THERMOGRAPHY DOI: 10.1784/insi.2010.52.9.
475
Frequency modulated thermal wave imaging techniques
for non-destructive testing
V S Ghali and R Mulaveesala
Active thermal non-destructive testing (TNDT) methods
utilise an acquired surface temperature profile over the
object and subsequently process the obtained temperature
data to detect surface or sub-surface features of the
object. Presently, two phase-based conventional active
TNDT methods are predominantly in use: pulsed phase
thermography (PPT) and modulated lock-in thermography
(LT). This paper highlights correlation processing-based
detection capabilities of frequency modulated thermal wave
imaging techniques through finite element modelling and
simulations on a steel sample having flat-bottom blind holes
as defects. The present work proposes a finite element-based
simulation for comparison of the widely-used conventional
thermal imaging methods (PPT and LT) with more recently
proposed non-stationary excitation approaches for non-
destructive characterisation.
Keywords: Infrared thermography, thermal waves, non-stationary
signals, phase images, pulse compression, correlation,
non-destructive testing.
Venkata Subbarao Ghali received a BSc in
Electronics in 1996, an MSc in Electronics
from Nagarjuna University in 1998 and an
ME in Applied Electronics in 2008. He is
currently a PhD student in the Electronics
and Communications Engineering Research
Group, PDPM – Indian Institute of Information
Technology Design and Manufacturing,
Jabalpur, India. He is involved in non-
destructive characterisation of materials
specially using thermal wave imaging.
Ravibabu Mulaveesala was born in
Chukkavanipalem, Andhra Pradesh, India. He
received a BSc in Electronics from MR College
in 1996, an MSc in Electronics from Nagarjuna
University in 1998, an MTech from the National
Institute of Technology (NIT), Tiruchirapalli,
in 2000 and a PhD degree from the Centre
for Applied Research in Electronics, Indian
Institute of Technology, Delhi, India in 2006.
He joined the Electronics and Communications
Engineering Department, PDPM – Indian
Institute of Information Technology Design and
Manufacturing, Jabalpur, as an Assistant Professor in 2007. His research
interests include thermal, acoustical and optical imaging techniques for
non-destructive characterisation.
The authors are with the Electronics and Communication Engineering
Research Group, PDPM – Indian Institute of Information Technology
Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur, Dumna, Airport Road, Khamaria
PO, India – 482005. Tel: +91 94 2515 5283; Fax: +91 761 2632524;
Email: ravibabucareiitd@yahoo.co.in; Web: www.iiitdmj.ac.in
Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010
Submitted 15.05.10
Accepted 26.07.10
1. Introduction
Thermal non-destructive testing (TNDT) involves mapping the
surface temperature over a test object with the intent of detecting
surface and sub-surface defects. It is a whole field, non-contact and
non-destructive testing method for defect detection. Since most
solids conduct heat, TNDT has potential for wide use in defect
detection in a variety of materials such as metals, composites
and semiconductors(1-12). TNDT has numerous applications in
aeronautical, space, electrical, electronic and mechanical industries.
Of the various possibilities for TNDT implementation, infrared
thermography (IRT) has gained wide acceptance in non-destructive
testing and evaluation (NDT&E)(1). Various methods and techniques
have further been developed throughout the world to improve and
widen the use of IRT for non-destructive characterisation(4-19). TNDT
can be carried out either in active mode or in passive mode(1).
Passive thermography(1) involves mapping the temperature
profile of a sample surface in the absence of any external heat
stimulus. This approach may not provide sufficient temperature
contrast over the defective and non-defective regions of the test
specimen, especially for defects lying deep inside. In order to
reveal these deep defects with a high contrast, active thermography
is used. This requires an external thermal stimulus to the inspected
specimen in order to obtain significant temperature differences,
witnessing the presence of sub-surface defects. In the active
approach(1), external heat stimulus on to the test sample is provided,
whose thermal response is observed. As the characteristics of the
external thermal stimulation applied onto the specimen are known
(ie nature of excitation, its time duration and its bandwidth, etc), a
qualitative and quantitative characterisation of sub-surface defects
is possible. The present modelling and simulation work is mainly
focused on the active approach.
