TY - JOUR A1 - Cotic, Patricia A1 - Jaglicic, Z. A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Stoppel, Markus A1 - Bosiljkov, V. T1 - Image fusion for improved detection of near-surface defects in NDT-CE using unsupervised clustering methods JF - Journal of nondestructive evaluation N2 - The capabilities of non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for defect detection in civil engineering are characterized by their different penetration depth, resolution and sensitivity to material properties. Therefore, in many cases multi-sensor NDT has to be performed, producing large data sets that require an efficient data evaluation framework. In this work an image fusion methodology is proposed based on unsupervised clustering methods. Their performance is evaluated on ground penetrating radar and infrared thermography data from laboratory concrete specimens with different simulated near-surface defects. It is shown that clustering could effectively partition the data for further feature level-based data fusion by improving the detectability of defects simulating delamination, voids and localized water. A comparison with supervised symbol level fusion shows that clustering-based fusion outperforms this, especially in situations with very limited knowledge about the material properties and depths of the defects. Additionally, clustering is successfully applied in a case study where a multi-sensor NDT data set was automatically collected by a self-navigating mobile robot system. KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Concrete KW - Defect detection KW - Data fusion KW - Cluster analysis KW - Image fusion KW - Thermography KW - Radar KW - Ultrasonics KW - Defects PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-014-0232-1 SN - 0195-9298 SN - 1573-4862 VL - 33 IS - 3 SP - 384 EP - 397 PB - Plenum Press CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-33831 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lai Wai-Lok, Wallace A1 - Kind, Thomas A1 - Stoppel, Markus A1 - Wiggenhauser, Herbert T1 - Measurement of accelerated steel corrosion in concrete using ground-penetrating radar and a modified half-cell potential method JF - Journal of infrastructure systems N2 - A new approach is presented to evaluate corrosion of steel bars in concrete by 1.5- and 2.6-GHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and a modified half-cell potential method. Changes in time-lapsed travel times, amplitudes, and peak frequencies that are associated with short-time Fourier transform spectrograms of the bar reflections were continuously measured. The year-long corrosion process of the reinforcement bar rapidly accelerated within a few days by impressing direct current across a pair of embedded reinforcement bars, which served as the anode and cathode. When corrosion started, the travel times, amplitudes, and frequency spectra of the bar reflection changed. The results were analyzed by dividing the material's response into three phases (NaCl contamination, depassivation, and corrosion). The writers attribute the phenomena of the first two phases to the ionic conduction and interfacial polarization effect, described in the low-frequency regime of complex dielectric permittivity outlined in the Maxwell-Wagner effect. The remaining phase corresponds with the appearance of large and multiple interfaces among steel, concrete, corrosion product, and cracks, in addition to the upward movement of the corrosion product to the concrete surface that intercepts wider radar footprints. The findings, based on time lapse measurements, provide a basis to further apply the GPR technique to spatial measurements in laboratory and field studies. KW - Accelerated steel corrosion in concrete KW - Ground-penetrating radar KW - Short-time Fourier transform KW - Half-cell potential PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000083 SN - 1076-0342 SN - 1943-555X IS - June SP - 205 EP - 220 CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-28851 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bartholmai, Matthias A1 - Stoppel, Markus A1 - Petrov, Sergej A1 - Hohendorf, Stefan A1 - Goedecke, Thomas T1 - Two application examples of RFID sensor systems-identification and diagnosis of concrete components and monitoring of dangerous goods transports JF - Acta IMEKO N2 - The combination of RFID tags and energy efficient sensors offers promising potential for identification, diagnosis, and monitoring applications - particularly when it comes to objacts, which require continuous observation and which are difficult to access with conventional tools. This paper presents two examples as an outlook for RFID sensor systems in embedded structures and in mobile applications. KW - RFID sensors systems KW - Diagnosis of concrete components KW - Monitoring of dangerous goods PY - 2015 SN - 2221-870X VL - 4 IS - 2 SP - 85 EP - 89 CY - Braunschweig AN - OPUS4-33608 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -