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"INFRASTAR aims to develop knowledge, expertise and skills for optimal and reliable management of structures. The generic methodology is applied to bridges and wind turbines in relation to fatigue offering the opportunity to deal with complementary notions (such as old and new asset management, unique and similar structures, wind and traffic actions) while addressing 3 major challenges: 1/ advanced modelling of concrete fatigue behaviour, 2/new non destructive testing methods for early aged damage detection and 3/probabilistic approach of structure reliability under fatigue. Benefit of cross-experience and inter-disciplinary synergies creates new knowledge. INFRASTAR proposes innovative solutions for civil infrastructure asset management so that young scientists acquire a high employment profile in close dialogue between industry and academic partners. Modern engineering methods, including probabilistic approaches, risk and reliability assessment tools, will take into account the effective structural behaviour of existing bridges and wind turbines by exploiting monitored data. Existing methods and current state-of -the art is based on excessive conservatism which produces high costs and hinders sustainability. INFRASTAR improves knowledge for optimising the design of new structures, for more realistic verification of structural safety and more accurate prediction of future lifetime of the existing structures. That is a challenge for a sustainable development because it reduces building material and energy consumption as well as CO2 production. Within the global framework of optimal infrastructure asset management, INFRASTAR will result in a multi-disciplinary body of knowledge covering generic problems from the design stage process of the new civil infrastructures up to recycling after dismantlement. This approach and the proposed methods and tools are new and allow a step forward for innovative and effective process."
Decades of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) for the quality assurance of concrete bridges revealed the necessity of developing procedures for building reference specimens for different defects. External objects have been widely used in specimen construction to represent defects. However, embedded materials can alter the actual defect characteristics, interrupting the NDE responses. This study proposes new approaches to fabricating reference specimens for reinforced concrete that feature substantial defects, including cracks, delamination, honeycombing and rebar corrosion, without external objects. As a result, realistic responses can be acquired to identify promising NDE methods for characterising actual deteriorations. The procedures were produced with the intent of being reproducible in any laboratory. Destructive and non-destructive testing methods were performed to verify the effectiveness of the processes in creating defects. This study provides research laboratories with techniques for
fabricating reference specimens for characterising defects and assessing the performance of NDE technologies.
In this communication a novel concept for pH sensing is introduced which is specifically adapted to monitor carbonation induced corrosion in concrete structures. The method is based on a ratiometric measurement principle, exploiting the pH sensitive colour switching of thymol blue in the basic pH regime and the emissive properties of two different (Zn)CdSe/ZnS core shell quantum dots. The transition point of thymol blue in a Hydrogel D4 matrix was determined to be at around pH 11.6, which fits ideally to the intended application. Next to the fundamental spectroscopic characterization of the ratiometric response, a new design for a sensor head, suitable for the incorporation into concrete matrices is presented. Toward this, a manufacturing process was developed which includes the preparation of a double layer of polymers containing either thymol blue or a quantum dot mixture inside a porous ceramic tube. Results of a proof-of-priciple performance test of the sensor head in solutions of different pH and in cement specimens are presented, with encouraging results paving the way for future field tests in concrete.
The assessment of Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI) and Distributed Fiber Optics Sensing (DFOS) techniques for the detection of damages in a laboratory size reinforced concrete beam is presented in this paper. The sensitivity of these two novel techniques to micro cracks is discussed and compared to standard traditional sensors. Moreover, the capacity of a DFOS technique to localize cracks and quantify crack openings is also assessed. The results show that the implementation of CWI and DFOS techniques allow the detection of early subtle changes in reinforced concrete structures until crack formation. With their ability to quantify the crack opening, following early detection and localization, DFOS techniques can achieve more effective monitoring of reinforced concrete structures. Contrary to discrete sensors, CWI and DFOS techniques cover larger areas and thus provide more efficient infrastructures asset management and maintenance operations throughout the lifetime of the structure.
Digitaler Zwilling: Verwaltungsschale BBox als Datenablage über den Lebenszyklus einer Brücke
(2021)
Auf dem Weg zur digitalen Brücke existieren bereits erste Lösungen, die den Lebenszyklus einer Brücke abbilden können. Für die Planung, den Bau und den Unterhalt stehen unterschiedlichste Werkzeuge, z. B. BIM, DIN 1076, SIB-Bauwerke, Monitoring etc. zur Verfügung, die jeweils mit unterschiedlichen Datenformaten arbeiten. Für ein intelligentes Erhaltungsmanagement müssen aber alle Daten mit den verschiedenen Datenformaten zusammengeführt, abgelegt und so verwaltet werden können, dass über den gesamten Lebenszyklus einer Brücke die Abbildung eines ganzheitlichen digitalen Zwillings eines Bauwerks möglich ist. Die Autoren haben dafür mit BBox den Prototyp einer Verwaltungsschale (VWS) auf Grundlage von Industrie 4.0 entwickelt. Damit wird das physikalisch-ingenieurtechnische Modell zur Zustandsbewertung der Brücke in den Mittelpunkt gestellt und der gesamte Lebenszyklus einer Brücke kann unabhängig von Datenformaten digital erfasst werden. Da der Aufbau der VWS durch die Granularität optimal strukturiert ist, bietet die Ablage und Einspeisung von Messdaten sowohl die Grundlage eines Live-Monitorings als auch den Grundstein für maschinelles Lernen (ML). Der Datenzugriff via S3-Schnittstelle erleichtert die Entwicklung von eigenen Prognosemodellen mit Informationsmustern (SHIP – Structural Health Information Pattern). Am Beispiel der Heinrichsbrücke Bamberg wird die praktische intelligente Umsetzung des Bauwerksmonitorings inkl. VWS mit Informationsmustern und ML gezeigt.
Development of an Accurate and Robust Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight Measurement Technique
(2022)
Ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) measurements enable the non-destructive characterization of material parameters as well as the reconstruction of scatterers inside a specimen. The time-consuming and potentially damaging procedure of applying a liquid couplant between specimen and transducer can be avoided by using air-coupled ultrasound. However, to obtain accurate ToF results, the waveform and travel time of the acoustic signal through the air, which are influenced by the ambient conditions, need to be considered. The placement of microphones as signal receivers is restricted to locations where they do not affect the sound field. This study presents a novel method for in-air ranging and ToF determination that is non-invasive and robust to changing ambient conditions or waveform variations. The in-air travel time was determined by utilizing the azimuthal directivity of a laser Doppler vibrometer operated in refracto-vibrometry (RV) mode. The time of entry of the acoustic signal was determined using the autocorrelation of the RV signal. The same signal was further used as a reference for determining the ToF through the specimen in transmission mode via cross-correlation. The derived signal processing procedure was verified in experiments on a polyamide specimen. Here, a ranging accuracy of <0.1 mm and a transmission ToF accuracy of 0.3μs were achieved. Thus, the proposed method enables fast and accurate non-invasive ToF measurements that do not require knowledge about transducer characteristics or ambient conditions.
In ultrasonic testing, material and structural properties of a specimen can be derived from the time-of-flight (ToF). Using signal features, such as the first peak or envelope maximum, to calculate the ToF is error-prone in multipath arrangements or dispersive and attenuating materials, which is not the case for the signal onset. Borrowing from seismology, researchers used the Akaike information criterion (AIC) picker to automatically determine onset times. The most commonly used formulation, Maeda's AIC picker, is reassessed and found to be based on inappropriate assumptions for signals often used in ultrasonic testing and dependent on arbitrary parameters. Consequently, an onset picker for ultrasonic through-transmission measurements is proposed, based on a spectral entropy criterion (SEC) to model the signal using the AIC framework. This SEC picker takes into account the spectral properties of the ultrasonic signal and is virtually free of arbitrary parameters. Synthetic and experimental data are used to compare the performance of SEC and AIC pickers. It is shown that the accuracy of onset picking is improved for densely sampled data.
Air-coupled ultrasonic (ACU) testing has proven to be a valuable method for increasing the speed in non-destructive ultrasonic testing and the investigation of sensitive specimens. A major obstacle to implementing ACU methods is the significant signal power loss at the air–specimen and transducer–air interfaces. The loss between transducer and air can be eliminated by using recently developed fluidic transducers. These transducers use pressurized air and a natural flow instability to generate high sound power signals. Due to this self-excited flow instability, the individual pulses are dissimilar in length, amplitude, and phase. These amplitude and angle modulated pulses offer the great opportunity to further increase the signal-to-noise ratio with pulse compression methods.
In practice, multi-input multi-output (MIMO) setups reduce the time required to scan the specimen surface, but demand high pulse discriminability. By applying envelope removal techniques to the individual pulses, the pulse discriminability is increased allowing only the remaining phase information to be targeted for analysis. Finally, semi-synthetic experiments are presented to verify the applicability of the envelope removal method and highlight the suitability of the fluidic transducer for MIMO setups.
This data article presents characteristic acoustic and flow data of a fluidic ultrasonic transducer as well as acoustic data of a commercial piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer used in non-destructive testing for civil engineering. The flow data has been acquired using hot-wire anemometry and a Pitot tube. The three-dimensional acoustic data of both devices has been acquired using a calibrated microphone. The distribution of characteristic acoustic properties of both transducers are extracted and given in addition to the raw data. The data presented in the article will be a valuable source for reference and validation, both for developing fluidic and alternate ultrasound generation technologies. Furthermore, they will give additional insight into the acoustic-flow interaction phenomena of high speed switching devices. This article is accompanying the paper Experimental Analysis of the Acoustic Field of an Ultrasonic Pulse Induced by a Fluidic Switch (Bühling et al., 2021) published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, where the data is interpreted in detail and the rationale for characteristic sound properties of the fluidic transducer are given.
AbstractAir‐coupled ultrasonic testing (ACU) is a pioneering technique in non‐destructive testing (NDT). While contact testing and fluid immersion testing are standard methods in many applications, the adoption of ACU is progressing slowly, especially in the low ultrasonic frequency range. A main reason for this development is the difficulty of generating high amplitude ultrasonic bursts with equipment that is robust enough to be applied outside a laboratory environment. This paper presents the fluidic ultrasonic transducer as a solution to this challenge. This novel aeroacoustic source uses the flow instability of a sonic jet in a bistable fluidic switch to generate ultrasonic bursts up to 60 kHz with a mean peak pressure of 320 Pa. The robust design allows operation in adverse environments, independent of the operating fluid. Non‐contact through‐transmission experiments are conducted on four materials and compared with the results of conventional transducers. For the first time, it is shown that the novel fluidic ultrasonic transducer provides a suitable acoustic signal for NDT tasks and has potential of furthering the implementation of ACU in industrial applications.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Ultrasonic testing is a widely applied measurement method in materials research and medicine. Commonly, a transducer is coupled to the specimen directly or via a liquid coupling agent. While reducing acoustic transmission losses significantly, this procedure is time-consuming and cannot be used for sensitive specimens. Air-coupled ultrasound is a viable alternative in such cases, although suffering from very high acoustic transmission losses between transducer, air and specimen. The recently introduced fluidic transducer (FT) generates ultrasound by utilizing the instability of a supersonic air jet switched inside a fluidic amplifier. Since only air is used as the working medium and no vibrating surfaces are used for ultrasound generation, the transducer is able to efficiently generate large acoustic pressure amplitudes. The resulting acoustic field shares its directivity with the ejected high-velocity air jet. Thus, the acoustic energy needs to be redirected from the jet axis in order to make the fluidic transducer applicable to sensitive specimens. In this study, the effectivity of using sonic crystals (SCs) for this redirection is investigated using acoustic and flow measurements. SCs are air-permeable while being reflective to large acoustic frequency bands. It was shown that both a defect waveguide and a mirroring strategy successfully redirected the acoustic field from the air jet. Furthermore, the interaction of flow and SC showed strong acoustic quenching if the SC was placed too close to the FT outlet. Blockage of the jet entrainment due to the SC may result in slightly higher off-axis flow velocities locally, which should be considered in sensitive applications.
Experimental analysis of the acoustic field of an ultrasonic pulse induced by a fluidic switch
(2021)
Ultrasonic inspection is a common tool for non-destructive testing in civil engineering (NDT-CE). Currently, transducers are coupled directly to the specimen surface, which makes the inspection time-consuming. Air-coupled ultrasound (ACU) transducers are more time-efficient but need a high pressure amplitude as the impedance mismatch between the air and the concrete is high and large penetration depth is needed for the inspection. Current approaches aim at eliminating the impedance mismatch between the transducer and the air to gain amplitude; however, they hardly fulfill the NDT-CE requirements. In this study, an alternative approach for ultrasound generation is presented: the signal is generated by a fluidic switch that rapidly injects a mass flow into the ambience. The acoustic field, the flow field, and their interaction are investigated. It is shown that the signal has dominant frequencies in the range of 35–60 kHz, and the amplitude is comparable to that of a commercial ACU transducer.
In the framework of non-destructive-testing advanced seismic imaging techniques have been applied to ultrasonic echo data in order to examine the integrity of an engineered test-barrier designed to be used for sealing an underground nuclear waste disposal site. Synthetic data as well as real multi-receiver ultrasonic data acquired at the test site were processed and imaged using Kirchhoff prestack depth migration reverse time migration (RTM). In general, both methods provide a good Image quality as demonstrated by various case studies, however deeper parts within the test barrier containing inclined reflectors were reconstructed more accurately by RTM. In particular, the image quality of a specific target reflector at a depth of 8 m in the test-barrier has been significantly improved compared to previous investigations using synthetic aperture Focusing technique, which justifies the considerable computing time of this method.
Damage detection of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is becoming a more attractive domain due to the safety issues arising in the last few decades. The damage in concrete can be caused by excessive exploitation of the structure or environmental effects. The cracks in concrete can be detected by different nondestructive testing methods. However, the available methods used for this purpose have numerous limitations. The technologies available in the market nowadays have difficulties detecting slowly progressive, locally limited damage. In addition, some of These methods cannot be applied, especially in hard-to-reach areas in the superstructures. In order to avoid these deficiencies, an embedded ultrasonic methodology can be used to detect cracks in RC structures. In this study, the methodology of crack detection supported with the advanced Signal processing algorithm was proposed and verified on RC structures of various types, and cracks occurring between embedded sensors can be detected. Moreover, different pairs of ultrasonic sensors located in the considered structures are used for the analysis of the sensitivity of distance between them. It is shown that the ultrasonic sensors placed in the range of 1.5–2 m can detect cracks, even when the other methods failed to detect changes in the structure. The obtained results confirmed that diffuse ultrasonic sensor methodology is able to monitor real structures more effectively than traditional techniques.
The integral collection of information such as strains, cracks, or temperatures by ultrasound offers the best prerequisites to monitor structures during their lifetime. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed which uses the collected information in the coda of ultrasonic signals to infer the condition of a structure. This approach is derived from component tests on a reinforced concrete beam subjected to four-point bending in the lab at Ruhr University Bochum. In addition to ultrasonic measurements, strain of the reinforcement is measured with fiber optic sensors. Approached by the methods of moment-curvature relations, the steel strains serve as a reference for velocity changes of the coda waves. In particular, a correlation between the relative velocity change and the average steel strain in the reinforcement is derived that covers 90% of the total bearing capacity. The purely empirical model yields a linear function with a high level of accuracy (R 2 =0.99, R2=0.99, RMSE≈90μ
RMSE≈90μ strain).
Due to the penetration of harmful chlorides into concrete, e.g. from de-icing salt, damage processes such as chloride-related pitting corrosion can occur if critical values are exceeded. In this study, multiphase materials such as chloride-contaminated concrete are examined in detail. A direct comparison is made by analyzing the spectroscopic information of simultaneously measured atomic and molecular emissions with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). In addition, the influence on the calibration is examined on the basis of the combined spectral information of both reaction paths of the penetrated chlorides. The calibration models of univariate and multivariate methods were validated using reference samples with wet chemical analysis. The results are applied to a concrete sample of a parking deck, which was also analyzed by potentiometric wet chemistry. In order to account for the heterogeneity of concrete, spatially (200 μm) and spectroscopically (0.1 nm) resolved LIBS measurements were performed using a fully automated laboratory system. Simultaneous measurements with three spectrometers allow the analysis of the emission processes of several elements such as Cl, Ca, O, Si and Mg as well as the newly formed molecules CaO and CaCl. The evaluation of the molecular emission in combination with atomic lines extends the analytical performance, since different concrete phases such as aggregates and cement matrix can be better represented. The measurements were carried out in ambient air and with helium purge gas. The limit of detection (LOD) achieved for a combined evaluation of atomic and molecular emission was determined to be 0.028 wt%.
During their life span, concrete structures interact with many kinds of external mechanical loads. Most of these loads are considered in advance and result in reversible deformations. Nevertheless, some of the loads cause irreversible, sometimes unnoticed changes below the macroscopic scale depending on the type and dimension of the impact. As the functionality of concrete structures is often relevant to safety and society, their condition must be known and, therefore, assessed on a regular basis. Out of the spectrum of non-destructive monitoring methods, Coda Wave Interferometry using embedded ultrasonic sensors is one particularly sensitive technique to evaluate changes to heterogeneous media. However, there are various influences on Coda waves in concrete, and the interpretation of their superimposed effect is ambiguous. In this study, we quantify the relations of uniaxial compression and uniaxial tension on Coda waves propagating in normal concrete. We found that both the signal correlation of ultrasonic signals as well as their velocity variation directly reflect the stress change in concrete structures in a laboratory environment. For the linear elastic range up to 30% of the strength, we calculated a velocity variation of −0.97‰/MPa for compression and 0.33%/MPa for tension using linear regression. In addition, these parameters revealed even weak irreversible changes after removal of the load. Furthermore, we show the time-dependent effects of shrinkage and creep on Coda waves by providing the development of the signal parameters over time during half a year together with creep recovery. Our observations showed that time-dependent material changes must be taken into account for any comparison of ultrasonic signals that are far apart in time. The study’s results demonstrate how Coda Wave Interferometry is capable of monitoring stress changes and detecting even small-size microstructural changes. By indicating the stated relations and their separation from further impacts, e.g., temperature and moisture, we anticipate our study to contribute to the qualification of Coda Wave Interferometry for its application as an early-warning system for concrete structures.
This paper describes a new ultrasonic measuring device called “W-Box”. It was developed based on the requirements of the DFG Forschergruppe (research unit) CoDA for a portable device for monitoring of concrete specimens, models and actual structures using embedded ultrasonic transducers as well as temperature and humidity sensors. The W-Box can send ultrasonic pulses with a variable frequency of 50–100 kHz to one selectable transducer and records signals from up to 75 multiplexed channels with a sample rate of 1 MHz and a resolution of 14 bits. In addition, it measures temperature and humidity with high accuracy, adjustable amplification, restarts automatically after a power failure and can be fully controlled remotely. The measured data are automatically stored locally on-site data quality checks and transferred to remote servers. The comparison of the W-Box with a laboratory setup using commercial devices proves that it is equally reliable and precise, at much lower cost. The W-Box also shows that their measurement capacities, with the used embedded ultrasonic transducers, can reach above 6 m in concrete.
High sensitivity is an important requirement for air-coupled ultrasonic sensors applied to materials testing. With a lower acoustic impedance than any piezoelectric material, charged cellular polypropylene (PP) offers better matching to air with a similar piezoelectric coefficient. The piezoelectric properties of charged cellular PP originate from their polarization, creating permanent internal voltage. The sensitivity of the sensor can be increased by applying additional dc bias voltage, as it has been done already for transmitters. This work presents the first ultrasonic sensor based on charged cellular PP including a high-voltage module providing dc bias voltage up to 2 kV. This bias voltage led to an increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of up to 15 ± 1 dB. The measurement of the received signal depending on the applied bias voltage is proposed as a new method of determining the internal voltage of ferroelectrets. The sensor combined with a cellular PP transmitter was applied to nondestructive testing of a rotor blade segment and glued-laminated timber, enabling imaging of the internal structure of these specimens with a thickness around 4 cm.
Two test series were examined using nondestructive measuring methods by six independent laboratories before determining their compressive strength. The nondestructive test methods used were the rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity measurement. Two types of geometries were investigated: drilled cores and cubes. The measurement procedure for each of these datasets is conditioned to the geometry and is therefore different.
The first series consists of 20 drilled cores (approximately diameter/height = 10 cm/20 cm) from the 55-year-old Lahntal Viaduct near Limburg, Germany. After preparation in the first laboratory, the lateral surface of the drilled cores was tested with the rebound hammer using a given pattern. Every laboratory tested every drilled core at different locations.
Ultrasonic measurements in transmission were performed repeatedly at predefined points on the flat surfaces of the specimen.
The second series consisted of 25 newly manufactured concrete cubes of a mix with a target concrete strength class of C30/37. The edge length was 15 cm. Each laboratory received five specimens of this test series. Thus, contrary to the first series, each specimen was tested by only one laboratory. Two side faces of each cube were tested with the rebound hammer. In addition, ultrasonic measurements were performed by one laboratory. The time of flight was measured between the tested side faces of the rebound hammer at different positions.
For both series, rebound hammers were used to determine the R-value as well as the Q-value. The rebound hammer models within the laboratories were always the same, while they differed between the laboratories. The ultrasonic measurements took place with different measurement systems and couplants. Finally, both specimen series were tested destructively for compressive strength.
The dataset contains the raw data summarized in tabular form. In addition, relevant calculated data are included in some cases. For the ultrasonic measurements, the time of flight has already been converted into the ultrasonic velocity. Besides, in addition to the raw data of the compressive strength test (force, weight, and geometry values), the calculated compressive strengths and densities are also provided.
Accuracy of calibration-free (CF) methods in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) depends on experimental conditions and instrumental parameters that must match a CF LIBS model. Here, the numerical study is performed to investigate effects of various factors, such as the optical density, plasma uniformity, line overlap, noise, spectral resolution, electron density and path length on the results of CF-LIBS analyses. The effects are examined one-by-one using synthetic spectra of steel slag samples that fully comply with the mathematical model of the method. Also, the algorithm includes several new features in comparison with previously proposed CF algorithms. In particular, it removes limits on the optical thickness of spectral lines that are used for the construction of the Saha-Boltzmann plot; it retrieves the absorption path length (Plasma diameter) directly from spectral lines; it uses the more realistic Voigt line profile function instead of the Lorentzian function; and it employs the pre-calculated and tabulated thin-to-thick line ratios instead of approximating functions for selfabsorption correction.
Es geht auch einfacher
(2019)
Mit laserbasiertem Verfahren Zustand von Betonbauwerken erfassen: Die Laserinduzierte Breakdown Spektroskopie (LIBS) stellt eine Alternative zur nasschemischen Analyse dar, um den Zustand von Betonbauwerken zu erfassen. Bei diesem Verfahren laufen der Analysevorgang und die Auswertung automatisiert ab. Ein Prototyp für die mobile Anwendung auf der Baustelle steht zur Verfügung. So kann auf Knopfdruck ein schriftlicher Bericht erstellt werden, der einen genauen Wert für die Eindringtiefe eines relevanten Elements wie Chlorid ausgibt.
New possibilities for concrete analysis 4.0 with the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)
(2020)
In civil engineering the damage assessment of concrete infrastructures is an important task to monitor and ensure the estimated life-time. The aging of concrete is caused by different damage processes like the chloride induced pitting corrosion of the reinforcement. The penetration depth and the concentration of harmful species are crucial factors in the damage assessment. As a highly cost and time-consuming standard procedure, the analysis of concrete drill cores or drilling by wet-chemistry is widely used. This method provides element concentration to the total mass as aggregates and binder are homogenized. In order to provide a method that is capable to detect the element concentration regarding the cement content only, the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) will be presented. The LIBS method uses a focused pulsed laser on the sample surface to ablate material. The high-power density and the laser-material interaction causes a laser-induced plasma that emits elemental and molecular line emission due to energy transition of the excited species in the plasma during the cooling phase.
As each element provides element-specific line emission, it is in principle possible to detect any element on the periodic table (spectroscopic fingerprint) with one laser shot. In combination with a translation stage the sample under investigation can be spatially resolved using a scan raster with a resolution up to 100 µm (element mapping). Due to the high spatial resolution, the element distribution and the heterogeneity of the concrete can be evaluated. By using chemometrics the non-relevant aggregates can be excluded from the data set and the element concentration can be quantified and referred to a specific solid phase like the binding matrix (cement) only. In order to analyze transport processes like diffusion and migration the twodimensional element distributions can provide deep insight into the transport through the pore space and local enrichments of elements. As LIBS is a multi-elemental method it is also possible to compare the ingress and transport process of different elements like Cl, Na, K, S, C, and Li simultaneously and evaluate cross-correlations between the different ions. Furthermore, the element mapping allows to visualize the transport along cracks. This work will show the state of the art in terms of hardware and software for an automated LIBS system as well as different application for a concrete analysis 4.0. Focus will be the application of LIBS for a fast concrete analysis.
The effect of particle grain sizes in different cement-based mixtures on the laser-induced plasma evolution is studied using two experimental methods: (i) temporal and spatial evolution of the laser-induced shock wave is investigated using shadowgraphy and two-dimensional plasma imaging, and (ii) temporal and spatial distribution of elements in the plasma is investigated using two-dimensional spectral imaging. This study is motivated by the interest in applying laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for chemical analysis of concrete, and subsequently obtain information related to damage assessment of structures like bridges and parking decks. The distribution of grain sizes is of major interest in civil engineering as for making concrete different aggregate grain sizes defined by a sieving curve (64mm to 0.125 mm) are needed. Aggregates up to a size of 180 μm can be excluded from the data set, therefore only the amount of small aggregates with a grain size below 180 μm must be considered with LIBS. All components of the concrete with a grain size smaller than 0.125mm are related to the flour grain content. Tested samples consisted of dry and hardened cement paste (water-cement ratio w/z=0.5), which served as a reference. Aggregate mixtures were made by adding flour grains (size 40 μm) and silica fume (size 0.1 μm) in different ratios to cement: 10%, 30%, 50% and 60%, all combined to the remaining percentage of dry or hydrated cement. The visualization results show that a dependance in the evolution of the plasma as a function of sample grain size can be detected only in the initial stages of the plasma formation, that is, at the initial 3 μs of the plasma life. Spectral information reveals the elemental distribution of the silicon and calcium in plasma, in both neutral and ionized form. Here also, a significant effect is observed in the first 1 μs of the plasma lifetime.
In civil engineering concrete is the most used building material for making infrastructures like bridges and parking decks worldwide. It is as a porous and multiphase material made of aggregates with a defined grain size distribution, cement and water as well as different additives and admixtures depending on the application. Different grain sizes are important to ensure the needed density and compressive strength.
The resulting porous cement matrix contains a mixture of flour grains (aggregates with a grain size below 125 lm) and cement particles (particle size≈50lm). Harmful species like chlorides may penetrate together with water through the capillary pore space and may trigger different damage processes. The damage assessment of concrete structures in Germany is estimated due to the quantification of harmful elements regarding to the cement content only. In the evaluation of concrete using LIBS a two-dimensional scanning is necessary to consider the heterogeneity caused by the aggregates. Therefore, a LIBS system operating with a low energy NdCr:YAG laser, a pulse energy of 3 mJ, a wavelength of 1064 nm, a pulse width of 1.5 ns and a Repetition rate of 100 Hz has been used. Different Czerny-Turner spectrometers with CCD detectors in the UV and NIR range have been used for the detection. Large aggregates (macro-heterogeneity) can be excluded from the evaluation, whereas small aggregates in the range of the laser spot size (flour grains) cannot be spatially resolved. In this work the micro heterogeneity caused by flour grains and their impact on the quantification with LIBS will be discussed. To analyze the effect of changing grain sizes and ratios, the ablation behavior has been determined and compared. Samples with defined grain sizes were made and analyzed using LIBS.
The grain size distributions were analyzed with laser diffraction (LDA).
The ultrasonic echo technique is frequently used in non-destructive testing (NDT) of concrete structures for thickness measurements, geometry determinations as well as localization of built-in components. To improve ultrasonic imaging of complex structures in concrete, we transferred a geophysical imaging technique, the reverse time migration (RTM), to NDT in civil engineering. In contrast to the conventionally used synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) algorithms, RTM is a wavefield continuation method in time and uses the full wave equation. Thus, RTM can handle complicated wave propagations in any direction without dip limitation. In this paper, we focused on the application and evaluation of a two-dimensional (2D) elastic RTM algorithm considering compressional waves, vertically polarized shear waves, and Rayleigh waves. We tested the elastic RTM routine on synthetic ultrasonic echo data generated with a 2D concrete model consisting of several steps and circular air inclusions. As these complex structures can often be found in real-world NDT use cases, their imaging is especially important. By using elastic RTM, we were able to clearly reproduce vertical reflectors and lower edges of circular air voids inside our numerical concrete model. Such structures cannot be imaged with conventional SAFT algorithms. Furthermore, the used elastic RTM approach also yielded a better reconstruction of a horizontal reflector and upper boundaries of circular air inclusions. Our encouraging results demonstrate that elastic RTM has the potential to significantly improve the imaging of complex concrete structures and, thus, is a step forward for detailed, high-quality ultrasonic NDT in civil engineering.
Dieses erste Memorandum zur Lehre und Forschung an deutschsprachigen Hochschulen auf dem Gebiet der zerstörungsfreien Prüfung im Bauwesen gibt einen Überblick hinsichtlich der akademischen Ausbildung und zeigt mögliche Schwerpunkte vor allem in der Lehre auf. Diese Schwerpunkte berücksichtigen auch aktuelle Entwicklungen und Themen auf dem Gebiet der Forschung. Es werden Anregungen zur Entwicklung bzw. Weiterentwicklung der Lehr-Curricula im Hinblick auf eine umfassende und solide fachliche Ausbildung der Studierenden des Bauwesens und angrenzender Fachrichtungen gegeben. Inhaltlich und formal lehnt sich der Beitrag an dem Memorandum der Hochschullehrer im Fachgebiet „Werkstoffe im Bauwesen“ (Breit et al., 2012) an und beruht auf einer Initiative des Unterausschusses Ausbildung – Arbeitsgruppe Ausbildung in der Hochschule – des Fachausschusses ZfP im Bauwesen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für zerstörungsfreie Prüfung (DGZfP). Die Hauptredaktion wurde übernommen von Prof. Christian U. Grosse (TU München) und Prof. Ralf W. Arndt (FH Erfurt).
Integration of fiber reinforcement in high-performance cementitious materials has become widely applied in many fields of construction. One of the most investigated advantages of steel Fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) is the deceleration of crack growth and hence its improved sustainability.
Additional benefits are associated with its structural properties, as fibers can significantly increase the ductility and the tensile strength of concrete. In some applications it is even possible to entirely replace the conventional reinforcement, leading to significant logistical and environmental benefits.
Fiber reinforcement can, however, have critical disadvantages and even hinder the Performance of concrete, since it can induce an anisotropic material behavior of the mixture if the fibers are not appropriately oriented. For a safe use of SFRC in the future, reliable non-destructive testing (NDT) methods need to be identified to assess the fibers’ orientation in hardened concrete. In this study,
ultrasonic material testing, electrical impedance testing, and X-ray computed tomography have been investigated for this purpose using specially produced samples with biased or random Fiber orientations. We demonstrate the capabilities of each of these NDT techniques for fiber orientation measurements and draw conclusions based on these results about the most promising areas for future research and development.
"Die effiziente Verwendung von Messergebnissen bei der Nachrechnung und von Ergebnissen aus zerstörungsfreien Prüfungen im Speziellen setzt voraus, dass die Relevanz der messbaren Informationen beziffert, die Qualität der gemessenen Information berechnet und die Anforderungen an die Genauigkeit der Inspektionen aus der statischen Berechnung abgeleitet werden können. Der Vergleich der Anforderungen an eine zu messende Information mit der Qualität der gemessenen Information wird in diesem Aufsatz als Validierung eines Messverfahrens aufgefasst. Es wird gezeigt, wie zerstörungsfreie Prüfverfahren für die Nachrechnung validiert werden können. Die Methodik wird anhand einer mit der Ultraschallecho- und Impulsradarmethode untersuchten Spannbetonbrücke demonstriert."
Information about an existing structure can be collected at certain costs to evaluate the reliability and condition as realistically as necessary. This information can be relevant or irrelevant, true or biased, precise or imprecise. The incorporation of relevant and quality-assessed measured information into reliability reassessment offers the chance to extend remaining lifetimes and support decision making about optimal actions or maintenance strategies. This paper shows recent developments in a national research project that aims to produce a guideline on the NDT-based, structure-specific modification of partial safety factors. The general methodology, results from recalculations according to the Eurocodes and metrologically solvable testing tasks relevant in the recalculation of the concrete bridges are shown and compared with the non-destructive testing methods applicable to concrete bridges. A case study is used to demonstrate that as-built drawings, in this case of the positions of tendons and shear reinforcement, can be verified using the radar method.
Making optimal decisions about the reliability of existing structures requires that the information used in assessment adequately represents the properties and the condition of the structures. The knowledge gap regarding a structure to be assessed can be successively filled by individually purposeful observations on site. This paper gives an overview of an approach for utilizing nondestructively gathered measurement results in reliability assessment of existing structures. An essential part of measurement-based stochastic modeling of basic variables is the calculation of measurement uncertainties, which serves to establish confidence in measurement, to ensure the comparability of unambiguously expressed measurement results, and to quantify the quality of the measured information. Regarding the current discourse on how to treat information collected on-site in the context of assessment, the authors recommend that measurement uncertainty becomes an uncertainty component mandatorily to be represented in measurement-based stochastic models. The main steps of the proposed concept are presented, and the advantages of its application are emphasized by means of a prestressed concrete bridge as case study. The bridge is assessed regarding the serviceability limit state decompression using ultrasonic and radar data measured at the structure.
Gegenüber dem Neubauentwurf können bei der Bewertung von bestehender Bausubstanz Sicherheitsreserven genutzt werden, da Unsicherheiten, die beim Bau auftreten können, besser bekannt oder nicht mehr vorhanden sind. Können solche Unsicherheiten genauer bewertet werden, z. B. durch die Feststellung der genauen Lage der Spannglieder bei einer Spannbetonbrücke, so können Sicherheitsbeiwerte reduziert werden, ohne dass es dabei zu Auswirkungen auf das normativ festgelegte Zuverlässigkeitsniveau kommt. Mittlerweile sind Prüfmethoden an Bauwerken wirtschaftlich einsetzbar und auch so leistungsfähig, dass die für die Tragfähigkeit und Gebrauchstauglichkeit wesentlichen Parameter identifiziert werden können. Ein wesentlicher Punkt ist hierbei die Integration derartiger Messergebnisse in Rechenmodelle, die für die Nachrechnung des Bauwerks verwendet werden. Dies können sowohl semiprobabilistische Rechenmodelle als auch vollprobabilistische Modelle sein. Bei semiprobabilistischen Methoden können aus den Messergebnissen Teilsicherheitsbeiwerte berechnet und abgeleitet werden, die dann in den bekannten Nachweisformaten gemäß den Eurocodes und der Nachrechnungsrichtlinie berücksichtigt werden. Bei vollprobabilistischen Nachweisen können die Messdaten in Form von Verteilungsdichtefunktionen mit gemessenen Variationskoeffizienten direkt in das Rechenmodell eingehen. In einer dreiteiligen Aufsatzreihe werden die Messverfahren und die Nutzung der Ergebnisse bei der Nachrechnung vorgestellt. Der vorliegende Teil 1 zeigt die Möglichkeiten des Einsatzes von zerstörungsfreien Prüfverfahren und bewertet deren Leistungsfähigkeit. Messen heißt wissen. Dieses Wissen spiegelt die Realität wider und soll den Tragwerksplaner bei der Entscheidungsfindung über die Sicherheit und Zuverlässigkeit von Bestandsbauwerken unterstützen.
Durch die Einbeziehung von gemessenen Daten bei der Bewertung von bestehenden Bauwerken können Unsicherheiten bei der Beurteilung des Tragverhaltens reduziert werden, ohne das normative Zuverlässigkeitsniveau einzuschränken. Informationen sind die wesentliche Grundlage für die Analyse der Zuverlässigkeit von Tragwerken. Umso wichtiger ist die Kenntnis über die Präzision und die Richtigkeit der verwendeten Informationen. Aus messtechnischer Sicht kann ein Messwert, dem keine Messunsicherheit beigeordnet wurde, als wertlos erachtet werden. Liegt ein vollständig dokumentiertes Messergebnis vor, so ist die Qualität der gemessenen Information bekannt und deren Vergleichbarkeit gewährleistet. In diesem Beitrag wird am Beispiel einer Spannbetonbrücke und zweier Grenzzustände gezeigt, wie Messergebnisse aus der zerstörungsfreien Prüfung in probabilistische Nachweise von Bestandsbauwerken einfließen können und welche Auswirkungen die Implementierung von gemessenen Daten bei der Bewertung von Bestandsbauwerken haben kann.
Each engineering decision is based on a number of more or less accurate information. In assessment of existing structures, additional relevant information collected with on-site inspections facilitate better decisions. However, observed data basically represents the physical characteristic of interest with an uncertainty. This uncertainty is a measure of the inspection quality and can be quantified by expressing the measurement uncertainty. The internationally accepted rules for calculating measurement uncertainty are well established and can be applied straightforwardly in many practical cases. Nevertheless, the calculations require the occasionally time-consuming development of an individually suitable measurement model. This contribution attempts to emphasize proposals for modelling the non-destructive depth measurement of tendons in concrete using the ultrasonic echo technique. The proposed model can serve as guideline for the determination of the quality of the measured information in future comparable inspection scenarios.
Measuring means knowing. The structural engineer’s Knowledge about structures is vitally important for the assessment of their structural safety. This contribution shows, how non-destructive testing methods can be used to collect valuable Information about existing structures. This value is expressed in this paper by the usability in probabilistic assessments and thus by the reliability of the information. The development of non-destructive testing methods in civil-engineering allows the realistic measurement and visualization of inner constructions of concrete components with a minimum of destructive interventions.
The evaluation of the quality of measurement data is of fundamental importance for quantitative measurements in order to ensure the objectivity of testing and evaluation and to assess the reliability of the knowledge acquired. Both systematic and random deviations must be identified, quantified and taken into account to obtain statistically sound data. The Focus of this contribution is on the methodical path, how displayed measurement data can be processed into reliable knowledge.
It is not about developing assessment methods but about providing
necessary knowledge to increase their operational usability.
The acquisition and appropriate processing of relevant information about the considered system remains a major challenge in assessment of existing structures. Both the values and the validity of computed results such as failure probabilities essentially depend on the quantity and quality of the incorporated knowledge. One source of information are onsite measurements of structural or material characteristics to be modeled as basic variables in reliability assessment. The explicit use of (quantitative) measurement results in assessment requires the quantification of the quality of the measured information, i.e., the uncertainty associated with the information acquisition and processing. This uncertainty can be referred to as measurement uncertainty. Another crucial aspect is to ensure the comparability of the measurement results.This contribution attempts to outline the necessity and the advantages of measurement uncertainty calculations in modeling of measurement data-based random variables to be included in reliability assessment. It is shown, how measured data representing time-invariant characteristics, in this case non-destructively measured inner geometrical dimensions, can be transferred into measurement results that are both comparable and quality-evaluated. The calculations are based on the rules provided in the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM). The GUM-framework is internationally accepted in metrology and can serve as starting point for the appropriate processing of measured data to be used in assessment. In conclusion, the effects of incorporating the non-destructively measured data into reliability analysis are presented using a prestressed concrete bridge as case-study.
With a goal to improve our understanding of the relationships between microstructural features and ultrasonic signal behavior, concrete specimens of varying water-to-cement ratio were imaged using X-ray computed tomography (CT), and subsequently subjected to ultrasonic testing. From the CT scans, measurements were made of cement paste density and number of interfaces. Ultrasonic signals produced using a through-transmission configuration were analyzed and fit to a diffusion model to separate absorption from scattering attenuation. The results showed that at the frequencies tested, ultrasonic dissipation rate correlated weakly with paste density, while diffusivity correlated well with number of interfaces, but only if entrained air is considered separately. Cement paste density was found to be very well predicted by diffusivity, leading to a clear power-law relationship between diffusivity and compressive strength.
The Alpine Fault zone in New Zealand marks a major transpressional plate boundary that is late in its typical earthquake cycle. Understanding the subsurface structures is crucial to understand the tectonic processes taking place. A unique seismic survey including 2D lines, a 3D array, and borehole recordings, has been performed in the Whataroa Valley and provides new insights into the Alpine Fault zone down to ∼2 km depth at the location of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP)-2 drill site. Seismic images are obtained by focusing prestack depth migration approaches. Despite the challenging conditions for seismic imaging within a sediment filled glacial valley and steeply dipping valley flanks, several structures related to the valley itself as well as the tectonic fault system are imaged. A set of several reflectors dipping 40°–56° to the southeast are identified in a ∼600 m wide zone that is interpreted to be the minimum extent of the damage zone. Different approaches image one distinct reflector dipping at ∼40°, which is interpreted to be the main Alpine Fault reflector located only ∼100 m beneath the maximum drilled depth of the DFDP-2B borehole. At shallower depths (z < 0.5 km), additional reflectors are identified as fault segments with generally steeper dips up to 56°. Additionally, a glacially over-deepened trough with nearly horizontally layered sediments and a major fault (z < 0.5 km) are identified 0.5–1 km south of the DFDP-2B borehole. Thus, a complex structural environment is seismically imaged and shows the complexity of the Alpine Fault at Whataroa.
The dataset contains raw data gathered with the ultrasonic pulse-echo method on concrete specimens. The surfaces of the measuring objects were automatically scanned point by point. Pulse-echo measurements were performed at each of these measuring points. The test specimens represent two typical testing tasks in construction industry: the detection of objects and the determination of dimensions to describe the geometry of components. By automating the measurement process, the different test scenarios are examined with a high repeatability, precision and measuring point density. Longitu- dinal and transversal waves were used and the geometrical aperture of the testing system was varied. The low-frequency probes operate in a range of up to approximately 150 kHz. In addition to the specification of the geometrical dimensions of the individual probes, the directivity pattern and the sound field characteristics are provided. The raw data are stored in a universally readable format. The length of each time signal (A-scan) is two milliseconds and the sampling rate is two mega-samples per second. The provided data can be used for comparative studies in signal analysis, imag- ing and interpretation as well as for evaluation pur- poses in different, practically relevant testing scenarios.
The dataset presented contains ultrasonic data recorded in pulse echo mode. The investigated specimen is made of the isotropic homogeneous material polyamide and has a drill hole of constant diameter running parallel to the surface, which was scanned in a point grid using an automatic scanner system. At each measuring position, a pitch-catch measurement was performed using a sampling rate of 2 MHz. The probes used are arrays consisting of a spatially separated receiving and in-phase transmitting unit. The transmitting and receiving sides each consist of 12 point-shaped single probes. These dry-point contact (DPC) probes operate according to the piezoelectric principle at nominal frequencies of 55 kHz (shear waves) and 100 kHz (longitudinal waves), respectively, and do not require a coupling medium. The measurements are performed with longitudinal (100 kHz) and transverse (55 kHz) waves with different geometric orientations of the probe on the measurement surface. The data presented in the article provide a valid source for evaluating reconstruction algorithms for imaging in the low-frequency ultrasound range.
Zerstörungsfreie Prüfverfahren liefern wichtige Informationen zur Beurteilung von Bauwerken. Mit ihnen können Materialeigenschaften bestimmt oder die innere Struktur von Bauteilen beschrieben werden. Für letzteres werden in der Regel Volumenverfahren angewandt. Einen besonderen Stellenwert haben in der Praxis die Radar- und die Ultraschall-Echoverfahren.
Ihre Anwendung erfordert lediglich eine einseitige Zugänglichkeit
zum Bauteil. Zudem lassen sich zahlreiche unterschiedliche Prüfaufgaben lösen. Zum Stand der Technik gehören beispielsweise die Ortung von Bewehrung und Spannkanälen, die Bestimmung der Dicke von Bauteilen oder die Fehlerlokalisierung.
In diesem Beitrag wird gezeigt, wie mithilfe von Ultraschall-Echomessungen gesammelte Messwerte in ein quantitatives Messergebnis überführt werden können, das wiederum in ingenieurtechnische Berechnungen einfließen kann. Einleitend werden die Prüfmethode und die Messtechnik erläutert. Anschließend wird das Vorgehen von der Auswertung der Messergebnisse bis zur Bestimmung der bautechnischen
Kenngröße – Bauteildicke – gezeigt. Abschließend wird die Methodik an einem Referenzprüfkörper aus Polyamid demonstriert und den Ergebnissen von Messungen an Beton gegenübergestellt.
High-Amplitude Surge of a Pitching Airfoil: Complementary Wind- and Water-Tunnel Measurements
(2018)
RECENT interest in gust response, rotorcraft forward flight and wind energy, among other applications, has focused on streamwise oscillations of nominally two-dimensional airfoils in attached and separated flows. The airfoil may be simultaneously held at constant incidence or execute some maneuver, such as pitch.
