Detection of Non Emergent Defects in Asphalt Infra - 2011

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Detection of non emergent defects in asphalt

pavement samples by long pulse and pulse phase
infrared thermography
a b c b
Jean Dumoulin , Laurent Ibos , Mario Marchetti & Atef Mazioud
a
IFSTTAR (Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports de
l'aménagement et des réseaux), Dpt MACS , Route de Bouaye, CS 4, F-44341, Bouguenais
Cedex, France E-mail:
b
CERTES, Université Paris Est Créteil Val-de-Marne , 61, avenue du Général De Gaulle,
F-94010, Créteil Cedex, France
c
Laboratoire Régional des Ponts et Chaussées de Nancy , CETE de l'Est , 71, rue de la
Grande Haie, F-54510, Tomblaine, France
Published online: 04 Oct 2011.
To cite this article: Jean Dumoulin , Laurent Ibos , Mario Marchetti & Atef Mazioud (2011) Detection of non emergent
defects in asphalt pavement samples by long pulse and pulse phase infrared thermography, European Journal of
Environmental and Civil Engineering, 15:4, 557-574
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2011.9693347
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Detection of non emergent defects in
asphalt pavement samples by long pulse
and pulse phase infrared thermography
Jean Dumoulin* — Laurent Ibos** — Mario Marchetti***

Atef Mazioud**
Downloaded by [Selcuk Universitesi] at 01:40 07 January 2015
* IFSTTAR (Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports

de l’aménagement et des réseaux), Dpt MACS
Route de Bouaye, CS 4, F-44341 Bouguenais Cedex, France
jean.dumoulin@ifsttar.fr
** CERTES, Université Paris Est Créteil Val-de-Marne
61, avenue du Général De Gaulle, F-94010 Créteil Cedex, France
*** Laboratoire Régional des Ponts et Chaussées de Nancy, CETE de l’Est
71, rue de la Grande Haie, F-54510 Tomblaine, France
ABSTRACT. In this paper, Pulse Thermography analysis was applied to detect non emergent
defects in asphalt concrete used for road pavements. Experimental and numerical
experimentations were run on this specific heterogeneous material. Only experimental data
acquired with an un-cooled microbolometer camera (less sensitive than a cooled one) were
used. Data were processed using a semi-infinite heat transfer model in order to determine the
depth of the defects. At last, a discussion on the influence of performances of the IR camera
employed versus potential detection of subsurface defects is given in correlation with the
investigated domain of pavement materials.
RÉSUMÉ. Des analyses par thermographie pulsée conduites sur des données expérimentales et
simulées sont présentées. Ces méthodes sont appliquées à des données issues d’une caméra
infrarouge non refroidie équipée d’un détecteur matriciel à microbolomètres (de moindre
sensibilité thermique que les caméras refroidies). Les données font l’objet de calculs pour
déterminer la profondeur des défauts en s’appuyant sur l’hypothèse du milieu semi-infini.
Enfin, une discussion sur l’influence des performances de ce type de caméra sur la détection
potentielle de défauts non émergents est proposée vis-à-vis du domaine des matériaux de
structure de chaussées.
KEYWORDS: active infrared thermography, heat transfer, numerical simulations, pavement
materials.
MOTS-CLÉS :thermographie infrarouge active, transfert de chaleur, simulations numériques,
matériaux de chaussées.
DOI:10.3166/EJECE.15.557-574 © 2011 Lavoisier, Paris
EJECE – 15/2011. Non destructive testing in civil engineering, pages 557 to 574
558 EJECE – 15/2011. Non destructive testing in civil engineering
1. Introduction
In many countries road network ages while road traffic and maintenance costs
increase. Nowadays, thousand and thousand kilometers of roads are each year
submitted to surface distress survey. They generally lean on pavement surface
imaging measurement techniques (Schmidt, 2003), mainly in the visible spectrum,
coupled with visual inspection or image processing detection of emergent distresses
(Chambon et al., 2009). Nevertheless, optimization of maintenance works and costs
requires an early detection of defects within the pavement structure when they still
are hidden from surface.
Accordingly, alternative measurement techniques for the nondestructive testing
(NDT) of pavement are currently under investigation (Simonin et al., 2006;
Fauchard et al., 2008). In this context, NDT by active infrared thermography could
be a complementary full field approach.
Active infrared thermography for the detection of defects has been used for many
years now for the nondestructive control of materials such as metals, composites and
so on, as described in the literature (Maldague, 2001). Its application to civil
engineering materials like cement concrete, a slightly porous and almost
homogeneous material has been shown too (Maierhofer et al., 2006). A first
extension of such approach to bitumen concrete material was presented in (Marchetti
et al., 2008). The challenge was to sort relevant signal of defects among the pristine
porosity and heterogeneity of such material. Furthermore, there are many techniques
for non destructive control of materials involving infrared thermography.
In this paper, pulsed thermography (PT) and Pulse Phase Thermography (PPT)
analysis were conducted both on experimental and numerical experimentations. They
are applied to an heterogeneous asphalt concrete pavement sample having two
defects geometries of different nature. Two methods (Direct model and Blind
Frequency approaches) were used to retrieve the depth of the defects and obtained
results are discussed and analyzed. Finally, combining numerical simulations and
experiments allows us discussing on the sensitivity influence of the uncooled IR
detector used to detect subsurface defects.
2. Context and objectives
Pavement distresses are essentially due to heavy vehicle traffic and weather
conditions. Indeed, defects such as debonding zones between the top layer (wearing
course) and the structural ones (Figure 1) could induce a quick deterioration of the
pavement surface (circular cracking up to potholes). Such defects have a wide
variety of size and depth (a few centimetres up to tens of centimetres).
Defects detection in pavement sample by PT and PPT 559
a) b)
Figure 1. Local pavement surface emergent cracking a) probably due to debonding b)
Furthermore, there is a large variety of materials used for road construction, from
asphalt to cement concrete. They have different granular constitution and therefore
different thermal and radiative properties. The porosity of these structures varies
from non porous to highly porous. These variations could also appear within the
same pavement layer due to construction constraints. Such heterogeneity would
induce additional difficulties in the use of active thermography.
Figure 2. Picture of 2 inserted defects made of Pine wood
In the present study, semi-granular asphalt pavement materials were considered.

