Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-llmch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-10T14:51:31.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Microwave Based Civil Structure Inspection Device

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

C. W. Sohns
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6006
D. W. Bible
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6006
Get access

Abstract

A microwave based “wall probe” has been developed which is capable of nondestructive evaluation of architectural structures. By using microwaves in the 8 to 12 GHz range this probing instrument can detect subsurface characteristics through concrete, brick, wood or other building materials to depths in excess of 12 inches.

The instrument interrogates a structure from a single side by transmitting a microwave signal into the surface at some angle of incidence and receiving the reflected signal some distance away on the same side of the structure. The transmitted signal is partially reflected at each internal boundary of different dielectric constant, giving a composite reflection which contains information from each internal layer. The reflected composite signal is compared in phase and amplitude to the transmitted signal and that reading is considered the “signature” of the structure under test. Computer algorithms analyze the signature for recognizable features and nonstandard construction.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Terman, Frederick E., Electronic and Radio Engineering. 4th ed. (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1955), p. 913917.Google Scholar
2. Bolomey, Jean-Charles, “Recent European Developments in Active Microwave Imaging for Industrial, Scientific, and Medical Applications,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 37, No. 12, December 1989.Google Scholar
3. Chuang, Huey-Ru, Chen, Y. F., and Chen, Kunmu, “Automatic Clutter-Canceler for Microwave Life-Detection Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 40, No. 4, August 1991.Google Scholar