Thermography Applications in the Study of Buildings Hygrothermal Behaviour

Abstract

abstract Infrared thermography (IRT) has met an extensive popularity among the non-destructive technologies for building diagnostics, especially with the increasing concerns of energy minimisation and low energy con- sumption of the building sector. Its popularity for a broad range of applications can be attributed to its non-contact safe nature, its usefulness and effectiveness, as well as the energy and cost savings it can achieve. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art literature and research regarding the passive and active infrared thermography. The fundamentals of IRT are thoroughly explained and the thermographic pro- cess for building diagnostics is presented. This work also presents the fields of applicability of IRT with a focus on the building sector, as well as the advantages, limitations and potential sources of errors of IRT employment. Additionally previous non-destructive testing (NDT) studies that employed passive, active pulsed, and active lock-in thermographies for building diagnostics are presented. A review of the thermal image analysis methods and the future trends of thermal imaging are also included in this work. It can be concluded that while IRT is a useful tool for the characterisation of defects in the building sector, there is great prospect for the development of more advanced, effective and accurate approaches that will employ a combination of thermography approaches