During the last two decades, intensive modelling, simulation and
experimentation work is being carried out by various researchers
throughout the world to introduce new thermal non-destructive
testing methods(1) to overcome limitations in existing methods. The
most popular modern TNDT methods are pulsed thermography
(PT)(1-15), lock-in thermography (LT)(16-18) and pulsed phase
thermography (PPT)(19,20). Choice of any of the above-mentioned
thermographic methods for NDT&E depends on the intended
application, thermal properties of the material to be tested, defect
location and its thickness. Each method has its own advantages
and limitations. In PT(6-9), the examined sample is heated up with
a short-duration high peak power pulse and the resultant surface
thermal response is recorded. The resultant sequence of images
recorded contains information about defects in the material at
different depths. In practice, this technique requires high peak
power heat sources(13,14) and has the inherent drawback of being
sensitive to surface emissivity variations and non-uniform heating
on the surface of test sample.
In general, for the industry at present, pulsed thermography
systems are perhaps the favourite choice. Though image
processing techniques do help to improve the capability of the
pulsed thermographic techniques for sub-surface defect detection
475
with improved resolution and sensitivity, the requirement of high
peak power heat sources still remains a major drawback of PT(13,14).
However, wave thermography does have some advantages over
PT.
In contrast to pulsed thermography, lock-in thermography
(LT)(16-18) is based on thermal waves generated inside the specimen
under study. Mono-frequency sinusoidal thermal excitation
at an angular frequency of ω introduces highly attenuated,
dispersive thermal waves of the same frequency (ω/2π) inside
the test specimen. The excitation frequency in LT is chosen by
its dependence on the sample thermal characteristics and its
geometrical dimensions. The lower the frequency of the thermal
waves, the slower the velocity in the test specimen and the deeper
its penetration into the test specimen. From the acquired image
sequence, in the stationary regime of the heat cycle, information
about the phase and magnitude of the reflected thermal wave is
derived. Phase images have several advantages, including those
of being less sensitive to non-uniform illumination of heat sources
and variations of surface emissivity over the sample. Even though
it requires a longer exposure time, another point in favour of LT
is the relatively low increase in temperature of the object, which
makes it preferable when the testing specimen is sensitive to
temperature variations. Furthermore, phase images are capable of
probing deeper defects compared to the magnitude images. Due
to its mono-frequency excitation, the generated thermal wave
length inside the test sample gets fixed, leading to a fixed depth
resolution. Therefore, in order to get good resolution for various
defects located at different depths inside the test specimen, it is
necessary to repeat LT with different excitation frequencies(17,18).
The research group at the University of Laval proposed a technique
called pulsed phase thermography (PPT)(19,20), which has some of
the advantages of both conventional PT and modulated LT. The
experimental arrangement of PPT is similar to PT, but extraction
of various frequency components in the captured infrared image
sequence is performed by Fourier transform (FT) on each pixel of
the thermogram sequence. The phase images obtained from the
Fourier transform in PPT provide all the merits of the phase images
as obtained in LT (ie less sensitive to surface inhomogeneous
emissivity and illumination variations). Theoretically, the short-
duration excitation pulse in PPT does launch a large number of
frequency components into the test samples, but the higher order
frequency components may not have sufficient energy to cause a
thermal wave to propagate deep into the sample. In order to detect
deeper sub-surface defects in the test sample, PT and PPT need
high peak power heat sources(13,14), which may damage the surface
of the test sample.
In order to overcome these limitations of LT and pulsed-
based thermographic methods, it is necessary to send a desired
band of frequencies with significant magnitude into the test
sample(21-23). This is preferably done in a single run without
repeating the experiment at different frequencies for improving
test resolution. The thermal excitation should be intense enough to
generate thermal waves of appreciable magnitude for the desired
band of frequencies to be launched into the specimen. In light of
the above described limitations of the widely used conventional
methods, more recently frequency modulated thermal wave imaging
methods(21,27,28) have been introduced in order to improve the depth
resolution of detecting defects lying at different depths, in less time
compared to LT and with less peak power of heat source compared
to pulsed thermographic methods. In frequency modulated thermal
wave imaging (FMTWI)(21), the incident heat flux is varied by
driving the heat sources by linear frequency modulated signal,
which causes a similar frequency modulated surface heating over
the sample. This helps to probe the desired band of frequencies
with significant magnitude into the test sample which improves the
test resolution(23-26).
In contrast to FMTWI, modulation of the heat sources is much
476
easier in digitised frequency modulated thermal wave imaging
(DFMTWI)(26,27). Further in DFMTWI, we can probe more energy
into the sample by probing higher frequency harmonics along
with the desired band of frequencies, which may improve the
depth resolution for near-surface defects(21-23). This paper presents
a comparative study on these widely-used phase analysis-based
conventional methods like PPT and LT with the recently proposed
frequency modulated thermal wave imaging techniques (FMTWI
and DFMTWI) through correlation-based analysis using a finite
element modelling and simulations on a carbon steel sample, as
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Dimensional layout of the modelled plain carbon steel
sample
2. Frequency modulated thermal wave
2.1 Theory
In FMTWI, a linear frequency modulated heat flux is imposed on
the surface of the test object. The absorbed heat energy propagates
through the object by conduction and produces a time varying
thermal response over the surface of the object depending on the
homogeneity of the substance. The theoretical model to study this
thermal response is based on 1D heat equation:
∂2T ( x,t ) 1 ∂T ( x,t )
= ..............................(1)
2
∂x α ∂t
where α is the thermal diffusion coefficient, T is the instantaneous
temperature on the surface and x is the direction of heat flow
(perpendicular to the surface). On solving the above equation for
FMTWI under boundary conditions(21), instantaneous temperature
is obtained as:
π  Bt  2 π j  ft + Bt 
2
π  Bt 
−x  f +  − jx f+   2 τ 
..............(2)
α τ  α τ  
T (x,t) = T0 e e e
where B/τ is the frequency sweep rate of the chirp and τ is duration
of excitation.
The thermal diffusion length of this frequency modulated
thermal wave is given by:
µ fm = α π ( f + Bt τ ) .............................(3)
The dependence of thermal diffusion length (Equation 3) on the
bandwidth of the modulated excitation assures the depth scanning
of the sample, with the suitable band of frequencies in a single-
frequency modulation cycle.
2.2 Pulse compression with thermal wave excitations
Pulse compression with non-stationary signals is a signal processing
technique prevalent in RADAR, designed to enhance target detection
sensitivity and resolution. It allows for the transmission of a low
peak power, long-duration (τ) modulated wave having a bandwidth
B. This provides detection range and resolution comparable to that
achieved by short-duration, high peak power pulse methods (pulsed
radars), even in the presence of interfering signals (noise). Figure
Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010
2 illustrates the principle of pulse compression. Let s(t) represent
the reflected signal from a target, being essentially the same as the
transmitted signal except for a reduction in amplitude with a finite
delay.
Figure 2. Illustration of principle of pulse compression for linear
frequency modulated (chirp) input wave and its matched filter
using convolution
Further, let there be a filter (matched filter), whose time response
is matched to the transmitted waveform, ie its impulse response
h1(t) is the complex conjugate of the spectral response of s(t).
Thus, for example, if s(t) is a linear up-chirp (frequency
increasing linearly with time) waveform, then its matched filter will
be a linear down-chirp (frequency decreasing linearly with time).
When the signal s(t) goes through its matched filter, the output g1(τ)
(Figure 2) will be a narrow peak called the compressed pulse and
can be represented as the convolution of s(t) with h1(t) as follows:
∞
g1 ( τ ) = ∫ s (t ) h (τ − t ) dτ ............................(4)
1
−∞
The long duration (τ sec) signal s(t) is compressed to a duration
(1/B), governed by the bandwidth B (Hz) of the transmitted/
received waveform. The ratio of the time durations of transmitted
and compressed signals is called the compression ratio and equals
τB (the time-bandwidth product). Rejection in noise also follows
from the matched filtering, and the improvement in S/N (signal/
noise) ratio is known to be:
(S N )db = 10 log10 (τ B) . ............................(5)
The pulse compression can also be achieved by cross-correlation
of the reference signal with the time-delayed version of the received
signal(23). This process compresses each elemental signal into a
narrow spike; the signals, now resolved, constitute a fine resolution
of the reflection object position.
The correlation of the reference signal and the signal obtained
from the object, as shown in Figure 3, can be represented as:
∞
g (τ ) = ∫ s (t ) h (τ + t ) dτ ............................(6)
−∞
If the excitation signal is symmetric, then flipping it back to
front does not change it. So convolution and correlation are the
same for measuring the time delay.
Before applying the principle of pulse compression to thermal
wave detection and ranging (TWDAR) in non-destructive testing,
the analogy between ‘air-borne target’ detection using a (pulse
compression) RADAR and ‘sub-surface defect’ detection in a sample
Figure 3. Illustration of principle of pulse compression for linear
frequency modulated (chirp) input wave and the reflected signal
obtained using correlation approach
Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010
using thermal waves needs to be studied and their similarities and
differences should be understood. Time-varying heating of the sample
surface results in the generation of a thermal wave that propagates
and reflects from any sub-surface defect. The reflected wave, on
reaching the surface, superimposes on any incident heat flux and the
resultant temperature which is captured/detected can be considered
similar to s(t) above. It is ‘matched’ with signal h1(t), obtained by
time-inverting the signal corresponding to surface-incident heating,
resulting in the pulse compressed signal g1(τ), as in Equation 4.
If two defects are present at different depths, their reflected signals
will differ not only in magnitude but also, more importantly, in time.
Because of the latter, after matching, their compressed pulse peaks
occur at different times, and the time of occurrence of the compressed
pulse peak can therefore be a measure of the defect depth. An
alternative approach to pulse compression, discussed above, is the
correlation approach. In this, the resultant temperature distribution
at the reference region is similar to s(t) and the resultant temperature
distribution at the defect region is similar to h(τ+t), so the group delay
or time delay is given by the output of the cross-correlation g(τ) in
Equation 6. In the thermal NDT context, widening the bandwidth
of the incident wave and performing its matched filtering should
therefore similarly yield a finer range resolution than can be achieved
with conventional thermographic methods. Increasing the bandwidth
of the excitation signal should also improve noise rejection, ie S/N
ratio as described in Equation 5.
In order to carry the processing, temporal temperature profiles
of each pixel are generated from the captured thermogram
sequence. The mean increase of the transient response is assessed
and removed from the thermal profile by a proper fit, as illustrated
in Figure 4. This process is repeated with the temporal temperature
responses of all the pixels over the sample. Cross-correlation has
been carried out between the mean removed reference profile and
the mean removed profiles obtained at different defect locations
over the sample, as illustrated in Figure 5.
Figure 4. Illustration of obtained temporal temperature data at
a chosen non-defective reference location over the sample:
(a) transient temporal thermal profile; (b) its mean removed
counterpart
Figure 5. Illustration of compressed pulses obtained from the
cross-correlation of the reference temporal temperature profile
with the profiles of defect locations
477
3. Results and discussion Table 1. Comparison of obtained SNR values for different
thermal wave imaging techniques
Figure 1 shows the dimensional layout for the modelled plain
carbon steel sample having flat-bottom holes. The sizes and Defect Lock-in Pulse FMTWI DFMTWI
depths of the defects are selected in order to highlight the (dB) (dB) Phase Correlation Phase Correlation
advantages of the proposed processing approach. The numerical (dB) (dB) (dB) (dB)
simulation has been carried out by finite element analysis a 43 49.9 65.3 72.95 70.79 81.25
(FEA) using solidworks software. A plain carbon steel sample,
shown in Figure 1, has been modelled with a fine mesh using b 15 34.34 48.45 72.45 45.16 75.2
3D tetrahedral elements. FEA has been carried out by imposing c 7.8 18.49 0.98 58.77 13.48 58.5
suitable heat flux over the surface of the test object according d -8.5 -11 -9.8 50.35 -9.45 48.99
to the scheme and the surface thermal response has been
captured. Simulation has been carried out by loading the sample
3.2 Pulsed phase thermography
properties (thermal conductivity 43 W/m-K; specific heat 440 J/
kg-K; density 7800 kg/m3) under adiabatic boundary conditions for PPT(19,20) is implemented on the modelled sample by imposing
remaining surfaces, and the sample is at an ambient temperature pulse-shaped heat flux (100 kJ) with an additive white Gaussian
of 300 K. noise of SNR -3 dB over the specimen for a duration of 5 s and
Four thermal non-destructive testing methods: LT, PPT, FMTWI the temperature data is acquired for 100 s duration. Extraction of
and its digitised version DFMTWI, have been simulated on the phase information of various frequency components is performed
modelled sample and the results are compared. In order to find the with the one-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform on each pixel
detection capabilities under noisy conditions, an additive white of the thermogram sequence. The same process is repeated for all
Gaussian noise with an SNR of -3 dB is added to the imposed heat the pixels in the field of view, in order to obtain the phase images
flux. The time evolution of the temperature field of the surface is from the generated image sequence. The phase image obtained at
extracted and processed. Two types of data processing approaches 0.02 Hz frequency is as shown in Figure 7. In Figure 7, the flat-
have been implemented on acquired surface temperature data bottom blind holes a, b and c are clearly visible. Defect d with low
of the simulated sample. Firstly, for lock-in thermography and SNR disappeared due to its depth-to-diameter ratio of conventional
pulsed phase thermography, the conventional phase approach phased-based thermography.
has been adopted, whereas for the frequency modulated thermal
wave imaging methods (linear frequency modulated thermal wave
imaging and its digitised version, digitised frequency modulated
thermal wave imaging), in addition to the conventional phase
approach, a recently-proposed pulse compression approach is
also introduced and comparisons has been made with the phase
approach.
In the phase approach, phase information is extracted using
the one-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on each pixel
of the thermogram sequence(19) using MATLAB. This is repeated
for all the pixels in the field of view, in order to obtain the
phase images for various frequencies from the generated image
sequence.
3.1 Lock-in thermography
The technique of LT(16,18) is implemented on the modelled specimen
(Figure 1) by heating the sample surface using a sinusoidal Figure 7. Phase image obtained with pulsed phase thermography
heat flux (2.282 kJ) at a frequency of 0.02 Hz for a duration of at frequency of 0.02 Hz
100 s with an additive white Gaussian noise of SNR -3 dB. The
temperature data is acquired during the active heating. Extraction
3.3 Linear frequency modulated thermal wave imaging
of phase information is performed using quadrature-based phase
analysis. Figure 6 shows the phase image, in which defects a, b and Linear frequency modulated (sine chirp) temperature modulation(21)
c are clearly visible. From Table 1, it is evident that low depth-to- is obtained by imposing a similar frequency modulated incident heat
diameter ratio leads to a poor SNR of defect d. flux (2.282 kJ) from 0.01 Hz to 0.1 Hz over the modelled sample
for a duration of 100 s. Both phase and correlation data processing
approaches have been implemented. Phase images corresponding
to various frequencies are extracted from the generated image
sequence. Figure 8 shows the phase image obtained for a frequency
of 0.02 Hz. It is very clear that small defects disappeared from
the phase image due to the contaminated noise on their phase
response.
The correlation-based pulse compression approach has been
implemented on the extracted temperature profiles of the sample
surface. Figure 9 shows the group delayed (3 s) pulse compressed
image obtained by the correlation approach. The correlation peaks
clearly illustrate the capability to detect deeper defects in the
simulated sample (Figure 1) with enough depth resolution. It is
clear from Figure 9 that all four defects a, b, c and d are visible,
whereas in the phase approach only defects a and b are detectable.
