Monitoring Concrete Bridge Decks Using Infrared Thermography With High Speed Vehicles

Keywords

Bridge deck; Cooled IR camera; Delamination; High-speed inspection; Infrared thermography; Integration time; IR camera specifications; Monitoring; Non- destructive evaluation; Pixel resolution

Abstract

There is a need for rapid and objective assessment of concrete bridge decks for maintenance decision making. Infrared Thermography (IRT) has great potential to identify deck delaminations more objectively than routine visual inspections or chain drag tests. In addition, it is possible to collect reliable data rapidly with appropriate IRT cameras attached to vehicles and the data are analyzed effectively. This research compares three infrared cameras with different specifications at different times and speeds for data collection, and explores several factors affecting the utilization of IRT in regards to subsurface damage detection in concrete structures, specifically when the IRT is utilized for high- speed bridge deck inspection at normal driving speeds. These results show that IRT can detect up to 2.54 cm delamination from the concrete surface at any time period. It is observed that nighttime would be the most suitable time frame with less false detections and interferences from the sunlight and less adverse effect due to direct sunlight, making more "noise" for the IRT results. This study also revealed two important factors of camera specifications for high-speed inspection by IRT as shorter integration time and higher pixel resolution.

Publication Date

9-1-2016

Publication Title

Structural Monitoring and Maintenance

Volume

3

Issue

3

Number of Pages

277-296

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.12989/smm.2016.3.3.277

Socpus ID

85020260954 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85020260954

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