• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2003.03a
• /
• pp.309-314
• /
• 2003

Impact Echo method has been successful in detecting a variety of defects in concrete structure. This study has the objectives to show important aspects of applying the Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT) to signal processing of Modified Impact Echo(ModIE) Measurement systems and to the understanding of the seismic wave propagation. The data of ModIE were processed by DWT and compared with the results of conventional ModIE Analysis. Although it is inconsistent in the evaluated thickness of concrete lining, the DWT provides the features of separation, synthesis and de-noising in the original signal. The application of technique by wavelet was explained numerically with ABAQUS and performed experimentally with a real scale model in this work. Further works on the possible ways for creating new mother wavelet are specially needed for the enhancement of seismic signal analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.230-237
• /
• 1997

As concrete structure is getting old and decrepit, its inspection and diagnosis is getting important. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the soundness of structure using non-destructive tests for effective repairs and maintenances. But, applications of non-destructive tests in tunnel have been used restrictively, due to accessibility only from one side in tunnel lining and presence of tunnel installations. Recently, the various non-destructive techniques have been studied. Especially, ground penetrating radar(GPR) and impact echo (IE) methods have been researched for tunnel inspection. In this study, the applicability of impact echo test in tunnel lining inspection has been investigated. This paper described the tunnel inspection for lining thickness and internal flaw using impact echo tests. Model tests were carried out using impact echo test systems on two concrete models, Model I is measuring for lining thickness, Model II is detecting for internal flaw. Also, the test were applied for lining inspections in a tunnel constructed by NATM. From the results of impact echo tests, we have concluded that impact echo test is a very useful and effective technique for inspecting the concrete tunnel linings.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.185-189
• /
• 2009

Integrated analysis of GPR, impact echo and impulse response for detection of the rear cavity of concrete was performed on the test-bed which was made in the same scale and component ratio to the real concrete structure. GPR survey may roughly delineate the location of the cavity, but applying the IE and IR technique to the test-bed, the location was clearly identified.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.338-346
• /
• 2009

Integrated analysis of GPR, impact echo (IE) and impulse response (IR) was performed to detect the rear cavity of concrete for a test-bed which was made with the same scale and component ratio to the real concrete structure. The test-bed was designed to be capable of observing various response reflecting the existence of iron reinforcing bar and cavity. GPR survey did not clearly resolve the existence of the cavity, although distinguishable responses were observed in the presence of the cavity. In contrast, IE and IR method showed distinct responses, indicating the existence of the cavity. Finally, integrated application of the three methods makes it possible to exactly identify the location of the cavity, although the iron reinforcing bar made a little variation of response.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.19-30
• /
• 2009

For the purpose of determining the thickness of concrete lining and detect of the cavity where may be located behind tunnel lining, IE (Impact-Echo) method it effectively useful in the tunnel safety diagnosis and the quality control during the construction. As a part of case study, we applied IE method to various tunnel structure types such as road tunnel and subway tunnel constructed by NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling Method) and ASSM (American Steel Support Method). As tunnel specifications estimated from this method were compared with coring data, design drawing and other survey results, it was very good agreement with each other. In conclusion, we verified that IE method shows an accurate and reliable result. The conventional interpretation of IE method in frequency domain gives only vertical information at a certain point. However, the interpretation using time-frequency analysis and depth section imaging technique from two dimensional profiling surveys can show more reliable information about structure inside.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2010

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.59-72
• /
• 2016

The Impact Echo method can be used to measure the thickness of concrete plate like structures. Measurements are based on the identification of a clear thickness resonance frequency which can be difficult in very thick or highly attenuative plates. In this study the detectability of the measured resonant frequency is enhanced by time domain summation of signals with different source receiver spacing. The proposed method is based on the spatial and temporal properties of the first higher symmetric zero group velocity Lamb mode (S1-ZGV) which are described in detail. No application dependent tuning or filtering is needed which makes the method robust and suitable for implementation in automatic IE thickness measurements. The proposed technique is exemplified with numerical data and field data from a thick concrete wall and a highly attenuative asphalt concrete layer.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.257-270
• /
• 2002

The Impact-Echo(IE) method has been used to evaluate the integrity of concrete structures. In this method, the P-wave velocity of concrete is a crucial parameter in determining the thickness of concrete lining, the location of cracks or other defects. In many field applications of the IE method, the P-wave velocity is obtained by testing the core or the portion of a structure where the exact thickness is known. Occasionally, however, the core can not be obtained in specific structures and the P-wave velocity determined from core testing may not be a representative value of the structure. This study introduces an IE-SASW method that may determine the P-wave velocity on a surface of each testing area using the Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) method. Results obtained from numerical studies are presented in this paper (Part I), and results obtained from experimental studies are presented in the companion paper (Part II). In this paper, numerical analyses using ABAQUS were carried out to investigate the effectiveness and the limitations of the IE-SASW method.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2011

The impact echo and impulse response methods were applied to the safety inspection of concrete structure, which has the rear cavity. The concrete structure model used in this study was divided into four sections, pure concrete, concrete+cavity, reinforced concrete with iron bar, and reinforced concrete+cavity, respectively. Previous study performed by authors have showed a possibility of success to use these method for detection of the rear cavity of concrete structure. Therefore, we tried to get more enhanced result with IE and IR methods through this study. Especially, IE and IR methods are relatively accurate to map the point of measurement, which makes it possible to interpret the depth of the concrete bed and effect by rear cavity with confidence. Followings were revealed from the results; the IE method shows some small peak zones probably indicating the rear cavity in the frequency lower than the resonance frequency and the changes of mobility and dynamic stiffness in the IR method indicate the weak zones. The proposed methods can be used to delineate the weak zones of the concrete structure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.105-118
• /
• 2008

Shotcrete is one of the main support materials in tunnelling. Its bonding state on excavated rock surfaces controls the safety of the tunnel: De-bonding of shotcrete from an excavated surface decreases the safety of the tunnel. Meanwhile, the bonding state of shotcrete is affected by blasting during excavation at tunnel face as well as bench cut. Generally, the bonding state of shotcrete can be classified as void, de-bonded, or fully bonded. In this study, the state of the back-surface of shotcrete is investigated using impact-echo (IE) techniques. Numerical simulation of IE technique is performed with ABAQUS. Signals obtained from the IE simulations were analyzed at time, frequency, and time-frequency domains, respectively. Using an integrated active signal processing technique coupled with a Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) analysis, the bonding state of the shotcrete can be evaluated accurately. As the bonding state worsens, the amplitude of the first peak past the maximum amplitude in the time domain waveform and the maximum energy of the autospectral density are increasing. The resonance frequency becomes detectable and calculable and the contour in time-frequency domain has a long tail parallel to the time axis. Signal characteristics with respect to ground condition were obtained in case of fully bonded condition. As the ground condition worsens, the length of a long tail parallel to the time axis is lengthened and the contour is located in low frequency range under 10 kHz.