Application of infrared thermography in the characterization of voids and honeycomb in concrete structure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is mainly the quantitative and the qualitative analysis of a reinforced concrete slab containing two types of delaminations: voids and honeycomb, with different sizes and depths. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the paper adopts the infra-red thermography as a sounding method. It is used as a tool to estimate the change in temperature or thermal contrast induced by the presence of a defect in specimen besides using numerical simulation based on FEM to develop the prediction of temperature development in concrete structure. Findings – This study shows that the numerical methods can be used to evaluate and validate the experimental results. The coupling of the simulation and the experimentation can be of a great utility because it allows predicting the results before beginning the experimentation. Originality/value – The paper finds that the use of FEM in the prediction of temperature evolution in concrete, and the validation of the numerical simulation with th...