Use of network theory to improve the ultrasonic tomography in concrete

Lourenço Panosso Perlin; Roberto Caldas de Andrade Pinto

doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2019.01.007

Use of network theory to improve the ultrasonic tomography in concrete

Ultrasonics. 2019 Jul:96:185-195. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2019.01.007. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Authors

Lourenço Panosso Perlin¹, Roberto Caldas de Andrade Pinto²

Affiliations

¹ Federal University of Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Trindade, CEP 88040-970, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Electronic address: lourenco.perlin@ufsc.br.
² Federal University of Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Trindade, CEP 88040-970, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Electronic address: r.pinto@ufsc.br.

PMID: 30755325
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2019.01.007

Abstract

The ultrasonic tomography is an important tool in nondestructive evaluation of concrete structures. It is usual to consider in ultrasonic reconstruction that the mechanical waves only propagate in straight-lines between the transmitter and the receiver transducers, corresponding to the behavior in a homogenous material. In a concrete specimen, however, mechanical waves may deviate from an internal flaw, which affects the resulting tomograms. In this study, the ray tracing technique based on the Network Theory, which allows to consider waves not travelling in a straight-line, was incorporated into the tomography processing. Experimental tests were carried out on concrete specimens with different internal flaws. The results indicated the importance of using the ray tracing technique to properly detect the size and the shape of internal flaws, improving the obtained tomograms. All the necessary algorithms for the application of the Network Theory were presented.

Keywords: Concrete; Network theory; Ray tracing; Tomography; Ultrasonic.