Detection of Damages in Concrete Structures Using Non-Contact Air-Coupled Sensing Methods

Most nondestructive testing techniques require good contact between the sensor and tested concrete surface to obtain reliable data. But the surface preparation is often very time and labor consuming due to the rough surface or limited access of concrete structures. One approach to speed up the data collection process is to eliminate the need for physical contact between the sensor and tested structure. Non-contact air-coupled sensing technique can be a good solution to this problem. An obvious advantage of the non-contact air-coupled sensing technique is which can greatly speed up the data collection in field and thus the damage detection process can be completed very rapidly. In this article, recent developments in non-contact air-coupled sensing technique for rapid detection of damages in concrete structures are summarized to evoke interest, discussion and further developments on this technique to a NDT research community in Korea. It is worth noting that the works in this article have been published in the types of thesis, proceedings, and journals. All published sources are cited in the text and listed in reference.