Application of Elastic Reverse Time Migration to Ultrasonic Echo Data from Concrete Structures

To enhance ultrasonic imaging of concrete structures, we adapted the geophysical migration method, Reverse Time Migration (RTM), for non-destructive testing (NDT) in civil engineering. First, two 2D elastic RTM algorithms, each considering different wave types, were implemented and evaluated with synthetic ultrasonic data. The algorithm that best resolved numerical concrete structures was subsequently applied to real ultrasonic data from a concrete specimen. Compared with conventional synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) imaging, elastic RTM reproduced a greater number of structural features in both the numerical model and the concrete specimen. In particular, elastic RTM reconstructed vertical interfaces as well as hidden lower edges of modeled cavities and tendon ducts. Notably, imaging the full cross-sections of tendon ducts, which enables direct diameter estimation, represents a novel achievement for ultrasonic NDT.