Rainer Krankenhagen

Pulse phase thermography for characterising large historical building façades after solar heating and shadow cast – a case study

For assessing building façades using active thermography, in case of direct solar exposure the sun itself can be used as heat source. It is shown that active thermography can be applied to large areas successfully, if a shadow cast occurs. After performing a sequence reconstruction in order to correct the temporal behaviour of shadow movement, the data could be analysed by pulse phase thermography (PPT). Compared to raw thermograms, the obtained phase images display an improved image quality with a lot of details. The frequency of the phase images is related to the probing depth. The presented case study describes the thermographic investigation of an historical building façade, where an area of 17 m × 13 m has been investigated.

Integration of active thermography into the assessment of cultural heritage buildings

Applications of infrared thermography in civil engineering are not limited to the identification of heat losses in building envelopes. Active infrared thermography methods enable structural investigations of building elements with one-sided access up to a depth of about 10 cm. Masonry and especially historical masonry has a very heterogeneous structure containing several different materials (brick, stone, mortar, plaster, wood, metal, etc.) with various thermal properties. As many classes of damage originate from defects that are close to the surface, active thermography is in general very well suited to assessing different test problems in cultural heritage buildings. In this paper, the physical background, equipment, environmental influences and material properties are discussed. Several application results are presented. It is shown how active thermography can be integrated into a holistic approach for the assessment of historical structures.

Detection and Characterization of Defects in Isotropic and Anisotropic Structures Using Lockin Thermography

Lockin thermography is a well-suited method for the characterization of structures made of both metal and fiber reinforced plastic. In most cases, only phase images are analyzed, although the amplitude images might contain useful information as well. Thus, systematic studies of lockin thermography are presented, assessing amplitude and phase images for the detection and quantification of defects in isotropic (steel) and anisotropic (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) materials. Characterized defects are flat bottom holes with different diameters and various remaining wall thicknesses as well as crossed notches at different depths. The excitation frequency was varied while keeping the number of analyzed excitation periods nearly constant for each material. The data analysis was focused on the detectability of the defects both in the amplitude and phase images, including the determination of the signal-to-noise ratio and of the spatial resolution. As a result, the limits of defect detectability and spatial resolution are given for each material.

Comparison of quantitative defect characterization using pulse-phase and lock-in thermography

Using optical excitation sources for active thermography enables a contactless, remote, and non-destructive testing of materials and structures. Currently, two kinds of temporal excitation techniques have been established: pulse or flash excitation, using mostly flash lamps; and periodic or lock-in excitation, using halogen lamps, LED, or laser arrays. From the experimental point of view, both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. Concerning the comparison of the testing results of both techniques, only very few studies have been performed in the past. In this contribution, the phase values obtained at flat bottom holes in steel and CFRP and the spatial resolution measured at crossed notches in steel using flash and lock-in excitation are compared quantitatively.

Monitoring of Cracks in Historic Concrete Structures Using Optical, Thermal and Acoustical Methods

Cracks are a major issue in the field of cultural heritage. In order to evaluate the significance of a crack, a long term monitoring of the damaged region is required. However, there is a lack of easy to operate tools for such monitoring measures. Therefore, new or existing methods for other applications have to be optimised for cultural heritage investigation. The paper describes the application of such crack observation methods on a historic concrete sculpture. Beside conventional methods, like mapping by hand and ultrasonic depth profiling, a novel tracking system is presented. Furthermore, the suitability of active thermography for the investigation of cracks was investigated. The results show promising prospects for these non-destructive techniques.

Investigating historic masonry structures with a combination of active thermography and 3D laser scanner

Methods for the combination (i. e. comparison and overlay) and data fusion (i. e. integration of all data in one data set, replacement of data) of active thermography and 3D laser scanner (light section method) have been developed. Systematic investigations for quantification of damage in historic structures are presented using both techniques. A case study shows that reproducible investigations at regular time intervals are very well suited for structural monitoring.

Thickness determination of semitransparent solids using flash thermography and an analytical model

Abstract As groundwork for thickness determination of polymeric surface protection systems for concrete, we present a method for measuring the thickness of isolated semitransparent solids using flash thermography both in transmission and reflection configuration. Since standard models do not capture semitransparency, an advanced analytical model by Salazar et al. is applied. Physical material parameters are deduced by fitting experimental data from samples of well-known thickness. Using those, the thickness of samples of the material can be obtained by fitting, as demonstrated for different semitransparent polymer materials.

Development and Application of Active Thermography for Monitoring of Deterioration Processes of Historic Structures

As shown recently, the quantification of damage in historic masonry structures is possible by using active thermography. In this paper, a case study is presented concerning systematic studies of the determination of damage size and prognosis of damage increase inside a sandstone column by using different approaches of active thermography. Various heating sources as well as impulse and periodic heating have been compared. Reproducible investigations in regular time intervals for structural monitoring are possible.

Thermographic Investigation of Delaminated Plaster on Concrete

Active thermography is sensitive to inhomogeneities at and below the surface of objects investigated. Thus, it should be useful for detecting plaster delaminations on concrete. In this paper, the results of field and laboratory investigations into plaster-covered concrete were compared. For evaluating the bonding state of the plaster it is not sufficient to study only the thermal contrasts at the surface of the investigated objects. The experimental results suggest that the overall thermal behaviour has to be considered.

Einfluss thermischer und optischer Materialeigenschaften auf die Charakterisierung von Fehlstellen in Faserverbundwerkstoffen mit aktiven Thermografieverfahren

Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag werden zerstörungsfreie Untersuchungen mittels aktiver Thermografie an Probekörpern aus CFK und GFK mit unterschiedlichen künstlichen Fehlstellen vorgestellt. Dabei wird die zeitliche und örtliche Temperaturverteilung nach der Erwärmung mit Blitzlampen oder mit einem Infrarot-Strahler mit einer Infrarot-Kamera erfasst. Zur späteren Rekonstruktion der Messdaten wurde ein numerisches Modell entwickelt. Dazu war die Bestimmung der thermophysikalischen und optischen Materialeigenschaften erforderlich, was in diesem Beitrag ebenfalls beschrieben wird. Die Ergebnisse der numerischen Modellierung werden mit den experimentellen Untersuchungen der aktiven Thermografie verglichen. Weiterhin werden die experimentellen Untersuchungen hinsichtlich der beiden Materialsysteme CFK und GFK und unter Berücksichtigung der Teiltransparenz des GFK-Materials sowie der unterschiedlichen Anregungsquellen bewertet.