A Nondestructive Testing Method for Crack in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete with Infrared Thermography

Based on the functional characteristics of carbon fiber reinforced concrete (CFRC), an improved infrared nondestructive testing method, to detect crack in CFRC by using infrared thermography, is presented in this paper. The principle is that when a CFRC specimen is applied a low voltage, crack existing in the specimen will result in non-homogeneous surface temperature distribution due to the electro-thermal effect of the material. Monitoring the temperature difference on the surface, the crack under the observed surface can be inspected by using infrared thermography. In theory, the mechanism causing the temperature difference comes down to an unsteady heat transfer problem with internal energy sources. In the case of the thermo-physical property of CFRC as given, the sensitivity of this method to the depth of the crack is analyzed by numerical computation.