TY - JOUR A1 - Timofeev, Juri A1 - Azari, H. A1 - Satyanarayana, R. T1 - Controlled Creating of Delaminations in Concrete for Nondestructive Testing N2 - Locating and sizing delaminations is a common inspection task in the maintenance and quality control of construction and rehabilitation. Their detection is an important area of application of nondestructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). To improve this application, NDT test systems and test solutions must be compared, for which specimens containing well-defined delaminations are needed to serve as a reference. Currently, there are no widely accepted procedures available for creating such flaws locally and reproducibly. This study presents procedures for creating artificial delaminations repeatably and as close as possible to natural delaminations. To produce the discontinuities only substances were used which can occur in concrete components and do not affect the application of NDT-CE methods. Ultrasonic pulse-echo (UPE) was used to test the flaws in the specimens. The delaminations were created by applying expansive mortar in prepared through holes. Three specimens with two delaminations each were built and tested using UPE. KW - Concrete KW - Reference KW - Delamination KW - Test specimen KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-595201 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-023-01044-7 SN - 0195-9298 VL - 43 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-59520 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Guangliang, Y. A1 - Mahon, D. A1 - Gardner, S. 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563224 UR - https://www.ndt.net/article/ndtce2022/paper/60943_manuscript.pdf SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - NDT.net AN - OPUS4-56322 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prabhakara, Prathik A1 - Mielentz, Frank A1 - Stolpe, Heiko A1 - Behrens, Matthias A1 - Lay, Vera A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst T1 - Validation of novel ultrasonic phased array borehole probe by using simulation and measurement N2 - Low-frequency ultrasonic testing is a well-established non-destructive testing (NDT) method in civil engineering for material characterization and the localization of cracks, reinforcing bars and delamination. A novel ultrasonic borehole probe is developed for in situ quality assurance of sealing structures in radioactive waste repositories using existing research boreholes. The aim is to examine the sealing structures made of salt concrete for any possible cracks and delamination and to localize built-in components. A prototype has been developed using 12 individual horizontal dry point contact (DPC) shear wave transducers separated by equidistant transmitter/receiver arrays. The probe is equipped with a commercially available portable ultrasonic flaw detector used in the NDT civil engineering industry. To increase the sound pressure generated, the number of transducers in the novel probe is increased to 32 transducers. In addition, the timed excitation of each transducer directs a focused beam of sound to a specific angle and distance based on the previously calculated delay time. This narrows the sensitivity of test volume and improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals. In this paper, the newly designed phased array borehole probe is validated by beam computation in the CIVA software and experimental investigations on a half-cylindrical test specimen to investigate the directional characteristics. In combination with geophysical reconstruction methods, it is expected that an optimised radiation pattern of the probe will improve the signal quality and thus increase the reliability of the imaging results. This is an important consideration for the construction of safe sealing structures for the safe disposal of radioactive or toxic waste. KW - Ultrasound KW - Phased array KW - Concrete KW - Borehole PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-565722 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/s22249823 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 22 IS - 24 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-56572 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 - JOUR A1 - Pittrich, Tim A1 - Weise, Frank A1 - Stelzner, Ludwig T1 - The impact of blended cements on the spalling behavior of concrete at elevated temperatures: a review N2 - The cement and concrete industries are striving to reduce the CO2 emissions caused by the production of Portland cement. An effective way to achieve this is to replace Portland cement clinker with more environmentally friendly supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to produce blended cements. A variety of different SCMs are used today, from fly ash to more exotic options such as rice husk ash or waste glass powder. Depending on its material properties, concrete exposed to fire may experience spalling caused by thermomechanical and thermohydraulic mechanisms. Severe spalling leads to a reduction in the cross-section and exposure of the reinforcement, jeopardizing the load-bearing capacity of the concrete element. The use of blended cements changes the concrete properties which can affect spalling behavior at high temperatures. The link between high temperature and spalling behavior of concrete with blended cements has been investigated in several studies. A review of the existing literature led to the conclusion that the cement type influences the spalling behavior of concrete. However, the relationship does not appear to be clear, as there are contradictions and inconsistencies between the evaluated results. Therefore, further in-depth studies will help to gain a more precise understanding of the effects of blended cements on the spalling behavior of concrete at elevated temperatures. KW - Fire-induced concrete spalling KW - Concrete KW - Blended cements KW - SCM KW - Filler PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-635182 DO - https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-025-02713-x SN - 1359-5997 VL - 58 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 21 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-63518 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Ramírez, A. A1 - Crasselt, C. A1 - Schmidt, W. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Utilizing optical spectroscopy and 2',7'-difluorofluorescein to characterize the early stages of cement hydration N2 - The increasingly sophisticated nature of modern, more environmentally friendly cementitious binders requires a better understanding and control particularly of the complex, dynamic processes involved in the early phase of cement hydration. In-situ monitoring of properties of a constantly changing system over a defined period of time calls for simple, sensitive, fast, and preferably also non-invasive methods like optical spectroscopy KW - Flourescence KW - Optical probe KW - Sensor KW - Dye KW - Flourescin KW - Photophysics KW - PH KW - Quantum yield KW - Quality assurance KW - Mechanism KW - Cement KW - Concrete KW - Building material KW - Hydration KW - Process monitoring PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-537176 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2050-6120/ac2da0 SN - 2050-6120 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 2 EP - 13 PB - IOP Science AN - OPUS4-53717 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dominguez-Bureos, Marco A1 - Sens-Schönfelder, Christoph A1 - Niederleithinger, Ernst A1 - Hadziioannou, Céline T1 - Stress- and Time-dependent Variations of Elastic Properties for Integrity Assessment in a Reinforced Concrete Test Bridge N2 - In lab experiments, it has been observed that the stress–and time-dependent elastic properties of a complex material at a structural scale perform accordingly to its composition at a microstructural level. We seek complementary practices to the current wavefield-based non-destructive testing techniques to assess not only the integrity level of civil structures but also the microstructural elements that contribute to it. In this paper, we study the systematic evolution of elastic properties of concrete as an alternative to investigate the density of micro imperfections in an outdoor-conditioned concrete structure. We estimate 5-second relative velocity changes in four locations on a Test bridge subjected to the action of vertical impulsive sources, at different prestressing levels (dynamic effects at different static conditions). We describe the structure’s stress- and time-dependent elastic response by means of acoustoelastic effect and Slow-dynamic processes, respectively. We also estimate the conventional ultrasound pulse velocity and perform a cooperative integrity analysis of the structure using the three elastic phenomena. Our findings reveal: 1) The presence of soft microstructures and their orientation’s influence on the acoustoelastic effect and Slow-dynamics in field-conditioned concrete structures. 2) The relation of low ultrasound pulse velocities with high acoustoelastic effect and high magnitudes and variability of Slow-dynamics. 3) Different elastic behaviours on the north and south spans of the bridge, suggesting different heterogeneity levels on the analysed locations of the concrete beam. KW - Concrete KW - Ultrasound KW - Nonlinear KW - Elastic properties KW - Damage PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-640064 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-025-01257-y SN - 0195-9298 VL - 44 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-64006 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 - 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 - JOUR A1 - Ukrainczyk, Neven A1 - Bernard, Thomas A1 - Babaahmadi, Arezou A1 - Huang, Liming A1 - Zausinger, Christoph A1 - Soive, Anthony A1 - Bonnet, Stéphanie A1 - Georget, Fabien A1 - Mrak, Maruša A1 - Dolenec, Sabina A1 - Völker, Tobias A1 - Suraneni, Prannoy A1 - Wilson, William T1 - Test methods for chloride diffusivity of blended cement pastes: a review by RILEM TC 298-EBD N2 - The use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) is an important part of the roadmap for reducing CO2 emissions and extending the service life of reinforced concrete structures. To accelerate the adoption of SCMs, the RILEM Technical Committee 298-EBD evaluates scaled-down cement paste test methods to assess the effect of SCM on resistance to chloride and sulfate ingress and reactivity, which are critical to concrete durability. This review focuses on methods for measuring chloride diffusivity and is divided into four sections: diffusivity models and parameters, diffusion test methods (including NMR and chloride measurements), migration test methods and implications for future research. Key insights highlight the complexities of multi-species ionic and molecular diffusion/migration, including various binding interactions, and compares the different measurement methodologies. The review also addresses the test scale and aggregate effects, noting the pros and cons of testing at the paste, mortar, and concrete scales. The review underscores the need for further investigation into testing protocols and the influence of SCM on chloride diffusion, emphasizing that comprehensive testing across different scales provides complementary information for assessing durability performance. KW - Chloride ingress KW - Diffusion tests KW - Migration test KW - Cement paste KW - Concrete KW - Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-645889 DO - https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-025-02809-4 SN - 1359-5997 VL - 58 IS - 10 SP - 1 EP - 35 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-64588 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -