. The monitoring results showed, that in the first 61 days, fewer events occurred in AAM compared to SC. After this time the number of events in AAM sharply increased and significantly exceeded those observed in SC. However, the source localization analysis revealed that the increase of microseismicity in AAM material was not related to the formation of macro-cracks within the material but was mainly caused by the surface effects. Accompanying analysis of the test specimens with additional methods (such as e.g., X-ray CT) proved that no macro-cracks were observed inside the AAM specimen. Further analysis in the time and frequency domains helped to characterize the tested materials and to estimate their potential to be used for engineered barriers in nuclear waste repositories. Overall, our study shows the potential of microseismicity monitoring for feasibility studies and quality assurance in a broad range of applications, also in structural health monitoring. T2 - 84. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Geophysikalischen Gesellschaft CY - Jena, Germany DA - 10.03.2024 KW - Microseismicity KW - Nuclear waste repositories KW - Acoustic emission KW - SealWasteSafe project KW - Salt rock KW - Alkali-activated materia PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60549 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bertola, N. A1 - Schumacher, T. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Bruehwiler, E. T1 - Early detection of structural damage in UHPFRC structures through the combination of acoustic emission and ultrasonic stress wave monitoring N2 - Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Composite (UHPFRC) offers several advantages compared to concrete, notably due to the strain hardening behavior under tensile actions. Structures made of this composite material are lightweight and highly durable, thanks to the UHPFRC waterproofing quality. Nonetheless, the tensile behavior leads to a different cracking pattern than conventional concrete and is not fully understood yet. This paper presents a combined approach using both passive ultrasonic (US) stress wave (or acoustic emission) and active US stress wave monitoring to localize and quantify damage progression in a full-scale UHPFRC beam during experimental load testing. The proposed monitoring approach involves 24 US transducers that are embedded randomly throughout a 4.2- meter-long laboratory UHPFRC T-beam. Continuous monitoring enabled accurate localization of US stress sources caused by loading-induced cracking as well as from pulses generated by the embedded US transducers. This study shows that it is possible to predict the location and shape of the macro-crack that is linked to structural failure early on, i.e., just after the end of the elastic domain. This combined approach opens new possibilities to monitor the structural behavior and detect damage on UHPFRC structures before they affect the structural behavior in terms of deflection and strain. T2 - 11th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2024) CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 11.6.2024 KW - UHPFRC KW - Acoustic emission KW - Damage detection PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-604708 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ewshm2024/papers/477_manuscript.pdf DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/29698 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-60470 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Skłodowska, Anna A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Kühne, Hans-Carsten T1 - Acoustic emission monitoring for engineered barriers in nuclear waste disposal N2 - To safely dispose of nuclear waste in underground facilities, engineered barrier systems are needed to seal shafts and galleries. The material used in these barriers must be adapted to the host rock parameters. Shrinking and cracking must be avoided to provide a barrier with almost zero permeability. For repositories in salt rock environments, several types of salt concrete (SC) are possible construction materials. Within the project SealWasteSafe, we compared the behavior of an innovative alkali-activated material (AAM) with standard SC in their hydration and hardening phase. To monitor the microstructural changes within the two materials SC and AAM, acoustic emission (AE) signals have been recorded for up to ~250 days on 340-litercubic specimens. The phenomenon of AE is defined as the emission of elastic waves in materials due to the release of localized internal energy. Such energy release can be caused by the nucleation of micro-fracture, e.g., in concrete while curing or when exposed to load. The occurrence of AE events gives first rough indications of microstructural changes and potentially occurring cracking and thus, provides insights for structural health monitoring (SHM). The results show, that for the first 28 days after casting, less AE activity was detected in the AAM compared to SC. After 61 days, in the AAM material, the number of AE events exceeded those observed in the SC. However, the majority of the AE detected and located in AAM was related to surface effects, and not to microstructural changes or occurring cracks within the bulk volume. Additionally, the source location analysis indicated, that despite lower activity in SC, we observed some clustering of the events. In contrast, in AAM, the activity inside the specimen is randomly distributed over the whole volume. The monitoring results help to estimate the material’s sealing properties which are crucial to assess their applicability as sealing material for engineered barriers. T2 - 11th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2024) CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 11.06.2024 KW - Endlager KW - Barriere KW - AAM KW - Akustische Emission PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-604699 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ewshm2024/papers/768_manuscript.pdf DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/29834 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-60469 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schumacher, T. A1 - Bertola, N. A1 - Epple, Niklas A1 - Bruehwiler, E. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Combined Passive and Active Ultrasonic Stress Wave Monitoring of Concrete Structures: An Overview of Data Analysis Techniques and Their Applications and Limitations N2 - Combined passive ultrasonic (US) stress wave [better known as acoustic emission (AE)] and active US stress wave monitoring has been shown to provide a more holistic picture of ongoing fracture processes, damage progression, as well as slowly occurring aging and degradation mechanisms in concrete structures. Traditionally, different data analysis techniques have been used to analyze the data generated from these two monitoring techniques. For passive US stress wave monitoring, waveform amplitudes, hit rates, source localization, and b-value analysis, among others, have been used to detect and locate cracking. On the other hand, amplitude tracking, magnitude squared coherence (MSC), and coda wave interferometry (CWI) are examples of analyses that have been employed for active US stress wave monitoring. In this paper, we explore some of these data analysis techniques and show where their respective applications and limitations might be. After providing an overview of the monitoring approach and the different data analysis techniques, results and observations from selected laboratory experiments are discussed. Finally, suggestions for further work are proposed. T2 - 11th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM 2024) CY - Potsdam, Germany DA - 11.06.2024 KW - Ultrasound KW - Acoustic emission KW - Concrete KW - Stress PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-604687 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ewshm2024/papers/824_manuscript.pdf DO - https://doi.org/10.58286/29863 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-60468 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Accuracy, Uncertainty, Probability of Detection N2 - This talk presents the concepts of measurement accuracy, uncertainty (in contrast to error analysis) an probability of detection for non-destructive testing. The relevant guidelines (GUM, Mil.Std.) are intrduced and practical examples given. T2 - USES2 Training Week 2 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 24.06.2024 KW - Uncertainty KW - Pod KW - Measurements PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60467 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Grohmann, Maria A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Buske, Stefan T1 - Correction: Application of iterative elastic SH reverse time migration to synthetic ultrasonic echo data N2 - This is a corrigendum to the original article "Application of iterative elastic SH reverse time migration to synthetic ultrasonic echo data" that was published in the "Journal of nondestructive evaluation" (2014, DOI: 10.1007/s10921-023-01010-3). PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-599597 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-024-01052-1 SN - 1573-4862 VL - 43 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - Springer Science and Business Media CY - Dordrecht AN - OPUS4-59959 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung von Betonkonstruktionen N2 - Der Vortrag behandelt den Stand der Technik bei der zerstörungsfreien Prüfung von Betonkonstruktionen und insbesondere den Stand und die Herausforderungen bei der Digitalisierung. Es werden Prüfaufgaben sowie etablierte Prüfmethoden und die passende Auswahl diskutiert. Ein weitere Schwerpunkt liegt bei der Genauigkeit und Verlässlichkeit und dem Konzept ZfPStatik. Abschließend werden Schnittstellen zu BIM, SIB-Bauwerke und anderen System kurz angerissen und ein Katalog offener Fragen aufgestellt. T2 - Workshop Digitale Bauwerkserhaltung inklusive Bauwerksdiagnose CY - Bonn, Germany DA - 20.02.2024 KW - ZfP-Bau KW - Beton KW - Bauwerksprüfung KW - Digitalisierung KW - ZfPStatik PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59547 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - X-rays without X-rays: Can muon tomography provide pictures from within concrete objects? N2 - Until the 1980s radiography was used to inspect civil structures in case of special demands and showed a much better resolution than other NDT techniques. However, due to safety concerns and cost issues, this method is almost never used anymore. Meanwhile, non-destructive techniques such as ultrasound or radar have found regular, successful practical application but sometimes suffer from limited resolution and accuracy, imaging artefacts or restrictions in detecting certain features when applied to reinforced or prestressed concrete inspection. Muon tomography has received much attention recently. Muons are particles generated naturally by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere and pose no risk to humans. Novel detectors and tomographic imaging algorithms have opened new fields of application, mainly in the nuclear sector, but also in spectacular cases such as the Egyptian pyramids. As a first step towards practical application in civil engineering and as a proof of concept we used an existing system to image the interior of a reference reinforced 600 kg concrete block. Even with a yet not optimized setup for this kind of investigation, the muon imaging results have been at least of similar quality compared to ultrasonic and radar imaging, potentially even better. Recently, the research was expanded to more realistic testing problems such as the detection of voids in certain structural elements. However, before practical implementation, more robust, mobile, and affordable detectors would be required as well as user-Friendly imaging and simulation software. T2 - ISNT NDE 2023 CY - Pune, India DA - 07.12.2023 KW - Muon tomography KW - Concrete KW - Civil engineering PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59347 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - ridge Monitoring by Ultrasonic Coda Wave Interferometry N2 - The built infrastructure ages and requires regular inspection and, when in doubt, monitoring. To ensure that older concrete bridges showing signs of deterioration can be used safely, several innovative monitoring tools have been introduced, including but not limited to optical, fiber-optic, or acoustic emission techniques. However, there are gaps in the portfolio. A sensing technique that covers a wide range of damage scenarios and larger volumes, while still being sensitive and specific, would be beneficial. For about 15 years, research has been conducted on ultrasonic monitoring of concrete structures that goes beyond the traditional ultrasonic pulse velocity test (PV test), mostly using a very sensitive data evaluation technique called coda wave interferometry. At BAM we have developed sensors and instrumentation specifically for this method. We have instrumented a 70-year-old, severely damaged prestressed concrete bridge in Germany in addition to a commercial monitoring system. We have now collected data for almost 3 years. We can show that we can provide information about the stress distribution in the bridge. We have also been able to confirm that there has been no significant additional damage to the bridge since the installation. T2 - ISNT NDE 2023 CY - Pune, India DA - 07.12.2023 KW - Coda wave interferometry KW - Structural health monitoring KW - Ultrasound KW - Concrete KW - Bridges PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59346 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - X-rays without X-rays: Can muon tomography provide pictures from within concrete and other objects? N2 - Until the 1980s radiography was used to inspect civil structures in case of special demands and showed a much better resolution than other NDT techniques. However, due to safety concerns and cost issues, this method is almost never used anymore. Meanwhile, non-destructive techniques such as ultrasound or radar have found regular, successful practical application but sometimes suffer from limited resolution and accuracy, imaging artefacts or restrictions in detecting certain features when applied to reinforced or prestressed concrete inspection. Muon tomography has received much attention recently. Muons are particles generated naturally by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere and pose no risk to humans. Novel detectors and tomographic imaging algorithms have opened new fields of application, mainly in the nuclear sector, but also in spectacular cases such as the Egyptian pyramids. As a first step towards practical application in civil engineering and as a proof of concept we used an existing system to image the interior of a reference reinforced 600 kg concrete block. Even with a yet not optimized setup for this kind of investigation, the muon imaging results have been at least of similar quality compared to ultrasonic and radar imaging, potentially even better. Recently, the research was expanded to more realistic testing problems such as the detection of voids in certain structural elements. However, before practical implementation, more robust, mobile, and affordable detectors would be required as well as user-Friendly imaging and simulation software. The talk also discusses other applications , such as volcanology, mining and geothermal exploration. T2 - RWTH Aachen, Geophysikalisches Seminar CY - Aachen, Germany DA - 11.01.2024 KW - Muon tomography KW - Civil engineering KW - Mining KW - Geothermal engineering PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59349 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Low frequency ultrasonic dataset for comparison and validation of signal processing and imaging techniques in civil engineering N2 - The evaluation of technical components and materials in terms of condition and quality with the aid of non-destructive testing methods plays an outstanding role both in industrial serial production and in the individual assessment of components. The ultrasonic echo method is used for a wide variety of testing tasks, such as measuring the thickness of a component. At the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) in Berlin, test methods are developed and their performance is demonstrated. For this purpose, references such as materials, test procedures or data sets are generated, which are used to evaluate these developed test methods. An important component of these references are data sets that are created according to the BAM Data Policy and made available to the scientific community and users of test methods in practice on the basis of the FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse). T2 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering (NDT-CE) 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Reference data KW - Non destructive testing and evaluation KW - Ultrasonic KW - Civil engineering PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-58440 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Imaging of Ultrasonic Echo Measurements for Reconstruction of Technical Data of Bridges – Possibilities, Limitations and Outlook N2 - When reassessing existing concrete bridges, the challenge is often to obtain missing or incomplete information on the internal structure. In particular, the number and position of the existing reinforcement as well as the geometric dimensions of the components are of interest. Non-destructive testing methods, like radar or ultrasound, which work on the basis of the pulse-echo method, have been established for this purpose, as they only require access to the component from one side. The measurement data recorded on the structure require pre-processing to be able to reproduce the internal structure geometrically accurately. Besides different steps of data processing, the geometrical reconstruction of the measured data based on the Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) is state of the art today. In this paper, the technical possibilities of the ultrasonic echo method are presented based on measurements in the laboratory and on a real bridge structure. The precision of the reconstruction and its limitations are shown. In addition to the state of the art SAFT technique, open questions and the latest research approaches, such as imaging by reverse time migration (RTM) including initial results are discussed. T2 - 13th German-Japanese Bridge Symposium CY - Osaka, Japan DA - 29.08.2023 KW - Bridge KW - Non destructive testing and evaluation KW - Concrete KW - Validation PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58328 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Effner, Ute A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Arendt, J. A1 - Hofmann, M. A1 - Kudla, W. T1 - Correction: Lay et al. Ultrasonic quality assurance at magnesia shotcrete sealing structures. Sensors 2022, 22, 8717 N2 - The authors wish to correct the following errors in the original paper Lay, V.; Effner, U.; Niederleithinger, E.; Arendt, J.; Hofmann, M.; Kudla, W. Ultrasonic Quality Assurance at Magnesia Shotcrete Sealing Structures. Sensors 2022, 22, 8717, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22228717. PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-584969 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23187966 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 23 IS - 18 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-58496 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Imaging of Ultrasonic Echo Measurements for Reconstruction of Technical Data of Bridges – Possibilities, Limitations and Outlook N2 - When reassessing existing concrete bridges, the challenge is often to obtain missing or incomplete information on the internal structure. In particular, the number and position of the existing reinforcement as well as the geometric dimensions of the components are of interest. Non-destructive testing methods, like radar or ultrasound, which work on the basis of the pulse-echo method, have been established for this purpose, as they only require access to the component from one side. The measurement data recorded on the structure require pre-processing to be able to reproduce the internal structure geometrically accurately. Besides different steps of data processing, the geometrical reconstruction of the measured data based on the Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) is state of the art today. In this paper, the technical possibilities of the ultrasonic echo method are presented based on measurements in the laboratory and on a real bridge structure. The precision of the reconstruction and its limitations are shown. In addition to the state of the art SAFT technique, open questions and the latest research approaches, such as imaging by reverse time migration (RTM) including initial results are discussed. T2 - 13th German-Japanese Bridge Symposium CY - Osaka, Japan DA - 29.08.2023 KW - Bridge KW - Non destructive testing and evaluation KW - Concrete KW - Validation PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-58327 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Johann, Sergej A1 - Hofmann, Detlef A1 - Sturm, Patrick A1 - Stamm, Michael A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Multi-sensory monitoring and ultrasound for quality assurance at underground sealing structures N2 - Within the safety concepts of underground disposal sites of nuclear waste, engineered barriers play an important role. As these sealing structures have high demands concerning integrity, we aim at advancing the available construction materials, monitoring, and inspection techniques within the project SealWasteSafe. A specifically developed alkali-activated material is compared to classical salt concrete. A comprehensive multi-sensory monitoring scheme is used at 150-340 l specimens to monitor setting and hardening of both materials. All sensors are demonstrated to resist the highly alkaline environments. Besides cabled and wireless temperature and humidity of the materials, strain variations using fibre optic sensors and acoustic emissions are recorded over periods of at least 28 days, partly for more than eight months. After hardening of the specimens, further nondestructive evaluations using ultrasonic echo and thermographic measurements are conducted. Preliminary results proof the suitability of the tested sensors and clearly highlight differences between the tested materials. Particularly, the newly developed alkali-activated material shows lower acoustic emission activity indicating less cracking activity. Additionally, unique ultrasonic methods will enable better images of potential internal objects and cracks at in-situ sealing structures. A largescale ultrasonic system is optimised to reliably detect objects at a depth exceeding 9 m while still obtaining a good resolution. Modelling studies show the potential of further increasing the distance between individual transducer arrays. Additionally, a new ultrasonic borehole probe using phased arrays allowing for beam focussing is constructed and tested. Laboratory measurements at a halfcylindrical concrete specimen coincide well with the previous modelling. In total, the presented safe materials, detailed monitoring approaches and ultrasonic quality assurance methods will help to obtain safe sealing structures within salt as a host rock. The concepts can partly be transferred to sealing structures in alternative host rocks and will also be valuable for non-nuclear waste repositories. T2 - NDE NucCon CY - Espoo, Finland DA - 25.01.2023 KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Engineered barriers KW - Monitoring KW - Embedded sensors KW - Ultrasonic imaging PY - 2023 SP - 2 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-56928 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Nuclear concrete, and how to live with it more easy using NDE N2 - This keynote presentation compiles the specialities of civil engineering compared to other disciplines, of NDT in civil engineering compared to other filds of NDT and the specific challenges of applications in the nuclear energy and disposal sector. T2 - NucCon 2023 CY - Espoo, Finland DA - 25.01.2023 KW - NDT KW - Concrete KW - Nuclear PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-56912 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Introduction to BAM and ultrasonics (and GPR) in civil engineering N2 - This presentation gives anoverview about BAM, its department 8 and in particular its division 8.2 "NDT methods for civil engineering". The focus is on methods and applications with a geoscientific context, such as methods adopted from geophysics or NDT method applied in a geological environment. T2 - GTK (Geological Survey of Finland) Semninar CY - Espoo, Finland DA - 20.01.2023 KW - NDT KW - Ultrasound KW - Radar KW - Geophysics KW - Concrete PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-56911 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Ultrasonic Investigation for the Quality Assurance of Sealing Structures in Radioactive Waste Repositories N2 - The structural integrity of sealing structures in underground repositories for radioactive waste is a major concern regarding safe disposal. Non-destructive testing plays a very important role in the safety of this sealing structures. Ultrasonic pulse echo technology has been established in the construction industry as a non-destructive testing method for locating potential defects and material characterization of concrete structures. A borehole probe is an ultrasonic pulse-echo device used to investigate the internal structures of salt concrete. A prototype borehole probe is successfully demonstrated with the existing research borehole in the test site using a commercially available flaw detector. A novel phased array borehole probe that allows the beam to be focused based on the delay law was constructed and tested. The directivity measurements on the semi-cylindrical concrete sample agree well with the simulation results for the different focusing angles. In combination with geophysical reconstruction methods, the optimized radiation pattern of the probe is expected to improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. In addition, a unique large aperture ultrasound system (LAUS) is expected to provide enhanced images of possible cracks and embedded objects in in-situ structures. LAUS will be optimized to reliably detect objects at depths greater than 9 m and, at the same time, provide good resolution. Modeling studies show the potential to increase the distance between the transducer arrays further, and the same configuration has been successfully tested on a thick concrete wall. Overall, the paper shows that quality assurance using ultrasonic testing is crucial for constructing safe sealing structures to dispose of radioactive or toxic waste. T2 - NDE 2022 CY - Gandhinagar, India DA - 24.12.2022 KW - Ultrasonic Testing KW - Engineered barrier KW - Phased array technique KW - Non-destructive testing civil engineering KW - Quality assurance PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56802 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Construction and validation of a novel phased array borehole probe for ultrasonic investigations at sealing structures in radioactive repositories N2 - A new type