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- 2019 (25) (entfernen)
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- Concrete (11)
- Monitoring (8)
- Ultrasound (8)
- NDT (5)
- Coda wave interferometry (3)
- Pile integrity testing (3)
- Air-coupled ultrasound (2)
- Deconvolution (2)
- Defect detection (2)
- Engineered Barrier System (EBS) (2)
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Eingeladener Vortrag
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The reuse of existing foundations is considered in various construction Projects to save time and costs while avoiding unnecessary interference with other underground objects. Because the design and as-built drawings might not be complete and questions may arise regarding the condition of the foundations, a detailed investigation is a prerequisite for the planning process in most cases. Nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques are a core part of this endeavor.
The processes and procedure for foundation reuse planning are not yet standardized, and the possibilities and limitations of NDT methods are not known to many planners and stakeholders. The German research Project REFUND (2014–2016) has developed charts for the planning and Investigation process that consider available standards and the current state of the art in NDT.
These charts are separately available for single and strip, slab, and pile foundations. Available NDT methods have been compiled and evaluated for specific tasks at these foundation types, including their respective limitations.
The procedures have been successfully tested in two real-world projects. The results from these projects enable planners to improve the reliability of the process while potentially saving significant resources. This paper discusses the procedures for pile foundations and demonstrates the use of various NDT methods in a project on the reuse of electrical tower foundations.
In this study, an Impulse Response Function analysis of pile response to sine-sweep excitation by a low cost, portable Shaker was used to identify defects in piles. In straightforward impact-echo methods, echoes from the pile toe and defects are visible in the time domain measurements. However, these echoes are not present in the time domain records of piles subjected to sine-sweep excitations, due to interactions between the input and output signals. For this reason, the impulse response function in the time domain has been calculated and is able to identify the echoes from pile impedance changes. The proposed methodology has been evaluated both numerically and experimentally. A one-dimensional pile-soil interaction system was developed, and a finite difference method used to calculate the pile response to sine-sweep excitation. The numerical simulations indicate that impulse response measurements with a synthesized logarithmic, sine-sweep excitation could be an effective tool for detecting defects in piles. The methodology was further tested with field trials on 6 cast in situ concrete test piles including 1 intact pile and 5 defective piles subjected to sine-sweep excitations by a shaker. In 5 of the 6 cases the echoes from the pile toe could be identified in the deconvoluted waveforms—the impulse Response functions. Damage detection is more difficult and dependent on the selection of the optimal regularization parameter. Further research and optimization of the deconvolution process is needed to evaluate the effectiveness compared to standard pile integrity testing methods.
NDE of foundations
(2019)
This talk teaches the basic princioles and applications of NDT methods for deep foundations, sprecifically piles. A variety of testing methods are discussed (integrity testing, ultrasonic crosshole logging, parallel seismic and others). Capabilities and limitations are given as well as specific hints for practical use.
The detection of delamination, rot and cracks causing a decrease of strength in wooden construction elements is a key task for nondestructive testing (NDT). Air-coupled ultrasound (ACU) is used to detect flaws without having to provide contact to the surface or otherwise affect the object. Novel ferroelectric transducers with a high signal-to-noise ratio enable an accurate flaw detection. Transducers made of cellular polypropylene (PP) are suitable for characterizing wood-based materials (WBM) because their extremely low Young’s modulus and low density mean a favorable acoustic impedance for the transmission of ultrasonic waves between the transducer and air. The transducers can be applied during the production of WBM and during its service life. The device enables a fast in-situ recognition of defects with frequencies between 90 kHz and 250 kHz. Measurements can be performed in through transmission for a high resolution or in pulse-echo technique in case of one-sided access at the expense of reduced signal strength. Ultrasonic quality assurance for wood is an important attempt to increase the acceptance of wooden structures and towards sustainability in civil engineering in general.
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.
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.
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.
Concrete piles are used as a foundation when the load capacity of the soil is insufficient or when the sustainable soil is found at a higher depth. Among other impact factors, the load capacity depends on the pile’s integrity and length.
Therefore, verifying these parameters using adequate methods is recommended. The most common procedure is the low-strain integrity test using the hammer impact method. Developed and established in the 1970s, this method uses stress waves induced by a hammer impact at the pile head and its reflections at impedance changes (length, defects, geometry changes) to estimate the length and defect locations. Although this method is widely used due to its low cost and fast conduction in situ, one disadvantage is its inability to classify the exact type of defect, i.e., crack, change in diameter, or concrete quality. Furthermore, very long and slender piles are difficult to test and small defects cannot be detected. In addition, it is necessary for the test engineer to hold a high level of experience and expertise in this field. The European Union–funded PileInspect project (2013–2016) aimed to compensate for these disadvantages by using a low-cost shaker as the excitation source and sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms for damage detection (higher-order spectra method). Because this technology lacks the capacity to localize damages and verify the pile length, an additional impulse response (IR) measurement technique was developed using vibrational excitation and regularized deconvolution to extract the depth information from the data in a similar manner as the hammer method.
Simulations and subsequent experiments conducted at a test facility on 90-cm-diameter bored piles 11 m in length and containing cracks at approximately 4 m below the pile head confirmed the capacity to determine the pile length.
Damage diagnosis and localization, however, are more difficult than for the hammer method. Although the damaged piles could be distinguished from the intact piles, in a blind test, this method might lead to misinterpretations caused by perturbations arising from the deconvolution process. The results also indicated that the low-cost shaker used for these measurements might be inappropriate for
the transferal of sufficient energy. Although the IR method cannot compensate for the disadvantages of the hammer method by itself, it may enable the possibility of using long and fully controllable and repeatable signals (chirp, synthetic impacts, even noise, etc.) for pile integrity testing in the future.