Heat losses and 3D diffusion phenomena for defect sizing procedures in video pulse thermography

Dynamical thermographic techniques like video pulse thermography are very useful for the non-destructive testing of structural components. In literature different models were proposed, which allow to describe the time evolution of the thermal contrast for materials with sub-superficial defects. In the case of circular defect the time evolution of the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the thermal contrast was studied both theoretically and experimentally. Nevertheless a mismatch in defect sizing between experimental results and theoretical simulations was found. Possible explanations of this disagreement was analysed. A factor widely neglected is the heat loss (radiation and convection). In this paper a theoretical analysis of the influence of these contributions is reported. Furthermore in order to explain the experimental evidence of FWHM time evolution we introduced a correction due to lateral heat diffusion around the defect. In this way a possible explanation for the experimental results was obtained. Brick samples with a circular flat bottom hole as defect was tested both for the interest in defect sizing in building material through NDT and for the low thermal diffusivity of this material which allows the study of the phenomenon in a slow motion.