TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Ultrasonic monitoring of structural concrete elements N2 - Ultrasonic transmission measurements are used to monitor concrete elements mostly on a laboratory scale since decades. Recently, coda wave interferometry, a technique adapted from seismology, has been introduced to civil engineering experiments. It can be used to reveal subtle changes in concrete samples and even large construction elements without having a transducer directly at the location where the change is taking place. The methodology works best with embedded transducers to avoid coupling issues or excessive environmental influence. These transducers can be used for newly built and existing structures. Recently, large concrete beams have been equipped with a network of transducers and loaded until failure. Using code wave interferometry, it was possible to visualize stress fields and damaged areas. This paper gives an overview of the state of the art, recent results achieved at BAM and a task list for further results and development. T2 - International Conference on Sustainable Materials, Systems and Structures (SMSS 2019) CY - Rovinj, Croatia DA - 20.03.2019 KW - Concrete KW - Ultrasound KW - Monitoring KW - coda wave interferometry PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-47676 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Effner, Ute A1 - Maack, Stefan A1 - Scott, David A1 - Villalobos, Salvador T1 - Ultrasonic methods for quality assurance and condition assessment in nuclear concrete structures – lessons learned N2 - Ultrasonic non-destructive testing methods have found various applications in quality assurance and condition assessment of nuclear concrete structures. This includes but is not limited to the localization of construction features (thickness measurements, reinforcement, tendon ducts, and others) and damage detection (e. g. corrosion or cracks). However, there are still limitations, e. g. limited penetration depth and resolution, issues when testing hybrid steel/concrete structures as well as absence of standards and regulations. This presentation will show progress in some of these issues and will focus on advanced instrumentation and validation of ultrasonic NDT for concrete structures. Ultrasonic echo testing has been limited to a penetration depth of less than one meter in reinforced concrete. The development of the LAUS (Large Aperture Ultrasonic System), using a large array of ultrasonic transducers and wider offsets between transmitter and receiver, allows to reach up to 5 m in reinforced concrete and 9 m in unreinforced concrete. This capability has been demonstrated by collecting data from an engineered salt concrete barrier in an underground nuclear waste storage facility. Due to an increasingly competitive environment, commercial manufacturers will continue to develop equipment with enhanced penetration and/or increased resolution. To quantify the capabilities and reliability of ultrasonic tests, validation mockups with engineered flaws are required. EPRI and BAM have built a large-scale mockup at a test site close to Berlin (BAM-TTS, Horstwalde) using a design which is repeated at other places. This presentation will also cover the methods deployed on engineered flaws and the repeatability of the test results. T2 - NDE in Nuclear CY - Charlotte, NC, USA DA - 25.7.2019 KW - Concrete KW - Nuclear Structures KW - Ultrasound PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48690 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Ultrasonic methods for concrete: To boldly see, what we have not seen before N2 - This keynote talk at NDE 2019 discusses specific progress in ultrasonic testing of concrete structures. A deep penetration instrument (LAUS) is introduced as well as advanced imaging methods adopted from geophysics and new approaches to ultrasonic monitoring. T2 - NDE 2019 CY - Bangalore, India DA - 05.12.2019 KW - NDT KW - Concrete KW - Ultrasound KW - Imaging KW - Monitoring PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-50170 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Seismic methods to test concrete strcutures N2 - Seismic methods are increasingly used to improve ultrasonic imaging and monitoring of concrete. At BAM, we are research mainly the use of Reverse Time Migration to get better images from ultrasonic echo data of thick, complex concrete structures. Coda wave interferometry is used to detect subtle changes in concrete constructions, e. g. using embedded ultasonic transducers. T2 - Geophysikalisches Seminar der Universität Potsdam CY - Potsdam,. Germany DA - 25.01.2019 KW - Concrete KW - Ultrasound KW - Monitoring KW - Imaging PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-47302 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Abraham, O. A1 - Larose, E. T1 - A review on ultrasonic monitoring of concrete: coda wave interferometry and beyond N2 - The propagation of ultrasonic waves in concrete is affected by its micro- and macro-structure, geometry and properties as well as external influences as stress, temperature or moisture. In addition, age and degradation have a strong influence. Therefore, Ultrasound has been used to monitor concrete samples and structures since decades. However, early applications using conventional techniques as time-of flight or changes in amplitudes have been limited to detect changes in a late stage close to serviceability or ultimate load states. Around 2000, several new, more sensitive techniques adopted from geophysics or other field of material sciences have been introduced to research in ultrasonic monitoring of concrete. The most discussed methodologies are coda wave interferometry, a technique which allows to detect very subtle changes from repeated ultrasonic measurements. Nonlinear acoustic techniques help to identify e. g. cracks even in an inhomogeneous background. Both techniques can be combined. This paper reviews methods and results achieved so far on the laboratory scale and with full scale models the directions for future research and application is given as well. T2 - QNDE 2019 CY - Portland, OR, USA DA - 14.07.2019 KW - Ultrasound KW - Coda wave interferometry KW - Concrete KW - Nonlinear KW - Monitoring PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48688 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -