In the distant detection of debonding in glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP)-retrofitted concrete systems using radar NDE techniques, revealing the presence of debonding in reconstructed images is essential to the success of the techniques. An optimization scheme based on mathematical morphology is proposed for determining the optimal measurement and processing parameters in a distant radar NDE technique for debonding detection. Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) and backprojection algorithms are applied in the technique. Measurement (incident frequency and angle) and processing (frequency bandwidth and angular range) parameters are defined in this work. Performance of the optimization scheme is validated by laboratory ISAR measurements on GFRP-retrofitted concrete cylinders using radar signals in 8-18 GHz. From the results it is shown that better detection can be achieved by optimized measurements and processing.

Date Published: 9 April 2009
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7294, Nondestructive Characterization for Composite Materials, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Infrastructure, and Homeland Security 2009, 72940S (9 April 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.815895

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7294:
Nondestructive Characterization for Composite Materials, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Infrastructure, and Homeland Security 2009
H. Felix Wu; Aaron A. Diaz; Peter J. Shull; Dietmar W. Vogel, Editor(s)