The application of time-frequency analysis to the air-coupled ultrasonic testing of concrete

Author

Berriman, J.R. ; Hutchins, D.A. ; Neild, Adrian ; Gan, Theng Huat ; Purnell, Phillip

Author_Institution

Sch. of Eng., Warwick Univ., UK

Volume

53

Issue

4

fYear

2006

fDate

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

768

Lastpage

776

Abstract

Air-coupled ultrasound has been used for the nondestructive evaluation of concrete, using broad bandwidth electrostatic transducers and chirp excitation. This paper investigates the benefits of using time-frequency analysis in such situations, for both waveform retrieval and imaging in the presence of low signal levels. The use of the short-term Fourier transform, the wavelet transform, and the Wigner-Ville distribution all are considered, in which accurate tracking of the ultrasonic chirp signals is demonstrated. The Hough transform then is applied as a filter. An image of a steel reinforcement bar in concrete has been produced to illustrate this approach.

Keywords

Fourier transforms; Hough transforms; Wigner distribution; bars; concrete; image retrieval; steel; structural engineering computing; time-frequency analysis; ultrasonic materials testing; ultrasonic transducers; wavelet transforms; Fourier transform; Hough transform; Wigner-Ville distribution; air-coupled ultrasonic testing; air-coupled ultrasound; chirp excitation; concrete; electrostatic transducers; nondestructive evaluation; steel reinforcement bar; time-frequency analysis; waveform retrieval; wavelet transform; Bandwidth; Chirp; Concrete; Electrostatics; Fourier transforms; Image retrieval; Testing; Time frequency analysis; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonic transducers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-3010

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TUFFC.2006.1621504

Filename

1621504