Radar imaging of concrete specimens for non-destructive testing

Abstract In this paper, the use of radar for non-destructive testing (NDT) of concrete is examined through radar measurements of laboratory size concrete specimens. In the measurements, the emphasis is given to the determination of the specimen thicknesses at three different microwave frequency ranges: 2 ∼ 3.4 GHz (S band), 3.4 ∼ 5.8 GHz (S/C band), and 8 ∼ 12 GHz (X band). The effect of different center frequency and bandwidth on measuring concrete thickness has been investigated. A signal processing algorithm implemented to obtain one-dimensional imagery of the specimens is briefly discussed.