A quantitative approach to active thermographic inspection for material loss evaluation in metallic structures

This paper presents an approach to the inverse geometry problem pertaining to the characterization of material loss due to corrosion damage in metallic structures. It is based on a simplified geometric representation which admits, in the context of a restricted time frame, a simple analytical form for the contrast response evolution. The inverse problem is then solved by means of a deterministic optimisation scheme applied to a suitably defined objective function. Experimental trials on specimens containing simulated corrosion damage have shown that estimates for residual thickness obtained on the basis of this approach are both precise and robust.