Principal Component Thermography for Defect Detection in Concrete

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Bojan Milovanović
• Author: Mergim Gaši
• Author: Sanjin Gumbarević
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Civil Engineering
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: TECHNICAL SCIENCES; Civil Engineering

Abstract (english)

The goal of the condition assessment of concrete structures is to gain an insight into current
condition of concrete and the existence of defects, which decrease durability and usability of the
structure. Defects are quite dicult to detect using infrared thermography when concrete elements
cannot be thermally excited with the Sun, together with unfavorable thermophysical properties
of concrete structures. In this paper, principal component thermography (PCT) is applied as a
post-processing method to a sequence of thermograms in order to enhance defect detectability in
concrete structures. Defects are detected by analyzing a set of empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs),
which were acquired by applying principal component analysis to a sequence of thermograms.
The research was performed using concrete samples containing known defects, which were tested
using a step heating thermography setup. The results of presented research show that PCT is an
eective post-processing method to improve defect detection in concrete structures. By eectively
improving the defect detection, PCT has a potential to improve the non-destructive testing (NDT)
accuracy of using infrared thermography (IRT) on concrete structures, especially in shaded areas of
such structures. The research also shows the defect detectability depending on concrete type thermal
excitation setup and defect geometry.

• Keywords (english): infrared thermography; concrete; principal component analysis; non-destructive testing; defect detection
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Sensors
• Numbering: vol. 20, no. 14, pp. 1-21, 3891
• e-ISSN: 1424-8220
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s20143891
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:237:010653
• Publication: 2020
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2024-09-04 09:04:41