Thermal-based damage detection in porous materials
Harvey Thomas Banks, Brittany Boudreaux, Amanda Keck Criner, Krista M. Foster, Cerena Uttal, Thomas Vogel, William P. Winfree · Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering · 2010
We report here on the use of the heat equation to simulate a thermal interrogation method for detecting damage in a heterogeneous porous material. We first use probability schemes to randomly generate pores in a sample material; then we simulate flash heating of the compartment along one of its boundaries. Temperature data along the source and back boundaries are recorded and then analysed to distinguish differences between the undamaged and damaged materials. These results suggest that it is possible to detect damage of a certain size within a porous medium using thermal interrogation.