Detection of material defects in reinforced concrete slab using active thermography

In order to validate the practical usage of passive and active infrared thermography for bridge inspection, a number of experimental studies have been conducted. Concrete slab of dimension of 60×60×10 cm made of concrete of strength class C35/45 was the object of research. Steel bars type B500SP with a diameter of ø10 and ø12 mm were used as reinforcement of analyzed slab. Four structure discontinuities imitating damages were implemented inside the slab. Using various methods of thermal excitation, the sensitivity of the slab response using infrared cameras was investigated. The paper presents the results of experiment and FEM simulation.