of ultrasonic borehole probe is currently under development for the quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The goal is to examine the sealing structures made of salt concrete for possible cracks, delamination, and embedded objects. Earlier prototype probes use 12 or 16 individual dry point contact (DPC) horizontal shear wave transducers grouped into a transmitter and a receiver array, each made up of six or eight individual transducers. They are operated with a commercially available portable ultrasonic flaw detector used in the civil engineering industry. To increase the generated sound pressure of the borehole probe, the number of transducers in the novel probe is increased to 32. In addition, timed excitation of each probe is used to direct a focused sound beam to a specific angle and distance based on calculated time delays. Hence, the sensitive test volume is limited, and the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals is improved. This paper presents the validation of the newly developed phased array borehole probe by beam computation in CIVA software and experimental investigations on a semi-cylindrical test specimen to investigate the directional characteristics. In combination with geophysical reconstruction techniques, an optimised radiation pattern of the probe is expected to improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. This is of great importance for the construction of safe sealing structures needed for the disposal of radioactive or toxic waste. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Borehole probe KW - Phased array technique KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Monitoring KW - Engineered barrier; PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-568016 SN - 1435-4934 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56801 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Epple, Niklas A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Fontoura Barroso, Daniel T1 - Coda Wave Interferometry for Monitoring Bridges with Embedded Ultrasonic Transducers – Lessons Learned at the Gänstorbrücke Bridge Ulm, Germany N2 - Ultrasonic Coda Wave interferometry has the potential to detect minute changes in scattering materials like concrete. By permanently installing ultrasonic transducers in concrete, DFG Research unit CoDA aims to develop methods for concrete damage assessment in Germany's aging infrastructure. To test the methods developed in simulations and laboratory experiments on a large scale, we have implemented several ultrasonic transducers at the Gänstorbrücke Ulm, one of Germany's most monitored road bridges. Since fall 2020 we are monitoring parts of the center of the Bridge, as well as an abutment, and compare the results to the commercial monitoring system. All data is recorded with a self-made data collection device, the so-called W-Box, and analyzed with different coda wave-based algorithms to detect signal and volumetric velocity changes. The long-term measurements show that the influence of temperature changes on strains and therefore ultrasound velocity changes calculated with coda waves can be monitored. The capabilities and limitations of the coda wave-based monitoring system are tested in a controlled experiment. Static loading using a truck with varying loads at several positions allows the calibration of the system to improve the detectability of possibly damaging loads and changes induced by this loading. A map of velocity change analyzing data from this load experiment shows that the influence of load on the material and strain distribution can be detected with array measurements. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 - The International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Coda Wave Interferometry KW - Ultrasound KW - Embedded sensors KW - Bridge Monitoring KW - Load Experiment PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-564531 SP - 1 EP - 8 AN - OPUS4-56453 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Imani, A. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Nondestructive Evaluation of Bridges without Structural Plans for Load Rating Purposes N2 - According to the NBI database, more than 21,000 in-service U.S. bridges lack sufficient structural documentation necessary for analytical load rating. Among these are a significant proportion of older prestressed concrete bridges. Given the lack of documentation on the reinforcing layout, such structures cannot be load rated analytically and are often subject to engineering judgement as the basis for rating. Otherwise, the typical approach for load rating such bridges is to conduct costly proof load testing and destructive probing together with making conservative assumptions. Therefore, any improvement to current practices will benefit DOTs and taxpayers alike. Accurately reconstructed 3D images of the girders to reflect the internal reinforcement could mitigate the need for costly, if not impractical, destructive testing and proof load testing, and help reduce dependency on conservative assumptions. This study examines a comprehensive NDE approach using ultrasonic tomography and GPR to aid in gathering structural information for load rating purposes. Different types of AASHTO and hollow core girders were tested. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Ultrasound KW - Radar KW - Bridges KW - Load rating PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56356 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Landis, E. A1 - Hassefras, Emiel A1 - Oesch, Tyler A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - A Microstructural Basis for Diffuse Ultrasound in Concrete N2 - Attenuation of ultrasonic signals in concrete has the potential to carry much information about the microstructure of the material. In this work a series of concrete specimens of varying porosities and pore size distributions were internally imaged with x-ray computed tomography (CT), and then subsequently examined with throughtransmission ultrasound. The CT images were used to quantify both capillary porosity of cement paste as well as internal interfaces that are likely to produce elastic wave scattering. Ultrasound signals were represented as a diffusion process such that absorption and scattering attenuation could be isolated. As implemented, the diffusion model was a poor predictor of capillary porosity, while diffusivity was a reasonable predictor of scattering interfaces. Diffusivity was found to scale extremely well with small scale porosity, which made it a good predictor of compressive strength. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Concrete KW - X-ray tomography KW - Ultrasound PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563371 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/61592_manuscript.pdf SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56337 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabe, U. A1 - Pudovikov, S. A1 - Herrmann, H.-G. A1 - Wiggenhauser, H. A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Evaluation of retroreflective corner echo for detection of surface breaking cracks in concrete by ultrasound N2 - The retroreflective corner echo is used, for example, in ultrasonic non-destructive testing of metals to find fatigue cracks in tubes or shafts. If the much weaker crack tip signal is additionally detected, the crack length can also be determined. A corner reflection occurs in cases of surface breaking cracks with predominantly perpendicular orientation to the surface. The intensity of the corner reflection depends on the angle of incidence and on the ultrasonic wave mode used. For the reliable detection of vertical surface breaking cracks in metals, transversal waves are commonly used, which propagate at an angle of 37° to 53° to the inspection surface. As shown in this contribution, the wide spread low frequency ultrasonic arrays with dry point contact sources available for ultrasonic testing of concrete also allow to receive corner echoes. These devices generate transversal waves in concrete structures with a large divergence of the sound field. A series of experiments was carried out with such dry point contact arrays on concrete specimens with artificial test defects and controlled induced cracks of different depths. The ultrasonic time-of-flight signals were recorded, exported and reconstructed utilising the SAFT (Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique) algorithm. The SAFT reconstruction parameters were adjusted to visualize the corner echo indication. As will be shown, with this targeted processing, the reproducible detection of surface breaking cracks in concrete is possible. The retroreflective corner echo can thus be exploited in civil engineering for non-destructive inspection of concrete. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Concrete KW - Crack depth KW - Ultrasound KW - SAFT PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563365 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/27256_manuscript.pdf IS - 27256 SP - 1 EP - 4 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56336 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Muon tomography applied to assessment of concrete structures: First experiments and simulations. N2 - Non-destructive techniques for reinforced or prestressed concrete inspection such as ultrasound or radar have found regular, successful practical application but sometimes suffer from limited resolution and accuracy, imaging artefacts or restrictions in detecting certain features. Until the 1980s X-ray transmission was used in case of special demands and showed a much better resolution than other NDT techniques. However, due to safety concerns and cost issues, this method is almost never used anymore. Muon tomography has received much attention recently. Novel detectors for cosmic muons and tomographic imaging algorithms have opened new fields of application. As a first step towards practical application in civil engineering and as a proof of concept we used an existing system to image the interior of a reference reinforced 600 kg concrete block. Even with a yet not optimized setup for this kind of investigation, the muon imaging results are at least of similar quality compared to ultrasonic and radar imaging, potentially even better. In a second step, we have performed simulations to assess the potential for a set of important testing problems such as grouting defects in tendon ducts. The next steps include the development of mobile detectors and optimizing acquisition and imaging parameters. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Muon tomography KW - Concrete KW - Inspection KW - Simulation PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56323 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - PREDIS The pre-disposal management of radioactive waste N2 - This presentation summarizes the opbjectives and the progress of the EURATOM project PREDIS (pre-disposal management of radioactive waste) and its workpackage 7 in particular. Focus is on the development of wireless sensors for monitoring radioactive waste packages, measuring radiation, temperature, pressure and humidity. T2 - DigiDecom 2022 CY - Halden, Norway DA - 18.10.2022 KW - Radioactive waste KW - Monitoring KW - Wireless KW - RFID PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56321 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Arndt, R.W. A1 - Grosse, C.U, A1 - Maehner, D. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Taffe, A. A1 - Algernon, D. A1 - Berger, J. A1 - Kessler, S. A1 - Krueger, M. A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine A1 - Ufermann-Wallmeier, D. A1 - Walther, A. T1 - Non-destructive testing in civil engineering: A memorandum for teaching at German-speaking universities N2 - This contribution summarizes actual developments and draft fundamental teaching topics in the field of nondestructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). It is based on the first memorandum on teaching and research in the field of NDT-CE at German speaking universities and provides an overview of the academic education and highlights possible focuses, especially in teaching but also takes into account noteworthy developments and topics in research in the field of NDT-CE. Suggestions are given for the development and advancement of the teaching curricula in regards to a comprehensive and sound professional education of students in civil engineering and adjacent disciplines. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Curriculum KW - NDT-CE KW - University KW - Competencies PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563269 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/61547_manuscript.pdf SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56326 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Abraham, O. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Schmidt, F. A1 - Sörensen, J.D. A1 - Thöns, S. A1 - Chapeleau, X. A1 - Ferria, H. T1 - Infrastar Training School on Fatigue and Reliability Analysis of Structures - Training for Assessment of Risk N2 - The Infrastar training school provides lectures and hands-on training to Master and PhD students, early-stage researchers and (young) professionals on all aspects of asset management of civil infrastructures with respect to fatigue of materials. It is organized yearly since 2019 and up to 20 profiles are selected to attend the 3.5-day training. A team of 7 teachers provides insight in multi-disciplinary and intersectoral basic concepts in three core fields, ranging from the design to the dismantling of the structures (bridges and wind turbines): 1. Monitoring and auscultation, 2. Structural and action models, 3. Reliability, risk and decision analyses. Each year, a recognized expert is invited to deliver a keynote lecture to raise interest in a specific aspect of one of the fields covered. The presentation is recorded and published on the training school website. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Doctoral School KW - Multidisciplinary KW - Fatigue KW - Reliability PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563253 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/61021_manuscript.pdf SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56325 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schumacher, T. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Combining Passive and Active Ultrasonic Stress Wave Monitoring Techniques: Opportunities for Condition Evaluation of Concrete Structures N2 - Concrete structures are invaluable assets to a society and managing them efficiently and effectively can be supported by information gathered through structural health monitoring (SHM). In this paper, a combined approach based on passive, i.e., acoustic emission (AE), and active, i.e., ultrasonic stress wave (USW) monitoring techniques for application to concrete structures is proposed and evaluated. While AE and USW are based on the same underlying physics, i.e., wave motion in solids, they differ fundamentally with respect to the nature of the source. For the former, external stimuli such as mechanical loads or temperature cause the rapid release of energy from initially unknown locations. As a result, AE events are unique and cannot be repeated. For the latter, a known source at a known location is employed at a specified time. This approach is thus controlled and repeatable. It is argued that a combination of these two techniques has the potential to provide a more comprehensive picture of ongoing fracture processes, damage progression, as well as slowly occurring aging and degradation mechanisms. This combined approach does thus promise new opportunities to support condition assessment of concrete structures. After providing an overview and comparison of the two techniques, results, and observations from a full-scale laboratory experiment and an in-service bridge monitoring study are discussed to demonstrate the promise of the proposed combined monitoring approach. Finally, suggestions for further work are presented. T2 - NDT-CE 2022 CY - Zurich, Switzerland DA - 16.08.2022 KW - Ultrasound KW - Acoustic emission KW - Concrete structures KW - Monitoring PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563242 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/61607_manuscript.pdf SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56324 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -