Analytische Chemie
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Validation of artificial defects for Non-destructive testing measurements on a reference structure
(2018)
Non-destructive testing was established over the last decades as an important tool for assessing damages, material characterization and quality assurance in civil engineering. For example, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can be used to scan large areas of concrete structures to determine the spatial position of the reinforcement. With the ultrasonic echo method, the thickness of concrete structures can be easily determined even if a high density of reinforcement is given. Various methods and processes have been developed for the validation of NDT procedures aiming at ensuring the quality of measurements in practical use. The Probability of Detection (POD) for example, is an available method to compare different technical devices with each other quantitatively regarding their performance. With this method, the best suited testing device for a specific inspection task under defined boundary conditions can be selected. By using the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM), it is possible to quantify the measurement uncertainty of an inspection procedure for a specific task. Another important aspect to improve the acceptance of non-destructive testing methods is the development of reference specimens.
Reference specimens serve for the calibration and further development of NDT methods under realistic conditions in different laboratories under the same conditions. This is an essential prerequisite for round robin tests. A particular challenge here is the most realistic representation of a damage that can occur at building sites. Possible damages include for example horizontal and vertical cracks or honeycombs in concrete. Such a reference structure was built for the development of a new design of power plant constructions. Comparative studies on the manufacturing of realistic honeycombs and delaminations were carried out in advance on a test specimen. The results of this study are presented here.
Corrosion of concrete reinforcement is one of the major damage mechanisms affecting both the load-bearing capacity and the serviceability of reinforced concrete structures significantly. The challenge of detecting corrosion is that the corrosion process in its various forms is not immediately visible, especially in the corrosion initiation phase inside the concrete. When externally discernible damages are observed during visual inspections on the structure, the extent of the damage inside the concrete is often already significant. Corrosion caused by carbonation often leads to severe discoloration of the surface or even large-area spalling of the concrete cover. In contrast, chloride-induced corrosion is usually difficult to observe visually, but can cause much more serious damage in less time. The effect occurs locally and can lead to weakening of the cross-section of the reinforcement. This, in turn, can cause sudden structural collapses without prior notice. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether there is protection against corrosion of the reinforcement in the concrete and to detect active corrosion in the structure at an early stage.
In the meanwhile, various non-destructive and minimally invasive testing methods are available to evaluate the resistance to penetration of corrosion-promoting pollutants and to detect active corrosion. In this paper, a bridge crossing the river Regen (Germany) is used as a case-study to demonstrate how the information obtained applying different testing methods can be combined and evaluated in the context of structural reassessments. Both the results of the permeability testing (Torrent tester) and the electrical resistance measurement (Wenner probe) are considered, as well as active corrosion areas are localized using the half-cell potential mapping combined with the concrete cover measurement with the eddy current method and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The results are evaluated using drill cores and in addition laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied to obtain information about possible ion transport in the concrete.
In addition to already established structural monitoring methods such as deformation, inclination or strain gauges or acoustic emission sensors, sonic or ultrasonic monitoring might provide valuable information about the condition or alteration of a structure. Sensors such as geophones, recording ambient noise in the sonic and subsonic frequency range can provide information beyond modal analysis by using interferometric methods. Wave velocities determined by this method are related to the elastic properties and stiffness of material and structure and can be converted into damage indicators. Embedded active ultrasonic transducer networks can provide more detailed insight about deterioration or damages again, using interferometric technologies. This approach is extremely sensible, detecting relative change in velocity on down to 10-5. These methods, including benefits and remaining challenges, are demonstrated using data from a test structure at BAM’s test site demonstrating the case of prestress loss, and data from an actual bridge still under traffic.
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.
Ultrasonic measurement technology has become indispensable in NDT-CE. Air-coupled ultrasonic (ACU) measurement techniques promise to reduce measurement time. However, the signal quality suffers from large specific impedance mismatch at the transducer-air and air-specimen interface. Additionally, large pressure amplitudes are necessary for the penetration depth required in NDT-CE applications.
To address the specific requirements of ultrasonic testing in NDT-CE, a robust ACU transducer was developed, that generates ultrasound by quickly switching a pressurized air flow. The simple design of the fluidic transducer makes the device maintenance free and resilient against harsh environmental conditions. Since the signal is generated by aeroacoustics, there is no specific impedance mismatch between the transducer and the surrounding air. The ultrasonic signal exhibits frequencies in the 30-60 kHz range and is therefore well suited to penetrate heterogenous materials such as concrete. This contribution gives an introduction in the working principle and signal characteristics of the fluidic transducer. A detailed outlook is given to discuss the future potential of fluidic ultrasonic actuators.
When reassessing existing concrete bridges, the challenge is often to obtain missing or incomplete information on the internal structure. In particular, the number and position of the existing reinforcement as well as the geometric dimensions of the components are of interest. Non-destructive testing methods, like radar or ultrasound, which work on the basis of the pulse-echo method, have been established for this purpose, as they only require access to the component from one side. The measurement data recorded on the structure require pre-processing to be able to reproduce the internal structure geometrically accurately. Besides different steps of data processing, the geometrical reconstruction of the measured data based on the Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) is state of the art today. In this paper, the technical possibilities of the ultrasonic echo method are presented based on measurements in the laboratory and on a real bridge structure. The precision of the reconstruction and its limitations are shown. In addition to the state of the art SAFT technique, open questions and the latest research approaches, such as imaging by reverse time migration (RTM) including initial results are discussed.