Higher Reliability of Ultrasonic Testing of Concrete

Innovative Automatic Wave Picking Method

Fig. 1 Main window of the software developed.

Fig. 2 Test setup.

Fig. 3 Wave speed (m/s) on the y-axis vs contact pressure (MPa) on the x-axis for the automatic picks.

Fig. 4 AR-AIC method (orange line), AIC-Maeda method (green line), contact pressure 0.025 MPa (F=50N).

Fig. 5 Ultrasonic Pulse
Analyzer, Controls model 58-E4900, featuring the AIC-Maeda algorithm for the accurate determination of the
arrival time.

 The objective of the study carried out was to improve the reliability of in-situ ultrasonic testing of concrete using algorithms that automatically determine the arrival time of ultrasonic waves to an acceptable degree of accuracy. The exact determination of the arrival time is of fundamental importance to permit the expansion in the application of this testing technology and to provide the option to perform more advanced signal processing, including energy measurement or the analysis of the spectrum of the waveform frequency using the Fourier, Gabor and Wavelet theories.

The concepts of reliability and durability are becoming increasingly important in the civil engineering sector. Over the past few years, the awareness of the need for restoration and conservation of infrastructural facilities and industrial and civil buildings has favored the development and use of an ever-increasing number of methods for diagnosis, analysis and structural restoration.

The need for conservation may have different roots such as the age of the existing building stock, the degrading of building materials over time, seismic damage, differential settlement of foundations, design...