Potential of Nonlinear Ultrasonic Indicators for Nondestructive Testing of Concrete

In the context of a growing need for safety and reliability in Civil Engineering, acoustic methods of nondestructive testing provide answers to a real industrial need. Linear indicators (wave speed and attenuation) exhibit a limited sensitivity, unlike nonlinear ones which usually have a far greater dynamic range. This paper illustrates the potential of these indicators, and evaluates its potential for in situ applications. Concrete, a structurally heterogeneous and volumetrically, mechanically damaged material, is an example of a class of materials that exhibit strong multiple scattering as well as significant elastic nonlinear response. In the context of stress monitoring in pre-stressed structures, we show that intense scattering can be applied to robustly determine velocity changes at progressively increasing applied stress using coda wave interferometry and thereby extract nonlinear coefficients. In a second part, we demonstrate the high sensitivity of nonlinear parameters to thermal damage as regard with linear ones. Then, the influence of water content and porosity on these indicators is quantified allowing to uncouple the effect of damage from environmental or structural parameters.