Modeling and experimental implementation of infrared thermography on concrete masonry structures

This paper is a combined numerical and experimental study which aims to demonstrate the implementation of the infrared thermography (IRT) method for the non-destructive evaluation of concrete masonry structural components. Specifically, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) analysis is formulated and implemented to predict both steady state and transient heat transfer in masonry specimens. A micro-element approach is followed to build the FE model geometry of the masonry walls. The model provides surface temperature contours which are the prime interest of infrared thermography. Three different scaled masonry specimens with identical thermal properties are considered for this study. The FE simulation results of heat diffusion are initially compared with finite difference method predictions for one specimen. Subsequently, the FE results are validated by implementing experimentally the IRT method on the other two specimens. The numerically predicted temperature values agree well with the actual measured values which validate the use of the IRT method for the nondestructive evaluation of concrete masonry components. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.