TY - JOUR A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Wolf, Julia A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Wiggenhauser, Herbert A1 - Pirskawetz, Stephan T1 - Embedded ultrasonic transducers for active and passive concrete monitoring N2 - Recently developed new transducers for ultrasonic transmission, which can be embedded right into concrete, are now used for non-destructive permanent monitoring of concrete. They can be installed during construction or thereafter. Large volumes of concrete can be monitored for changes of material properties by a limited number of transducers. The transducer design, the main properties as well as installation procedures are presented. It is shown that compressional waves with a central frequency of 62 kHz are mainly generated around the transducer's axis. The transducer can be used as a transmitter or receiver. Application examples demonstrate that the transducers can be used to monitor concrete conditions parameters (stress, temperature, …) as well as damages in an early state or the detection of acoustic events (e.g., crack opening). Besides application in civil engineering our setups can also be used for model studies in geosciences. KW - Ultrasound KW - Transmission KW - Concrete KW - Damages KW - Cracks KW - Stress KW - Monitoring KW - Acoustic emission KW - Transducers KW - Coda wave interferometry PY - 2015 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-345632 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/s150509756 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 15 IS - 5 SP - 9756 EP - 9772 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-34563 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiggenhauser, Herbert A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Innovative ultrasonic techniques for inspection and monitoring of large concrete structures N2 - Ultrasonic echo and transmission techniques are used in civil engineering on a regular basis. New sensors and data processing techniques have lead to many new applications in the structural investigation as well as quality control. But concrete structures in the nuclear sector have special features and parameters, which pose problems for the methods and instrumentation currently available, e.g. extreme thickness, dense reinforcement, steel liners or special materials. Several innovative ultrasonic techniques have been developed to deal with these issues at least partly in lab experiments and pilot studies. Modern imaging techniques as multi-offset SAFT have been used e. g. to map delaminations. Thick concrete walls have successfully been inspected, partly through a steel liner. Embedded ultrasonic sensors have been designed which will be used in monitoring networks of large concrete structures above and below ground. In addition, sensitive mathematical methods as coda wave interferometry have been successfully evaluated to detect subtle changes in material properties. Examples of measurements and data evaluation are presented. KW - Automated scanning systems KW - Multi-Offset Array KW - Enhanced Imaging KW - Embedded ultrasonic sensors PY - 2013 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-290513 DO - https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20135604004 SN - 2100-014X VL - 56 SP - 04004-1 EP - 04004-9 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis AN - OPUS4-29051 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Baensch, Franziska A1 - Hofmann, Detlef A1 - Johann, Sergej A1 - Tiebe, Carlo A1 - Basedau, Frank A1 - Sturm, Patrick A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Multi-sensor conception for safe sealing structures in underground repositories N2 - The project "SealWasteSafe" of the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM, Berlin) deals with sealing structures applied for underground disposal of nuclear waste from two perspectives: (1) material improvement for application in sealing constructions and (2) feasibility study regarding multi-sensor approaches to ensure quality assurance and long-term monitoring. One specimen of 150 l made of alkali-activated material, which was found innovative and suitable for sealing constructions based on preliminary laboratory studies, and, for comparison purpose, another one made of salt concrete, are manufactured with an integrated multi-sensory setup for quality assurance and long-term-monitoring. The specimens were left in their cast form and additionally thermally insulated to simulate the situation in the repository. The multi-sensory concept comprises RFID technology embedded in the specimens suppling material temperature and moisture measurements, integrated fibre optic sensing allowing strain measurement and acoustic emission testing for monitoring possible crack formation. Overall, the suitability and the functionality of the sensors embedded into and attached to strongly alkaline (pH > 13 for the AAM) and salt corrosive (NaCl) environment was proven for the first 672 h. First temperature measurement based on RFID succeeded after 626 h for the alkali-activated material and after 192 h for the conventional salt concrete. Strain measurement based on distributed fibre optic sensing turned out the alkali-activated material with > 1 mm m-1 undergoing approximately twice the compression strain as the salt concrete with strains < 0.5 mm m-1. In contrast, the acoustic emission first and single hits representing crack formation in numbers, was found for alkali-activated material half of that detected at the salt concrete. T2 - SMIRT 26 CY - Berlin/Potsdam, Germany DA - 10.07.2022 KW - SealWasteSafe KW - Monitoring KW - Acoustic emission KW - Fibre optic sensing KW - RFID technology KW - alkali-activated material PY - 2022 SP - 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-55371 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jägle, Eva A1 - Tuladhar, Rujika A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Epple, Niklas A1 - Sanchez Trujillo, Camila Andrea A1 - Gehlen, Christoph A1 - Timothy, Jithender J. T1 - Evaluation of ultrasonic signals collected from laboratory concrete specimens: Preprocessing and analysis with coda wave interferometry N2 - Efficient maintenance of infrastructure relies on monitoring and assessment of its condition. New technologies and methods thereby enable a deeper understanding of the materials used and of the structures built. Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) is currently explored for continuous monitoring of reinforced concrete structures as well as material testing. This ultrasound-based method is sensitive to even small material alterations and therefore suitable for the detection of initial damage stages. Herein, a step-by-step procedure for the evaluation of ultrasonic signals with CWI methods is presented. The described procedure is proposed for ultrasonic signals collected with embedded ultrasonic transducers with a center frequency of 50 kHz to 70 kHz from prism-shaped concrete specimen with dimensions of 400 mm x 100 mm x 100 mm. The raw ultrasonic signal, preprocessing and CWI analysis are described and influences of parameters within the analysis are discussed. The presented procedure allows systematic and comparable analysis of ultrasonic signals generated with similar conditions and therefore contributes to the application of CWI methods for structural health monitoring and material testing. KW - Ultrasound KW - Concrete KW - Coda wave interferometry KW - Structural health monitoring PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-656027 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2026.103811 SN - 2215-0161 VL - 16 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-65602 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bijeljic, Jelena A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Concrete performance assessment based on gas permeability testing N2 - Designing of structures with medium to high performance requirements is a demanding and challenging engineering task. Depending on the location and type of the planned structure, various pre-testing methods should be applied. In recent decades, there has been a focus on the durability of concrete. Concrete is a porous material with a relatively thin protective cover layer, making it vulnerable to the penetration of external agents such as carbon dioxide. Gas permeability testing (kT), a relatively new non-destructive method (NDT), should therefore be considered. This paper presents results of gas permeability testing on a set of larger concrete samples made under controlled conditions with some paroperty variations order to find initial kT parameters important for quality assurance. KW - Concrete KW - Permeability KW - Durability KW - Torrent Tester PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.62683/ZRGAF41.2 SN - 3009-4674 VL - 41 IS - 1 SP - 15 EP - 23 PB - Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Nis AN - OPUS4-65715 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kruschwitz, Sabine A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Trela, Christiane A1 - Wöstmann, Jens T1 - Use of complex resistivity tomography for moisture monitoring in a flooded masonry specimen N2 - Moisture ingress is one of the major deteriorating factors for building materials. Today, the only approved way to assess such damage is the gravimetric Darr method, which is essentially destructive. Substantial progress has been made using the geophysical complex-resistivity method, which can be applied non-destructively and provides spatial information along two-dimensional sections, rather than punctual along one borehole. Considerable advantages of complex resistivity are its sensitivity to textural properties, as well as the pore-fluid chemistry of wet, porous media. In a comprehensive laboratory study, and later in field scale experiments, it could be shown that complex resistivity may even be able to distinguish between salt content and saturation degree in a single measurement. A comparison with complementary nondestructive testing techniques points to the benefit and further research to be explored in multimethodical approaches. KW - Moisture KW - Salt KW - Masonry KW - Damage KW - Electrical resistivity KW - Radar KW - Radiography KW - Microwaves KW - Ground-penetrating radar KW - Microwave transmission PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000053 SN - 1076-0342 SN - 1943-555X VL - 18 IS - 1 (Special issue) SP - 2 EP - 11 CY - New York, NY AN - OPUS4-29536 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Helmerich, Rosemarie A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Trela, Christiane A1 - Bien, J. A1 - Kaminski, T. A1 - Bernardini´, G. T1 - Multi-tool inspection and numerical of an old masonry arch bridge N2 - Complex special inspection of an old masonry arch bridge according to the Guideline on Inspection and Condition Assessment of Railway Bridges and numerical analysis of the structure are presented. The guideline summarises recommendations for the step-by-step investigation of railway bridges applying enhanced methods developed during the EU-funded project Sustainable Bridges. For the investigation of the arch barrel, the ballast parameters and the inner structure of the backfill behind the arch barrel a number of various advanced non-destructive and minor-destructive testing methods were applied. Deformation of the structure during load tests was measured using three independent measuring systems: laser vibrometer, LVDT and microwave radar. Results of calculations performed with 2D and 3D models based on FEM are compared with the field load tests. Sensitivity of the ultimate load of the structure to investigated parameters is studied in FE model. Some general conclusions according to methods of testing and modelling of masonry arch bridges are presented and discussed. KW - Masonry bridges KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Bridge inspection KW - Finite element method PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/15732471003645666 SN - 1573-2479 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - 27 EP - 39 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-27425 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -