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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.
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
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.
Reliability assessment of existing concrete bridges with geometrical NDT results - Case studies
(2023)
The results of and the validity in reliability assessment of existing bridges essentially depend on the information available about the considered system. Information about the actual condition as well as structural and material characteristics can be observed on-site to refine the computation models used in assessment. Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for concrete structures are capable of reconstructing missing, questioned, or inconsistent as-built plans. This contribution summarizes recent developments within the scope of the national pre-standardization project “ZfPStatik”, which aims to prepare a guideline about NDT-supported structural analyses. The focus is on the purposeful and explicit utilization of geometrical tendon and reinforcement bar positions (measured on-site using the ultrasound echo and ground penetrating radar (GPR) techniques) in probabilistic reliability analyses — shown by means of real case studies. The well-established first order reliability method is applied to different concrete bridges, which are typical for the German road bridge stock, to demonstrate the utility of incorporating quality-evaluated NDT-results in terms of changes in structural reliability.
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.
This study investigates the non-destructive detection of delaminations in concrete plates using non-contact laser ablation, instead of the conventional hammer excitation, as part of the impact echo method. We performed tests on five concrete specimens of different sizes, two of which contained artificial delaminations. A range of steel ball hammers was used as reference impulse sources, the responses of which were compared with wave excitation generated by a 7 ns pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser with 150 mJ pulse energy. Signals were recorded by surface-mounted accelerometers and two contactless methods: microphones and a laser Doppler vibrometer. The laser generates frequencies across a broad range of frequencies (0 to 150 kHz) but with much less energy than the hammers' narrower frequency spectra; the laser pulse energy transferred into the specimen is 0.07 mJ, corresponding to about 0.5 ‰ of the impulse source energy. Because of this, the thick intact plates' characteristic thickness stretch resonance frequency can be reliably detected by the hammer excitations but not when using laser excitation. However, the laser can excite low-frequency flexural vibration modes over a shallow delamination at 3 cm depth. The low-frequency flexural vibration results are verified by numerical natural frequency analysis.
Direct Laser Writing (DLW) and X-ray computed tomography (XCT) both offer unique possibilities in their respective fields. DLW produces full three-dimensional (3D) polymer structures on the microscale with resolutions below 100 nm. The fabricated structures can be analysed by XCT or X-ray microscopy (XRM), which incorporates additional X-ray lenses, in three dimensions down to a minimal basic spatial resolution of about 500 nm or 50 nm, respectively. In this work, two different DLW structures are analysed via XCT. Internal defects are detected and analysed for the purpose of quality control. Defects and structures with sizes down to 1.5 µm are successfully analysed. A 3D reconstruction and internal, hidden features of the fabricated structures are shown and discussed. In a first-of-its-kind study, we demonstrate the detectability of a single-voxel line inside a fabricated structure that would not be detectable with SEM or light microscopy. Furthermore, the direct fabrication on a PET substrate is shown to overcome the high X-ray absorbance of commonly used glass substrates. Attenuation spectra of SZ2080 and glass substrates are compared to a fabrication route direct on a 170 µm PET foil. The practical aspects of XCT measurements for DLW structures on different substrates will be discussed.
Existing concrete structures were usually designed for lifetimes of several decades. The current and urgently required efforts to increase sustainability and protect the environment will likely result in extended service lives up to 100 years. To achieve such objectives, it is required to assess structures over their entire lifecycles. Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods can reliably support the assessment of existing structures during the construction, operational, and decommissioning phases. One of the most important and safety-relevant components of a prestressed concrete structure are the tendons. NDT methods such as the ultrasonic echo method are suitable for both the detection and the localization of the tendons, i.e., the measurement of their geometrical position inside the component. The uniqueness of structures, concrete heterogeneity, and varying amounts of secondary components such as the reinforcement represent obstacles in the application of these methods in practice. The aim of this contribution is to demonstrate a practicable procedure, that can be used in the field to determine the parameters required for the measuring data analysis without extensive knowledge about the investigated components. For this purpose, a polyamide reference specimen is used to show which steps are required to obtain reliable imaging information on the position of tendons from the measurement data. The procedure is then demonstrated on a concrete test specimen that covers various relevant and practice-oriented test scenarios, such as varying tendon depths and component thicknesses.
Introduction of a monitoring system for Bingham fluids in additive manufacturing with concrete
(2022)
Freeform additive manufacturing of concrete structures is a rising technology in civil engineering with several fascinating advantages. Nonetheless, to ensure reliability and structural integrity, standards and quality control are required in the future to bring this technology into the market. As the concrete is manufactured continuously, continuous quality control of the printing process is also required, i.e. comprehensive process monitoring. At BAM, a test rig will be installed, enabling the printing of concrete structures with a maximum size of 2 m x 1 m x 1 m (l x w x h). Here, process monitoring is the focus of the test rig. In this study, we show the results of the first pump tests, including the measurement of several parameters such as temperature and pressure along the supply system, i.e. from the concrete pump to the printer head.
Learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm for photothermal super resolution imaging
(2022)
Block-sparse regularization is already well known in active thermal imaging and is used for multiple-measurement-based inverse problems. The main bottleneck of this method is the choice of regularization parameters which differs for each experiment. We show the benefits of using a learned block iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm (LBISTA) that is able to learn the choice of regularization parameters, without the need to manually select them. In addition, LBISTA enables the determination of a suitable weight matrix to solve the underlying inverse problem. Therefore, in this paper we present LBISTA and compare it with state-of-the-art block iterative shrinkage thresholding using synthetically generated and experimental test data from active thermography for defect reconstruction. Our results show that the use of the learned block-sparse optimization approach provides smaller normalized mean square errors for a small fixed number of iterations. Thus, this allows us to improve the convergence speed and only needs a few iterations to generate accurate defect reconstruction in photothermal super-resolution imaging.
Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) is a chemical reaction within concrete which can lead over time to cracking and spalling. Due to the complexity of the problem, it still causes damage to concrete constructions worldwide.
The publication aims to illustrate the interdisciplinary research of the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) within the last 20 years, considering all aspects of ASR topics from the macro to the micro level. First, methods for characterization and assessment of ASR risks and reaction products used at BAM are explained and classified in the international context. Subsequently the added value of the research approach by combining different, preferably nondestructive, methods across all scales is explained using specific examples from a variety of research projects. Aspects covered range from the development of new test-setups to assess aggregate reactivity, to analysis of microstructure and reaction products using microscopical, spectroscopical and X-ray methods, to the development of a testing methodology for existing concrete pavements including in-depth analysis of the visual damage indicator and the de-icing salt input using innovative testing techniques. Finally, research regarding a novel avoidance strategy that makes use of internal hydrophobization of the concrete mix is presented.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our standard protocol for the characterisation of writing materials within advanced manuscript studies has been successfully used to investigate manuscripts written with a pure ink on a homogeneous writing surface. However, this protocol is inadequate for analysing documents penned in mixed inks. We present here the advantages and limitations of the improved version of the protocol, which now includes imaging further into the infrared region (1100−1700 nm).
To date, the destructive extraction and analysis of drilling cores is the main possibility to obtain depth information about damaging water ingress in building floors. The time- and costintensive procedure constitutes an additional burden for building insurances that already list piped water damage as their largest item. With its high sensitivity for water, a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) could provide important support to approach this problem in a non-destructive way. In this research, we study the influence of moisture damage on GPR signals at different floor constructions. For this purpose, a modular specimen with interchangeable layers is developed to vary the screed and insulation material, as well as the respective layer thickness. The obtained data set is then used to investigate suitable signal features to classify three scenarios: dry, damaged insulation, and damaged screed. It was found that analyzing statistical distributions of A-scan features inside one B-scan allows for accurate classification on unknown floor constructions. Combining the features with multivariate data analysis and machine learning was the key to achieve satisfying results. The developed method provides a basis for upcoming validations on real damage cases.
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.
Air-coupled ultrasonic testing is widely used in the industry for the non-destructive testing of compound materials. It provides a fast and efficient way to inspect large concrete civil infrastructures for damage that might lead to catastrophic failure. Due to the large penetration depths required for concrete structures, the use of traditional piezoelectric transducer requires high power electric systems. In this study, a novel fluidic transducer based on a bistable fluidic amplifier is investigated. Previous experiments have shown that the switching action of the device produces a high-power broadband ultrasonic signal. This study will provide further insight into the switching behaviour of the fluidic switch. Therefore, parametric CFD simulations based on compressible supersonic RANS simulations were performed, varying the inlet pressure and velocity profiles for the control flow. Switching times are analyzed with different methods, and it was found that These are mostly independent of the slope of the velocity profile at the control port. Furthermore, it was found that an inversely proportional relationship exists between flow velocity in the throat and the switching time. The results agree with the theoretical background established by experimental studies that can be found in the literature.
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.
A shell test bench was developed at BAM 5.3 which allows for static and fatigue testing of curved fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) structures, during which in-situ the damage state can be non-destructively inspected by thermography and strain-field measurement techniques. Sandwich shell specimens with typical wind turbine blade manufacturing defects were designed and tested. The tested imperfections show a fairly significant reduction (up to 90%) of the shell test specimens‘ lifetime, depending on the type of imperfection. Using the in-situ NDT methods incorporated in the shell test bench, the location and cycle time of the initial defects and the damage evolution was investigated.
A novel approach for rating fatigue-initiating inclusions in highly demanding steel (INCAFAT)
(2018)
INCAFAT project aimed to improve existing fatigue damage models by establishing the most suitable combination of measurement techniques to characterise harmful inclusion populations in highly demanding steels. The different inclusion assessments carried out confirm that, chemical composition, secondary metallurgy and manufacturing route affect content, nature, size and shape of inclusions. According to the FEM model, inclusions produce an alteration of the stress field in their surrounding region, which can promote a fatigue failure. Experimental work on fatigue testing has demonstrated that depending on the stressed direction fatigue failures in highly demanding steels could be produced by different types of inclusions. Fractography analyses confirmed that meso-inclusions harmful in fatigue cannot be rated by standard methods, nor 10 MHz ultrasonic testing (macro) or micro-cleanness assessments. The necessity of rating these meso-inclusions has led to critical evaluation of Extreme Value Analysis according to ASTM E2283-08 and the development of high frequency immersion ultrasonic testing. EVA methodology based on inclusion width can be applied reliably when principal stress is parallel to the rolling direction. On the contrary, if inclusions are testing in the elongated directions its fails. On the other hand, the guidelines and recommendations for high frequency ultrasonic testing have been compiled in a new European standard draft. This method based on focal beam probes and high-resolution devices is able to provide information on meso-inclusion distribution.
In order to test their suitability different non-destructive methods were performed to inspect a GFRP plate with artificial defects. These defects were manufactured by means of thin PTFE sheets inserted between two plies in three different depth. The inspection methods were microwave reflection, flash thermography and phased array ultrasonics, all applied to the same specimen. Selected results are shown for all methods demonstrating opportunities and limits of the particular inspection methods. The achieved detection limits and further application aspects are compared directly to provide a useful information for the planning of inspection tasks.
Grating interferometric set-ups have been established in the last decade. They are promising candidates to obtain enhanced image contrast from weakly absorbing micro and nano structures. They are based on X-ray refraction and near-field diffraction using the Talbot effect.
At the expense of taking multiple images, Talbot-Lau grating interferometry allows separating the absorption, refraction, and scattering contributions by analysing the disturbances of a phase grating interference pattern. Contrary to other refraction enhanced methods, this technique can be applied using conventional X-ray tubes (divergent, polychromatic source). This makes it attractive to solve typical non-destructive testing problems.
We investigated the efficiency of phase gratings, i.e. the visibility (the amplitude of oscillations) upon variation of propagation distance and phase grating rotation around an axis parallel to the grid lines. This grating rotation changes the grating shape (i.e. the distributions of phase shifts). This can yield higher visibilities than derived from rectangular shapes.
Our study includes experimental results obtained from synchrotron radiation, as well as simulations for monochromatic radiation. The advantages of Talbot-Lau interferometry are demonstrated at the example of glass capillaries.
Active thermography is well suited for the detection of delaminations and cracks in façade elements like plaster and tiles. Not only artificial heating but also solar heating can be used if the adjustment of the façade and the weather conditions are suitable. Optical methods like laser scanners, photogrammetric methods and crack tracking sensors are providing geometrical 3D data which can be used for a 3D mapping of thermograms and for providing data with higher geometrical resolution. Thus, by the combination and fusion of these data, a comprehensive mapping and monitoring of damages of façade systems is possible.
Moisture and salt loads of concrete can significantly change its microstructure and consequently lead to chemical and mechanical degradation. However, the non-destructive investigation of moisture and salt present in concrete is still difficult. In order to address and compare the sensitivity of different methods concrete samples with different pore systems realized by varying the w/z ratios have been fabricated. The focus of this study was put on the analysis of ultrasonic long and trans waves measured on the surface and in transmission mode. The results show clear dependencies of all applied methods. With the radar and microwave methods predominantly changes in the concrete moisture could be detected, whereas the different pore systems were not observed to alter the signals. In contrast for the ultrasound method also the ongoing hydration as well as the nature of the pore system strongly influenced the signals. As a consequence in a subsequent drying experiment it was also tried to delineate the effects of moisture and hydration. All specimens have been re-saturated under pressure and the drying experiment was repeated using the same multi-sensor approach.
Measuring the moisture content of floor screeds is usually done with minor destructive testing methods like Darr drying or the Calcium Carbid (CM) method. These require small samples, deliver only punctual information and still have proven not to be very reliable. Hence, a study has been made using the standard destructive tests as well as a suite of non-destructive testing methods working out their use for moisture determination. In this study five partners from research institutes and industry worked together and intensively researched different technologies. The main focus was put on the varying sensitivity of the measuring techniques in different moisture ranges. Especially for low moisture contents ( or ‘critical’ moisture contents when the screed is dry enough to be covered with the final floor finish), several commercial devices including the most commonly used CM-method failed to determine the correct moisture content for cementitious samples. Hence the need for more accurate, if possible non-destructive methods is high, taking also into account that the chemistry (and physical properties) of screeds may vary strongly depending on their origin and purpose.
Non-destructive testing methods are mostly applied and established for the detection of embedded mounting parts or structural defects in building elements. The assessment of the concrete microstructure or microstructural changes like chemical alterations or the formation of microcracks, e.g. due to material aging, freeze-thaw cycles, alkali-silica reaction and ettringite, is not in the focus of ndt research though. Concrete moisture and enhanced salt contents, which usually trigger all chemical microstructural changes, are other material properties, lacking reliable ways of measuring. But, the assessment of such material properties, on the long term also in a depth resolved manner, is definitely important, when the sustainability of our concrete infrastructure buildings shall be evaluated.
New consideration like the potential use of ndt, in particular the combination of different methods and alternate ways of data analysis are subject of research currently undertaken at BAM. These approaches involve for example working towards (i) a deeper understanding of how to measure moisture distributions reliably and follow transport phenomena, (ii) the use of stray phenomena in radar and ultrasound to locate material inhomogeneities or (iii) the application of LIBS for the delineation of diffusion and migration processes but also (iv) the use of new tools for data analysis like data fusion. First results are presented and new ideas discussed.
Elastic wave propagation of ultrasound in bituminous road surfaces - simulations and measurements
(2015)
Maintenance costs of road infrastructure are increasing steadily. The main cause of this is the nearly exponential increase of traffic during the last decades. Adverse environmental impacts on infrastructure get more and more important as well. Therefore, it is important to determine how limited financial resources can be directed with an optimum pay-out. Often a decision has to be made whether existing structures have to be rebuilt or repaired based on the condition of the structures. The present study takes first steps towards the usage of low-frequency ultrasound as a tool to evaluate the road condition. The overall aim is to derive a prediction model for future road conditions. In order to better understand and interpret recorded wave fields simulations of elastic wave propagation in layered and scattering road models have been performed. The study combined investigations in the laboratory with field measurements. In a series of extensive laboratory tests with different asphalt mixtures characteristic wave properties have been derived. Travel time (resp. velocity) as important material parameter has been investigated for different wave types, different centre frequencies and at various temperatures. An investigation of the directivity of wave radiation in the heterogeneous asphalt bodies led to an estimate of the related disturbing influences. Based on the laboratory results field measurements were performed on a real road and the records were processed to identify layers, propagation speeds and attenuation. The results were verified by a series of simulations.
GMR sensors are widely used in many industrial segments such as information technology, automotive, automation and production, and safety applications. Each area requires an adaption of the sensor arrangement in terms of size adaption and alignment with respect to the field source involved. This paper deals with an analysis of geometric sensor parameters and the arrangement of GMR sensors providing a design roadmap for non-destructive testing (NDT) applications. For this purpose we use an analytical model simulating the magnetic flux leakage (MFL) distribution of surface breaking defects and investigate the flux leakage signal as a function of various sensor parameters. Our calculations show both the influence of sensor length and height and that when detecting the magnetic flux leakage of µm sized defects a gradiometer base line of 250 µm leads to a signal strength loss of less than 10% in comparison with a magnetometer response. To validate the simulation results we finally performed measurements with a GMR magnetometer sensor on a test plate with artificial µm-range cracks. The differences between simulation and measurement are below 6%. We report on the routes for a GMR gradiometer design as a basis for the fabrication of NDT-adapted sensor arrays. The results are also helpful for the use of GMR in other application when it comes to measure positions, lengths, angles or electrical currents.
Statistical analysis of tomographic reconstruction algorithms by morphological image characteristics
(2010)
We suggest a procedure for quantitative quality control of tomographic reconstruction algorithms. Our task-oriented evaluation focuses on the correct reproduction of phase boundary length and has thus a clear implication for morphological image analysis of tomographic data. Indirectly the method monitors accurate reproduction of a variety of locally defined critical image features within tomograms such as interface positions and microstructures, debonding, cracks and pores. Tomographic errors of such local nature are neglected if only global integral characteristics such as mean squared deviation are considered for the evaluation of an algorithm. The significance of differences in reconstruction quality between algorithms is assessed using a sample of independent random scenes to be reconstructed. These are generated by a Boolean model and thus exhibit a substantial stochastic variability with respect to image morphology. It is demonstrated that phase boundaries in standard reconstructions by filtered backprojection exhibit substantial errors. In the setting of our simulations, these could be significantly reduced by the use of the innovative reconstruction algorithm DIRECTT.