Figure 6. Phase image obtained with lock-in thermography at an Detectability in the correlation image is better than in the phase
excitation of frequency of 0.02 Hz image, which has been observed from the SNR of Table 1.

478 Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010

Figure 8. Phase image obtained with frequency modulated
thermal wave imaging at frequency of 0.02 Hz
Figure 9. Pulse compressed image obtained with frequency
modulated thermal wave imaging acquired at 3rd second
3.4 Digitised frequency modulated thermal wave imaging
Digitised linear frequency modulated (square chirp) thermal wave
imaging(26) is implemented by imposing a digitised version of linear
frequency modulated incident heat flux (2.283 kJ similar to FMTWI)
from 0.01 Hz to 0.1 Hz over the modelled specimen for a duration
of 100 s with an additive white Gaussian noise with an SNR of
-3 dB. Both phase and correlation data processing approaches
have been adopted. Phase images corresponding to various
frequencies are extracted from the generated image sequence.
Figure 10 shows the phase image obtained for a frequency of 0.02
Hz. The correlation-based pulse compression approach has been
implemented on the temperature responses at different locations
over the sample surface with respect to the chosen reference (non-
defective region over the sample). Figure 11 shows the group
delayed (3 s) pulse compressed image obtained by the correlation
approach. Correlation peaks clearly illustrate the capability to
detect deeper defects in the simulated sample (Figure 1) with
enough depth resolution. In Figure 11, all four defects a, b, c and d
are visible, whereas in the phase approach (Figure 10) only defects
a, b and c can be detected.
3.5 Comparison of thermal wave imaging methods
It is clear from the obtained simulation results shown in Figures
6 to 11 that the pulse compression approach to non-stationary
thermal excitations shows better defect detection capabilities than
the conventional phase approach. Even for the phase approach,
phase images obtained with non-stationary excitation methods
show better shape preserving capability than the conventional
lock-in thermography phase image. Furthermore, compared to
PPT, FMTWI and DFMTWI, methods can be performed at much
lower peak power excitations. It is clear from Table 1 that the pulse
Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010
Figure 10. Phase image obtained with digitised frequency
modulated thermal wave imaging at frequency of 0.02 Hz
Figure 11. Pulse compressed image obtained with digitised
frequency modulated thermal wave imaging acquired at 3rd
second
compressed images obtained from the correlation approach show
better SNR for deep defects than the conventional phase methods
(LT and PPT) (Figures 6, 7, 8 and 10).
4. Conclusion
This paper proposes a correlation-based compression approach
through modelling and simulation for non-stationary thermal
wave imaging methods which can overcome the limitations of
long experimentation time of modulated thermography (LT) and
requirement of high peak power heat sources for PPT. Comparison
has been made with the widely-used conventional thermal wave
imaging methods such as LT, PPT and the recently-proposed
non-stationary thermal excitations methods such as FMTWI and
DFMTWI. Results show that non-stationary thermal excitations
with the pulse compression approach provide better depth resolution
than the conventional thermal imaging techniques for sub-surface
defect detection.
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Telford is less than one-and-a-half hours from three international airports and is only five minutes away from
the UK rail and motorway networks.
The Exhibition will be a shell scheme only and stands will be available in three very competitively priced
packages.
NDT 2011, the Annual Conference of BINDT, will run alongside the event, giving even more opportunity to
network with fellow materials testing and condition monitoring professionals.
Within the Exhibition there will be a programme of speakers, presenting papers of a more commercial/practical
nature designed to appeal to exhibition visitors, especially practitioners.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to take a step back in time with BINDT’s 50th anniversary historical display.
Contact: The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing, Newton Building, St George's Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1604 89 3811; Fax: +44 (0)1604 89 3861; E-mail: cindy.bailey@bindt.org

More information at: www.bindt.org

480 Insight Vol 52 No 9 September 2010