Their nature was of the most commonly used material on French national roads.
Parallelepiped samples (10 cm x 18 cm x 50 cm) were made of granular materials
(diameter ranging between 5 and 14 mm), which geological origin is the north-east
part of France. The bitumen matrix had a penetrability of 0.50 to 0.60 mm, and ball-
ring temperature 70°C. Samples were manufactured according to the French standard
NF EN 12697-33. The porosity of such sample could vary from a few percent to
20%. Two samples were prepared: one with two defects, and one with three defects.
Only the sample with two defects was considered in this study. These two defects
made of Pine wood (a parallelepiped and a pyramid) were included while
manufacturing the road samples (Figure 2). They were both 8.7 cm high, with a 4x4
cm base section.
During the thermal analysis, these wood inclusions were either left (i.e. wood
defect) or removed (i.e. air defect). Two kinds of inclusions were therefore
evaluated, which thermal conductivity (O) and effusivity ( b OUC p ), wood or
air, were lower than the ones of the road material. The upper parts of the defects
were located 1.3 cm below the observed sample surface. These inclusions were
inserted into the road pavement samples in such a way that they did not thermally
interact with each other (see Figure 3).
a) b)
Figure 3. Pavement sample rear a) and front b) views
3. Laboratory experiments and numerical simulation
3.1. Square heating test bench
The experimental setup (Figure 4) is based on the use of two halogen lamps of
500 W each and has been previously described in (Larbi et al., 2007).
A reflector was used to obtain a quasi-constant heat flux density over the whole
sample surface. The selected active thermography method was the square heating.
The heating phase durations were of 60 s and 300 s. The heat flux density of the
excitation during trials was assumed to be constant and around 3000 W.m-2. This
value is quite high with respect to flux observed on Earth (300 W.m-2 and peak of
1000 W.m-2 in specific locations according to national weather services). Such a
value was chosen to enhance the phenomena involved in defects detection. A
specific study would be necessary to analyze the lowest heat flux density to allow
such detection. The infrared camera was located at a distance of 0.8 m from the
sample surface. A FLIR S65 infrared camera equipped with an uncooled
microbolometer (FPA detector of 320 x 240 sensitive elements, spectral bandwidth

7.5 – 13 µm) was used. The objective lens was a 24° angle. An open space was
maintained between the surface sample and the volume of the reflector to ease the
convection, and to avoid large temperature gradients.
Sample signal
conditioning
TSurface Tair
Tair 5B37
Tair PC +
K-type temperature
5B37 data acquisition
Lamp
probes input
TSurface
Caisson
Camera
TSurface TSurface Lamp 5B37
RS232 serial port

Analog 5B49
TSurface output
voltage change
220V, 50Hz TTL Signal Synchro
~ Keithley 2000 voltmeter
Figure 4. Scheme of the square heating test bench
a) b)
Figure 5. View of sample under thermal solicitation a) and laboratory test bench b)
3.2. Numerical simulation
In parallel to these experimental trials, numerical simulations were carried out.

They were based on the finite volume method of heat transfer inside the investigated
sample for a similar heat density pulse and thermal relaxation duration with
FLUENT™. The modelling part consisted in applying a square function of 2620 W.m-2
heat flux density’s for two duration pulses (60 s and 300 s) to the front face of the
sample. For these numerical test cases, the temperature fields as a function of time on
the surface and inside the sample were computed. The geometry of the considered
sample matches the two defects configuration. According to this geometry, we used a
three-dimensional non-structured meshing basis on tetrahedral cells realized under
GAMBIT™. There were then 1,892,429 cells. Thermal characteristics of the materials
used in the numerical simulations are summarized in Table 1. Due to the wide spectrum
of values for asphalt concrete, average ones were chosen as representative of materials
used in road construction (Marchetti et al., 2008).
Table 1. Thermophysical properties of materials used for numerical simulations
Material O(W.m-1.K-1) U (kg.m-3) Cp (J.kg-1.K-1)
Asphalt concrete 1.41 2262 1255

Pine wood
(fibers parallel 0.15 600 1900
to heat flux)
Air 0.0242 1.225 1006
Water 0.6 998.2 4182
Furthermore, ambient temperature was considered as constant and equal to 20°C.

The sample was supposed to be submitted to a global convective heat exchange
coefficient h = 10 W.m-2.K-1, on its front and rear faces. Lateral faces were thermally
insulated.
3.3. Temperature spatial distribution evolution
Thermal images were acquired at a frequency of 1 Hz for at least half an hour

(during square heating and thermal relaxation). Tests have shown that defects close
to the surface could be directly detected during the heating phase using the infrared
images and for 300 s square heating duration. It was the case for the parallelepiped
one with a flat surface parallel to the heat flow. The presentation of the results will
then be focused on the 300 s heating phase. For pyramid one, no direct detection was
observed. The heterogeneity of the pavement samples (materials and porosity) did
not significantly affect the global heat transfer within the structure. Nevertheless,
thermal behaviour of aggregates had is own thermal signature. Some heating
heterogeneity was observed on samples edges and has to be connected to natural
convection development during thermal relaxation phase. Figure 6 presents thermal
images (temperature in Kelvin), acquired with the FLIR® S65 camera, at the end of
a heat pulse of 300 s and 210 s after its end. The heat flux density applied to
pavement sample was close to 3000 W.m-2.
t=0s
t = 300 s
t = 510 s
Figure 6. Experimental thermal images for a 300 s square heating duration
It can be observed on the infrared thermal images that the natural convective heat
transfer development at the surface of the sample is heterogeneous (aggregates and
bitumen on the surface, large roughness). Some aggregates thermal signature can
also be observed for infrared thermal image at t = 300 s. The heating heterogeneity
might be involved too, though the spatial extent of heterogeneities is mainly located
on the sample borders. For the ones located on the surface, their size is small enough
not to affect the defect determination.
Figure 7 shows temperature field (in Kelvin) evolution for a density heat pulse of
2620 W.m-2 during 300 s and thermal relaxation. They have been reconstructed
using 3D simulation presented in the previous paragraph.
t = 300 s
t = 510 s
Figure 7. Thermal images simulated for a 2620 W.m-2 heat flux density pulse during
300 s
Due to the good homogeneity of material used for computation, one will notice
that aggregates and natural convection did not affect the temperature field as
previously observed for experimental data.
4. Defect localisation and characterization
4.1. Defect localisation by polynomial coefficient map decomposition
Decomposition of thermal signals using polynomial interpolation (Shepard,

2001; Martin et al., 2003) allows a reduction of the whole thermal images sequence
to few coefficient maps. Spatial and temporal resolutions of thermal images
sequence are increased while amount of data to be analysed is reduced. Number of
coefficient maps (Equation [1]) depends on the polynomial order used.
i n
ln>T (t )@ ¦ a >ln(t )@
i 0
i
i
[1]
with T the pixel temperature, t the time, ai the polynomial coefficients and n the
polynomial order.
After decomposition n+1 maps are computed. It has to be noticed that such
approach can also be used for data fitting. In such computing configuration this
approach is also known as Thermographic Signal Reconstruction (TSR). In the
present paper polynomial interpolation was only used to locate defects by analysing
a reduced number of maps. Typically, as we do not make signal reconstruction a five
order polynomial interpolation was used, limiting us to the analysis of 6 maps and
only on the thermal relaxation part of the thermal image sequences.

Nevertheless, some investigations were done on experimental and numerical data
both on thermal relaxation and full square heating duration (thermal excitation and
relaxation). It was observed that a 9th up 10th order polynomial interpolation lead to
the best fitting of the thermograms when only the thermal relaxation is used. When
the whole square heating sequence is used, best fitting where obtained for 13th up to
14th order polynomial interpolation. As in the present study this approach was only
used to have a rapid localization of defective area a compromise was made between
time computing and fitting accuracy. Furthermore, it was only used on thermal
relaxation phase after the heating and this order is not suitable for full square heating
experiments.
4.2. Defect depth estimation by phase analysis
Frequency analysis approach is another way to reduce number of thermal images

to be analysed in a sequence. The Fourier transform (Equation [2]) is applied to
temporal evolution of each pixel of the thermal image.
N 1
Fn 't ¦ T k't exp
k 0
( j 2Snk N )
Re n Im n [2]
where n designates the frequency increment (n = 0,1,…N); ût is the sampling

interval; Re and Im are the real and the imaginary parts of the Fourier transform. In
practise Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (Cooley and Tukey, 1965) is used to
reduce time computing.
Then magnitude (An) and phase ()n) maps are calculated (Equation [3]) and can
be analysed to locate defects.
§ Im · [3]
An Re n2 Im n2 and ) n tan 1 ¨¨ n ¸¸
© Re n ¹
Using phase maps and knowing defect location, absolute phase contrast can be
calculated (Equation [4]).
') ) def ) sound [4]
with )def the phase evolution over a defect area and )sound the phase evolution over a
sound area. If the defect area is small enough with respects to the whole inspected
one, it might be possible to use the average whole area as a sound one. Nevertheless,
the contrast result might be affected.
It is then possible to use the blind frequency fb approach which is defined as the
frequency limit for which defect can be detected. Initially introduced in lock-in
thermography it has been extended to pulse thermography (Ibarra-Castanedo, 2005).

In our works we study the condition of its extension to long pulse thermography by
working only on the thermal relaxation part of the trials.
Using blind frequency identified on absolute phase contrast evolution, defect
depth can be retrieved by using Equation [5].
a [5]
z def C1
S fb
with a the studied thermal diffusivity, fb the identified blind frequency and C1 a
correlation constant depending on materials studied.
In the present study, the constant C1 was estimated using numerical simulation
for different natures of defect. Numerical simulations used were made for heat pulse
duration of 60 s with a of 15 s time step. Estimations were conducted on thermal
relaxation phase ranging between 1600 to 2000 s. For these sets of data, C1 was
tuned to 2.15 by using reconstructed thermal image sequences issued from numerical
simulations, while a was chosen as equal to 4.97 10-7 m2.s-1 using thermal properties
of asphalt concrete reported in Table 1.
As a complement to the presentation of this blind frequency approach applied to
defect depth estimation in asphaltic pavement samples, some considerations on its
sensitivity versus the accuracy of the determination of the values of the parameters
involved (C1, a and fb) in the processing is proposed. Evaluation of its sensitivity was
realized by using numerical simulations.
According to the average duration of all experiments and numerical simulations,
the average step frequency analysis is round 6 10-4 Hz. So, if we assume that the
blind frequency is identified at +/- one step frequency analysis value, it drives to an
over or under estimation of the depth round +/- 0.1 mm. This is less than the
precision we are able to reach when we realized the sample as it is a mix of
aggregates (up to 1 cm) and bitumen binder. Furthermore, an error of +/-10% on the
thermal diffusivity value drives to an over or under estimation of the depth round +/-
0.6 mm, which is still acceptable for such type of materials knowing that a real
pavement layer thickness cannot actually be measured with such accuracy even with
step frequency radar. Finally, the most sensitive element of this approach is the
determination of the C1 constant. For this one, a variation of +/-10% of its value
induces a variation of +/- 1.5 mm in the depth estimation. Such uncertainty in depth
estimation is close to the range of the macro-texture than can be measured for such
pavement surface.
4.3. Defect depth estimation by direct thermal model
Here we assumed that the location of the defect was not known and we compute
overheating maps evolution using the temperature map acquired before the square
heating at t0 for each pixel (Equation [6]). This is a classical approach in wall heat
transfer determination by IR thermography (Dumoulin et al., 1995) also known as
cold image subtraction (Maldague, 2001):
'Tx , y t Tx , y t Tx , y t0 [6]
As a first approximation, heat transfer in pavement materials can be assumed to

behave as a semi-infinite body. Nevertheless, care must be taken when choosing time
interval for the calculation and the experiments (according to material characteristic
thermal diffusion time), in order to keep within the validity domain of such model.
Furthermore, by neglecting natural heat transfer on the surface of the inspected
material, the heat equation system to solve takes the following form:
w 2T 1 wT
° 2
with T ( z, t ) T ( z , t ) T0
° wz a wt
°Initial condition : [7]
°
®t d 0 : T ( z , t ) = 0
° Boundary condition :
°
° wT
° t > 0 and z 0 : k wz M 0 (t )
¯
In our measurement and simulation configuration the surface solicitation is a

constant square heat pulse of duration W. The boundary condition at t > 0,
Equation [7] takes the following expression where M is the constant heat flux
density applied during the pulse:
M 0 (t ) = q 0 if t d W and M 0 (t ) = 0 if t ! W [8]
The solution of such system can be obtained by using the Laplace transform.
Other approaches can be found in literature. For instance (Vavilov et al., 1992)
presents different solutions for various thermal configurations. The solution for the
surface temperature is:
2 q0 t
°if t W : T (0, t )
° b S
® [9]
°if t t W : T (0, t )
°¯
2q0
b S
t t W
Combining this solution for the case of a square pulse solicitation over the
surface of the studied material with the normalized effusivity approach proposed by
(Balageas et al., 1987) the depth of the defect can be determined using the relation,
Equation [10]:
a t min bn ,min
0.95
z def [10]
where a is the thermal diffusivity, b the thermal effusivity, calculated using

(Equation [11]), tmin the time when the effusivity curve is minimum, zdef the depth of
the defect in material and bn,min the normalized minimum effusivity
b
bn .
bstudied material
Thermal effusivity evolution or a square heat flux density pulse is obtained using
Equation [9] and takes expression reported in Equation [11].
2 q0 t
°if t W b(t )
° T (0, t ) S
® [11]
°if t t W b(t )
°
2 q0
T (0, t ) S
t t W
¯
5. Results and analysis
Figures 8 and 9 show results obtained for the square defect location using the
polynomial approach.
a)
b)
Figure 8. Pine wood square defect (60 s heat pulse duration) polynomial coefficient
map at 5th order: a) simulation; b) experimentation
a)
b)
Figure 9. Air square defect (60 s heat pulse duration) polynomial coefficient
map at 5th order: a) simulation; b) experimentation
These results were obtained for square heat pulse duration of 60 s. The
parallelepiped defect is both detected on simulated and experimental data. Air defect
has an enhanced signature in coefficient map at 5th order than wood defect.
0.25
0.2
0.15
Air square defect

Pine wood square defect
0.1 Water square defect

]
d
a
[r
3
0.05
-0.05
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 10. Absolute phase contrast between square defect area and sound area
calculated using numerical simulation –heat pulse duration of 60 s
Figure 11. Absolute phase contrast between square defect area and sound area
calculated using experimental data –heat pulse duration of 60 s
Sound area and defect area are localized using these maps in order to process the
blind frequency approach.
Figures 10 and 11 show the evolution of the absolute phase contrast computed
with simulated and experimental data. The natures of defect induce different
frequencies for which defect (i.e. absolute phase contrast) vanish. The determination
of the blind frequency is sensitive to the frequency sampling analysis that can be
done with data. At such depths, the longer the duration of the thermal relaxation,
more refined will be the determination of the blind frequency. Depth calculated with
blind frequency approach, for each nature of square defect and a square heating
duration of 60 s, with simulated and experimental data are reported in Table 2 with
the values of the blind frequency identified.
Table 2. Comparison of the evaluation of the defect depth by numerical calculation

and experimentation according to the material nature and associated blind
frequency identified
Nature of Simulations Experiments

square defect Blind frequency Depth Blind frequency Depth
Air 0.0044 Hz 1.3 cm 0.0078 Hz 1 cm
Pine wood 0.0045 Hz 1.3 cm 0.0059 Hz 1.1 cm
Water 0.0040 Hz 1.4 cm No Data available
a)
b)
Figure 12. Wood square defect depth maps in meter: a) simulation; b) experiments
Figure 12 compares the results obtained with numerical simulation and

measurement data for a square heating duration of 300 s. This figure is a false colour
depth map obtained by applying the direct thermal model approach to each pixel of
thermal image sequences acquired during experiments or reconstructed with
simulated data. Depth obtained for the parallelepiped in pine wood is in the range of
1.2 to 1.4 cm for numerical data, compared to 1.1 to 1.3 cm obtained from data
measurements. This depth difference is within the uncertainty of the size of the
granular part the asphalt is made of. Natural convection observed for experimental
data coupled with limited performances of the un-cooled camera used, lead to more
heterogeneous depth map. As expected, direct calculation approach is more sensitive
to these perturbations than it could be by an inverse approach using a regularisation
scheme.
Figure 13 presents depths results obtained with simulated and data measurements
as in Figure 12. It shows the good agreement in the 300 s-square heating case and for
air defects. Depth obtained for the parallelepiped defect is in the range of 1.0 to
1.3 cm for numerical data and 1.1 to 1.2 cm for measurement data. In the case of
experimental data however, rear surface aggregates in the bitumen concrete locally
degrade the homogeneity of depth in the spatial area that match the defect.
a)
b)
Figure 13. Air square defect calculated depth maps in meter: a) simulation;
b) experiments
Detection of the second defect from experimental data is not as obvious as with
the first one due to its poor thermal signature masked by the natural convection
development observed during measurement and aggregate thermal behaviour.
Nevertheless, the interest of such approach is that by establishing a map of
computed depth we can also make a segmentation to obtain the defect localisation
and, at the same time, to determine one of its dimensional characteristics.
6. Conclusion
The square heating method was efficient to identify the presence of defects
within this particular structure of road material. The parallelepiped defect located at
1.3 cm below the surface was easily detected even with a short heating phase (test
were made down to 60 s). The thermal behaviour of the structure was greatly
affected by the defect presence around it. The nature of the samples (porosity,
heterogeneity) did not seem to affect the ability of this technique of non destructive
control onto such road material. Nevertheless, natural convection, along with some
heterogeneity during the heating phase, observed during experiments has a thermal
signature that has probably hidden the one of the pyramidal defect. Numerical
simulation was a helpful complementary tool to identify optimal heat pulse duration
for different nature of defect and for testing depth retrieval model. The blind
frequency approach was extended to square heating approach for pulse duration of
60 s. It requires a first localisation of defect and sound areas. The proposed semi-
infinite model with the constant heat pulse solution coupled with the normalized
effusivity approach from Balageas has lead to a correct estimation of the square
defect depth. Finally, this study has also established the ability of un-cooled camera
with a very common thermal sensitivity (near 0.1 K) to detect defects, although care
must be taken in the reduction of measurement noise. Such approach could open the
way to a more systematic use of infrared cameras in non destructive control in civil
engineering structures.
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Detection of Non Emergent Defects in Asphalt Infra - 2011

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This article was downloaded by: [Selcuk Universitesi]

On: 07 January 2015, At: 01:40

European Journal of Environmental and Civil

Detection of non emergent defects in asphalt

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2011.9693347

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Jean Dumoulin* — Laurent Ibos** — Mario Marchetti***

* IFSTTAR (Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports

DOI:10.3166/EJECE.15.557-574 © 2011 Lavoisier, Paris

2. Context and objectives

Figure 1. Local pavement surface emergent cracking a) probably due to debonding b)

Figure 2. Picture of 2 inserted defects made of Pine wood

In the present study, semi-granular asphalt pavement materials were considered.

Figure 3. Pavement sample rear a) and front b) views

3. Laboratory experiments and numerical simulation

3.1. Square heating test bench

microbolometer (FPA detector of 320 x 240 sensitive elements, spectral bandwidth

TSurface TSurface Lamp 5B37

RS232 serial port

~ Keithley 2000 voltmeter

Figure 4. Scheme of the square heating test bench

3.2. Numerical simulation

In parallel to these experimental trials, numerical simulations were carried out.

Table 1. Thermophysical properties of materials used for numerical simulations

Material O(W.m-1.K-1) U (kg.m-3) Cp (J.kg-1.K-1)

Asphalt concrete 1.41 2262 1255

Furthermore, ambient temperature was considered as constant and equal to 20°C.

3.3. Temperature spatial distribution evolution

Thermal images were acquired at a frequency of 1 Hz for at least half an hour

Figure 6. Experimental thermal images for a 300 s square heating duration

4. Defect localisation and characterization

4.1. Defect localisation by polynomial coefficient map decomposition

Decomposition of thermal signals using polynomial interpolation (Shepard,

only on the thermal relaxation part of the thermal image sequences.

4.2. Defect depth estimation by phase analysis

Frequency analysis approach is another way to reduce number of thermal images

where n designates the frequency increment (n = 0,1,…N); ût is the sampling

') ) def  ) sound [4]

thermography it has been extended to pulse thermography (Ibarra-Castanedo, 2005).

4.3. Defect depth estimation by direct thermal model

As a first approximation, heat transfer in pavement materials can be assumed to

In our measurement and simulation configuration the surface solicitation is a

where a is the thermal diffusivity, b the thermal effusivity, calculated using

5. Results and analysis

Air square defect

0.1 Water square defect

Table 2. Comparison of the evaluation of the defect depth by numerical calculation

Nature of Simulations Experiments

Figure 12 compares the results obtained with numerical simulation and

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Jean Dumoulin* — Laurent Ibos — Mario Marchetti*

') ) def ) sound [4]