Frontiers of Concrete Technology, 6th JSCE Concrete Committee Webinar
Frontiers of Concrete Technology, 6th JSCE Concrete Committee Webinar: Summary
Short Summary:
This webinar focuses on the use of non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques, particularly elastic waves (ultrasound), for evaluating the performance of civil engineering materials and structures. The speakers, Professor Adis and Professor Shotani, discuss various NDT applications, including initial quality assessment, damage quantification, and repair evaluation. They highlight the importance of using different frequencies of ultrasound to gain a more detailed understanding of material properties and damage patterns. The webinar also emphasizes the need for collaboration between different research fields, such as computer science, mechanical engineering, and data science, to advance NDT technologies. The speakers envision a future where NDT is integrated with digital twin technology to provide comprehensive assessments of infrastructure throughout its lifecycle.
Detailed Summary:
1. Introduction and Overview:
- The webinar is organized by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) and focuses on the "Frontiers of Concrete Technology."
- The main topic is the use of NDT, particularly elastic waves, for evaluating civil engineering materials and structures.
- The speakers are Professor Adis from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Professor Shotani from Osaka University.
- The webinar covers various aspects of NDT applications, including initial quality assessment, damage quantification, and repair evaluation.
2. Professor Adis' Presentation: Elastic Waves for Monitoring Structural Material Performance:
- Professor Adis focuses on the use of ultrasound for material characterization and damage detection.
- He explains the relationship between ultrasound velocity and material stiffness, emphasizing the importance of frequency analysis for more detailed information.
- He discusses the concept of dispersion curves, which show how ultrasound velocity changes with frequency, and how these curves can be used to identify different types of damage, such as voids or deteriorated matrix.
- He presents experimental and simulation results demonstrating the effectiveness of air-coupled ultrasound for non-contact measurements.
- He highlights the potential of air-coupled ultrasound for monitoring the healing process of damaged concrete.
- He concludes by emphasizing the importance of exploring a wide range of frequencies to enhance the characterization power of ultrasound.
3. Professor Shotani's Presentation: NDT for Assessing Critical Infrastructure:
- Professor Shotani focuses on the application of NDT for assessing the performance of structures throughout their lifecycle.
- He discusses the importance of NDT for initial quality assessment, particularly in cases where unexpected events may have caused damage.
- He presents examples of NDT applications for evaluating repair works and quantifying deterioration due to aging and environmental conditions.
- He highlights the need for different levels of sensitivity in NDT based on the risk level of the structure.
- He discusses the use of acoustic emission (AE) for damage detection and monitoring, demonstrating how AE sources can be used to create tomograms of damage zones.
- He presents a case study of a concrete bridge deck, showing how AE monitoring can be used to identify areas of serious damage.
- He emphasizes the importance of integrating NDT with digital twin technology for comprehensive infrastructure assessment.
4. Panel Discussion:
- The speakers discuss the challenges of translating laboratory NDT techniques to real-world applications.
- They emphasize the importance of standardization to ensure repeatability and reliability of NDT results.
- They highlight the need for collaboration between different research fields, such as computer science, mechanical engineering, and data science, to advance NDT technologies.
- They discuss the future vision of NDT, envisioning a future where NDT is integrated with digital twin technology to provide comprehensive assessments of infrastructure throughout its lifecycle.
Notable Quotes:
- "Ultrasound is sensitive to damage, but it also is sensitive to the inverse of damage, which is the healing or the repair process of the structure." - Professor Adis
- "The infrastructure located in remote areas that is mainly managed by local bodies... they don't need to apply sophisticated NDT, but as I showed, just a simple energy harvesting sensor with a blinking function, we can easily say yes or no." - Professor Shotani
- "We should hold a small basket, but we should try to have just improvement on our own field." - Professor Adis
- "This kind of vision, velocity distribution or NDT results incorporated with point cloud, is very crucial for the future vision of NDT." - Professor Shotani