Active Microwave Thermography to Detect and Locate Water Ingress

This article reports on the application of a new and efficient nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) technique referred to as active microwave thermography (AMT) used to detect and locate water ingress within a structure. First, a mathematical formulation and analysis is established that relates the water extension and location to the temperature distribution over the inspection surface and enables evaluation of water from the measured temperature data. Following the analysis, the AMT measurement results of a small volume of water, placed in a rubber sample at a predetermined location, are reported. The results verify the analysis and demonstrate the potential of AMT for water detection. In addition, analysis of the measurement data indicates the potential of AMT for not only detection of water ingress but also accurate depth estimation of small amounts of water ingress.

[1]  W. M. Haynes.  CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics , 1990 .

[2]  Sevket Demirci,et al.  Ground penetrating radar imaging of water leaks from buried pipes based on back-projection method , 2012 .

[3]  Angelos Amditis,et al.  Detection of water leaks in supply pipes using continuous wave sensor operating at 2.45 GHz , 2010 .

[4]  A. Haji-sheikh,et al.  Heat Conduction Using Green's Function , 1992 .

[5]  Antonia Moropoulou,et al.  Detection of water deposits and movement in porous materials by infrared imaging , 2003 .

[6]  Norbert Palka,et al.  Moisture detection in composites by terahertz spectroscopy , 2015 .

[7]  F. Xu,et al.  4848 Nondestructive Evaluation of Rubber Composites Using Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy , 2018 .

[8]  Q. Mu,et al.  Nondestructive Evaluation of Rubber Composites Using Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy , 2018 .

[9]  Ali Foudazi,et al.  Evaluation of steel fiber distribution in cement-based mortars using active microwave thermography , 2016, Materials and Structures.

[10]  Giuseppe Sala,et al.  Composite degradation due to fluid absorption , 2000 .

[11]  Osama Moselhi,et al.  Automated Detection and Location of Leaks in Water Mains Using Infrared Photography , 2010 .

[12]  Ermanno G. Grinzato,et al.  Infrared Thermography for Moisture Detection: A Laboratory Study and In-situ Test , 2011 .

[13]  N. Giaquinto,et al.  A New Method for Detecting Leaks in Underground Water Pipelines , 2012, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[14]  Robert J. Ross,et al.  Inception and propagation mechanisms of water treeing , 1998 .

[15]  Baldev Raj,et al.  Quantification of defects in composites and rubber materials using active thermography , 2012 .

[16]  Pin Yang,et al.  Thermal Properties of a Glass Fiber Filled Epoxy (Sumitomo E264H). , 2015 .

[17]  J. Humphrey,et al.  A Device for Evaluating the Multiaxial Finite Strain Thermomechanical Behavior of Elastomers and Soft Tissues , 2000 .

[18]  Joaquín Izquierdo,et al.  GPR-Based Water Leak Models in Water Distribution Systems , 2013, Sensors.

[19]  L. Sluys,et al.  Combined experimental/numerical investigation of directional moisture diffusion in glass/epoxy composites , 2017 .

[20]  S. Nutt,et al.  Moisture absorption of unidirectional hybrid composites , 2012 .

[21]  Ali Mirala,et al.  Nondestructive assessment of microwave absorbing structures via active microwave thermography , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC).

[22]  Heinz Hugli,et al.  Drop volume measurements by vision , 2000, Electronic Imaging.

[23]  U. Kaatze.  Complex Permittivity of Water as a Function of Frequency and Temperature , 1989 .

[24]  Ali Foudazi,et al.  Active Microwave Thermography for Defect Detection of CFRP-Strengthened Cement-Based Materials , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[25]  Peiyu Wang,et al.  Near-field microwave identification and quantitative evaluation of liquid ingress in honeycomb sandwich structures , 2016 .

[26]  X. Maldague,et al.  Introduction to NDT by Active Infrared Thermography1 , 1995 .

[27]  Constantinos Soutis,et al.  A review of microwave testing of glass fibre-reinforced polymer composites , 2019, Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation.

[28]  Ali Foudazi,et al.  Application of Active Microwave Thermography to delamination detection , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC) Proceedings.

[29]  Lesley Sneed,et al.  Active Microwave Thermography: A Real-Time Monitoring Tool for CFRP-Concrete Bond Testing , 2019, 2019 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC).

[30]  Ali Mirala,et al.  Active Microwave Thermography for Nondestructive Evaluation of Surface Cracks in Metal Structures , 2019, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[31]  Defer Didier,et al.  Comparison between Microwave Infrared Thermography and CO 2 Laser Infrared Thermography in Defect Detection in Applications with CFRP , 2013 .

[32]  Zheng Liu,et al.  State of the art review of inspection technologies for condition assessment of water pipes , 2013 .

[33]  Ivana Banjad Pecur,et al.  Review of Active IR Thermography for Detection and Characterization of Defects in Reinforced Concrete , 2016, J. Imaging.

[34]  Ali Foudazi,et al.  Characterization of Corroded Reinforced Steel Bars by Active Microwave Thermography , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[35]  Ali Foudazi,et al.  Application of active microwave thermography to inspection of carbon fiber reinforced composites , 2014, 2014 IEEE AUTOTEST.

[36]  Michael Burrow,et al.  Condition assessment of the buried utility service infrastructure , 2012 .

[37]  K. Donnell,et al.  Detection of Flat-Bottom Holes in Conductive Composites Using Active Microwave Thermography , 2018, Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, Diagnostics and Prognostics of Engineering Systems.