The relative freestream is spatially uniform but temporally unsteady, and this can be accomplished in a ground-test facility in two ways. The first method is to vary the output of the prime mover, such as the rotational speed of the impeller or the blower driving a wind tunnel, or (alternatively) to vary the pressure drop in the tunnel, thereby varying the flow speed in the test section, despite nominally constant primemover revolutions per minute. The second method is used to keep the tunnel’s operating speed constant, as well as to move the test article in the streamwise direction, fore and aft (for example, via an electric linear motor), such that the relative freestream speed felt by the test article varies according to some waveform. Typically, the latter approach is chosen in water tunnels, where there is too much tunnel-circuit inertia to vary the flow speed directly but where the usually low tunnel test section flow speeds enable large excursions in the relative freestream by oscillation of the test article. In fact, outright reverse flow is possible by moving the test article in the laboratory frame at a higher speed than the water-tunnel flow speed. In either case, a sinusoidal relative-speed waveform is the most intuitively realizable, and this can be combined with similar oscillations in the airfoil incidence angle or other kinematics. Although the two methods of realizing streamwise oscillations are mechanically distinct, experimental comparisons between an oscillating test article in a water tunnel and a stationary test article in a wind tunnel with a louvermechanismhave demonstrated agreement in themeasured lift and drag histories. Such experimentswere performed by Granlund et al. for a 10% freestream amplitude oscillation and fixed airfoil incidence, comparing a free-surface water tunnel and a closed-circuit wind tunnel. After buoyancy was subtracted from the wind-tunnel data (resulting from the louver pressure drop) and the model inertia subtracted from the water-tunnel data (resulting from acceleration of the test article), the remaining lift and drag histories matched well at the low freestream oscillation amplitude regime. The work of Granlund et al. was later extended to high-advance-ratio streamwise oscillations of 50% amplitude by Greenblatt et al., where the aerodynamic histories of the water-tunnel and wind-tunnel facilities were compared in combined pitch and freestreamoscillations (governed by relative pitch phase), pure pitch oscillations, and purely freestream oscillations. Agreement between the two facilities’ data for fixed-incidence streamwise oscillations was reasonably good, and in fact, better than agreement in just the static lift and drag, evidently owing to differences in blockage and model-support systems. Additionally, Greenblatt et al. determined there was no strong coupling between simultaneous freestream oscillations and pitch oscillations on resultant lift and moment coefficients.
The determination of chloride is still one of the main tasks for the evaluation of reinforced concrete structures.
The corrosion of the reinforcement induced by the penetrating chlorides is the dominant damage process affecting the lifetime of concrete structures. In the recent years different research groups demonstrated that LIBS can be a fast and reliable method to quantify chlorine in cement-bound materials. Because chlorine in concrete can only occur as solved ions in the pore solution or bound in salts or hydrated cement phases, the detected emission of chlorine can be correlated with the chloride concentration determined e.g. with potentiometric titration. This work inter alia describes the production of reference samples and possible side effects during the production process. Due to transport processes in the porous matrix of the cement a misinterpretation of the concentrations is possible. It is shown how to overcome these effects and higher precisions of the single measurements can be realised. Using the calibration method, blank sample method and noise method, three different ways of calculating the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) are compared. Due to the preparation of the reference samples a precision of the whole calibration model of sx0 = 0.023 wt% is determined.
The validation of the model is based on different test sets, which are varying in their composition
(different Cl-salts, water-to-cement ratios and additives). The determined mean error of the validation is
0.595 ± 0.063 wt%, which is comparable to standardised methods like potentiometric titration, direct potentiometry
or photometry (0.40 ± 0.06 wt%) [1].
The presented work discusses the accuracy of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) in determining the total chloride content in cement pastes. LIBS as an emission spectroscopy method is used to detect simultaneously several elements present in cement-based materials. By scanning surfaces the variability in the spatial distribution of elements can be visualised. However, for a quantification of the results, studies are necessary to characterise possible influences due to the wide variation of the chemical compositions in which cement can occur. It is shown how the calibration can be done, how the calibration samples were produced, and which statistical parameters are necessary to describe the precision of the regression. The performance of LIBS is estimated by detecting chloride in validation samples. Therefore, 55 samples and 7 ets with changing mix ompositions were produced. The presented study deals with possible influences of different mix compositions, ncluding different cations of chloride, varying w/c-ratios and the artial replacement of Portland cement with last furnace slag (50% BFS) and limestone (30% LS). Comparing the LIBS results with otentiometric titration, n accuracy of±0.05 wt%/total has been determined.
Since nuclear magnetic resonance with focus on 1H protons is highly sensitive to pore filling fluids, it is nowadays often applied for the investigation of porous media. Mainly in materials research and especially in the field of non-destructive testing in civil engineering it is increasingly used. Scientific questions about and based on NMR meanwhile cover a broad spectrum. To give an overview, we have reviewed various studies dealing with the determination of moisture contents and parameters such as the pore-size distribution, surface relaxivity, porosity, etc. In some papers, the monitoring of moisture transport in connection with degradation processes or admixtures was the main objective. In other papers, NMR was used for pore space analysis or even applied on site to assess the state of conservation of cultural heritage. Building materials that have been investigated in the presented studies are for example cement, concrete, woods, sandstones etc. In this paper, short descriptions and the significant results of the reviewed articles are summarized and their measurement problems and discrepancies are pointed out. A special feature of this review article is the concise tabular compilation of determined 𝑇1 and 𝑇2 relaxation times, as well as of surface relaxivity values for various materials and components. Finally, relevant aspects are summed up and conclusions about the increasing potential of NMR relaxometry for investigations of porous building materials are drawn, followed by an outlook about future applications and the need for technical development.
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.
Muon Tomography of the Interior of a Reinforced Concrete Block: First Experimental Proof of Concept
(2021)
Quality assurance and condition assessment of concrete structures is an important topic world-wide due to the aging infrastructure and increasing traffic demands. Common topics include, but are not limited to, localisation of rebar or tendon ducts, geometrical irregularities, cracks, voids, honeycombing or other flaws. Non-destructive techniques 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 up new fields of application, such as the investigation of freight containers. Muon imaging also has the potential to fill some of the gaps currently existing in concrete NDT. As a first step towards practical use 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. The data acquisition takes more time and signals contain more noise, but the images allowed to detect the same important features that are visible in conventional high energy X-ray tomography. In our experiment, we have shown that muon imaging has potential for concrete inspection. The next steps include the development of mobile detectors and optimising acquisition and imaging parameters.
Processing ultrasonic data by coda wave interferometry to monitor load tests of concrete beams
(2018)
Ultrasonic transmission measurements have been used for decades to monitor concrete elements, mostly on a laboratory scale. Recently, coda wave interferometry (CWI), a technique adapted from seismology, was introduced to civil engineering experiments. It can be used to reveal subtle changes in concrete laboratory samples and even large structural elements without having a transducer directly at the place where the change is taking place. Here, several load tests until failure on large posttensioned concrete beams have been monitored using networks of embedded transducers. To detect subtle effects at the beginning of the experiments and cope with severe changes due to cracking close to failure, the coda wave interferometry procedures had to be modified to an adapted step-wise approach. Using this methodology, we were able to monitor stress distribution and localize large cracks by a relatively simple technique. Implementation of this approach on selected real structures might help to make decisions in infrastructure asset management.
Seismic interferometry (SI) deals either with the sensible detection of changes in the subsurface or with the reconstruction of virtual signals between two receivers by crosscorrelation of signals from diffuse sources. These concepts can be applied in NDT in civil engineering for various purposes, e. g. to detect changes in bridges. Here it is demonstrated using data from a reference structure on our test site. Practical applications can be expected in the very near future.
Validation of novel ultrasonic phased array borehole probe by using simulation and measurement
(2022)
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.