Preliminary communication
Thermography in Civil Engineering for Buildings Assessment - Detection of Different Kinds of Defects
Srećko ŠVAIĆ
; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ivanka BORAS
orcid.org/0000-0002-8280-9377
; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Mirela SUŠA
; Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Infrared thermography is a method of contact-free temperature measurement providing temperature distribution on the surface of the observed building.
The use of thermography in civil engineering for building assessment purposes opens up large possibilities for control of construction quality when newly built edifices are concerned, but also when estimation of the current state of the old buildings is needed. Besides giving insight into the state of the building insulation quality, infrared thermography can be successfully applied in the evaluation of the building envelope: for detecting different defect types (flaws and damage) – for detecting locations where the plaster layer is detached from the wall base with possible presence of air or moisture in the layers beneath the outer plaster, as well as for estimation of the state of the plain roofs - detecting locations where the roof cardboard is detached from the base. Although there are different limitations when thermography inspection of buildings is concerned, infrared thermography is recognized as a thermal non-destructive testing method, which holds many advantages with respect to the other methods of non-destructive testing. Among others, the method enables instant analysis of the building at the location of the measurement, as well as the control of relatively large surfaces in a short period of time. In addition, post-analysis enables a relatively straight forward estimation of thermal insulation quality, of the building’s heat losses as well as estimation of the structure beneath the plaster layer of the building. This paper gives the examples of the detection of different defect types appearing in building structures along with an overview of the requirements of Croatian norm HRN EN 13187. Cases of different degrees of damage present in the building envelope are analyzed, as well as the presence of the moisture in building walls, the existence of thermal bridges and inadequate tightening, the presence of moisture and air in the structure of plain roofs. The measurements presented in this work were performed on the headquarter building of the company Jadrolinija Rijeka. The goal of this measurement was to determine the current state of the building facade and to give estimation of the extent of the facade recovery needed. For this purpose, together with the detailed thermogram analysis, the numerical analysis of the heat transfer through the characteristic facade parts with and without defects present in the structure was performed and numerical results were compared to the ones obtained by measurement.
Keywords
Facade; Infrared thermography; Non-homogeneity; Thermogram analysis; Type of the defect
Hrčak ID:
50569
URI
Publication date:
30.10.2009.
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