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A Fully Non-contact, Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Measurement of Surface Breaking Cracks in Concrete

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Abstract

Previous researchers have shown that the surface wave transmission coefficient across a surface breaking crack in concrete can be used to estimate the depth of the crack. This study is the first to investigate a fully non-contact ultrasonic technique using air-coupled transducers which can reliably measure the surface wave transmission coefficient across a surface breaking crack in concrete. Using this setup, the transmission coefficient of Rayleigh surface waves is measured for three notches with different depths (0.5, 1, and 2 cm). Then, the relationship between the transmission coefficient and the normalized notch depth is experimentally reconstructed and compared with analytical and numerical results. It is demonstrated that the proposed fully non-contact technique is efficient and promising as a field application in civil infrastructure. The advantages of the proposed non-contact technique compared to existing methods are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through a Graduate Research Assistantship for Fabian Schempp. Additional funding has been provided by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Atlanta, USA

    Chi-Won In, Fabian Schempp, Jin-Yeon Kim & Laurence J. Jacobs

  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, GW Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Atlanta, USA

    Laurence J. Jacobs

Authors
  1. Chi-Won In
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  2. Fabian Schempp
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  3. Jin-Yeon Kim
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  4. Laurence J. Jacobs
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Correspondence to Laurence J. Jacobs.

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In, CW., Schempp, F., Kim, JY. et al. A Fully Non-contact, Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Measurement of Surface Breaking Cracks in Concrete. J Nondestruct Eval 34, 272 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-014-0272-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10921-014-0272-6

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