An impact echo method to detect cavities between railway track slabs and soil foundation

The impact echo technique is one of the most useful non-destructive test methods for determining the thickness of concrete or detecting possible cracks or cavities in the internal parts of a concrete structure without damaging the surface. Many types of unstable conditions in railway tracks, including various modes of irregularities, may occur when cavities are generated directly under a concrete slab track or when a slight open space is made under a loose sleeper. In this study, we developed a nondestructive testing (NDT) system for detecting abnormalities in concrete tracks and performed 3D numerical simulations using the ABAQUS finite element analysis (FEA) program to investigate the impact echo response from a concrete track slab with different sizes of cavities. Sections of concrete slab were simulated as solid body masses under the railway tracks with gaps in the bodies themselves or with cavities existing between the track concrete layer (TCL) and the hydraulically stabilized base (HSB). We investigated the locations and depths of the cavities and gaps in the model concrete slab using the acoustic impact echo response based on the frequency response of the elastic waves generated in the slab. In addition, a Short-time Fourier Transform (STFT) and a wavelet technique were adopted for a time frequency analysis. Our study demonstrated that the impact echo technique developed in this study by FEA and NDT can measure and confirm the location and depth of cavities in concrete slabs. © 2021, The Author(s).