Infrared Thermography Imaging Research Articles

Assessing Rebar Corrosion through the Combination of Nondestructive GPR and IRT Methodologies

Corrosion is one of the pathologies that most affects the resistance of reinforced concrete. There are numerous ancient structures still in use affected by corrosion that need proper evaluation and remedial treatment for their maintenance. In this sense, there has been an increasing tendency to use nondestructive testing techniques that do not alter the reinforcement elements of such vulnerable structures. This work presents a combined methodology by using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and infrared thermography (IRT) techniques for the detection and evaluation of corrosion. The methodology was applied to the case study of an old construction that belongs to the abandoned military battery of Cabo Udra (Galicia, Spain). The combination of these complementary techniques allowed for the identification of areas with different dielectric and thermal conductivity, as well as different reflection patterns and intensity of the GPR waves. Thus, from the analysis of the GPR signals and IRT images acquired, it was possible to interpret corroded areas and moisture, along with inner damages such as cracking and debonding. These pathologies have a direct effect on the durability and sustentation of a structure, while the knowledge of their existence might be useful for engineers engaged in the design of maintenance works.

Brown Adipose Tissue: Multimodality Evaluation by PET, MRI, Infrared Thermography, and Whole-Body Calorimetry (TACTICAL-II).

ObjectiveThis study aimed to compare the associations of positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance (MR), and infrared thermography (IRT) imaging modalities with energy expenditure (EE) after brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation using capsinoid ingestion and cold exposure.MethodsTwenty participants underwent PET‐MR, IRT imaging, and whole‐body calorimetry after capsinoid ingestion and cold exposure. Standardized uptake values (SUV) and the fat fraction (FF) of the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue regions were estimated. The anterior supraclavicular temperature (Tscv) from IRT at baseline and postintervention was measured. Two‐hour post–capsinoid ingestion EE and post–cold exposure EE served as a reference to correlate fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, FF, and Tscv for BAT assessment. IRT images were geometrically transformed to overlay on PET‐MR for visualization of the hottest regions.ResultsThe supraclavicular hot spot identified on IRT closely corresponded to the area of maximal fluorodeoxyglucose uptake on PET images. Controlling for body weight, post–cold exposure Tscv was a significant variable associated with EE (P = 0.025). The SUV was significantly inversely correlated with FF (P = 0.012) and significantly correlated with peak of Tscv during cold exposure in BAT‐positive participants (P = 0.022).ConclusionsTscv correlated positively with EE and was also significantly correlated with SUV after cold exposure. Both IRT and MR FF are promising methods to study BAT activity noninvasively.

The utility of infrared thermography for evaluating lameness attributable to bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis

Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) is a leading cause of lameness in broilers. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive technique for measuring infrared radiation from an object and can be used to evaluate clinical health. Two replicated studies compared the effect of light intensity on broilers grown on a wire flooring model that experimentally increased their susceptibility to and incidence of BCO lameness. Day-of-hatch male broiler chickens were placed into 6 pens on wood shavings litter, and at 1 wk one of 3 light intensity treatments (2, 5, or 10 lux) was allotted. At 4 wk half of the population from each pen was moved to a pen with wire flooring and the same light intensity. At 1, 4, 5, and 8 wk, an IRT image of the legs of 5 clinically healthy broilers from each pen was taken. The right and left proximal femora and tibiae of sound and lame broilers were scored for femoral head necrosis (FHN) and tibial head necrosis (THN) lesion severity. There were minimal effects of light intensity and flooring. In Study 1, but not Study 2, broilers on wire flooring weighed less on day 38 (P = 0.007) and days 57 to 58 (P = 0.003) compared to those on litter. The proportion of broilers that became lame on wire flooring was 52% in Study 1 and 14% in Study 2. The proportion of sound broilers from litter and wire flooring pens with subclinical signs of BCO in their right or left proximal growth plates was over 45% for FHN and 92% for THN, and lame broilers had more severe (P < 0.0001) FHN and THN compared to sound broilers. IRT surface temperatures of the hock joint, shank, and foot were consistently lower (P < 0.0001) in broilers that became lame when compared to sound. Therefore, IRT surface temperatures of broiler leg regions may be useful for detecting lesions attributed to BCO.

Investigation of indoor air quality determinants in a field study using three different data streams

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is determined by indoor and outdoor sources and conditions, building characteristics, and occupant behavior. In the field study context where the researcher lacks full control of observational conditions, it is difficult to compare and integrate these determinants because they require such different types and sources of data. This pilot-level project investigated the potential to overcome these limitations by integrating traditional IAQ measurement techniques with questionnaires and analysis of building deficiencies using 3D infrared thermography imaging in two residential multi-apartment buildings. Of the building deficiencies detected by the 3D thermography, missing insulation (MI) correlated best with the IAQ measurements and questionnaire data. Apartments missing more than 5% of insulation in their exterior wall (n = 6) had a significantly higher number concentration of ultrafine airborne particles (diameter < 300 nm) (p = 0.013) and their indoor/outdoor ratio (p = 0.029) compared to apartments where less than 5% of insulation was missing (n = 14). The correlation was driven by apartments where no smoking or use candles or incense was reported. Ultrafine particle concentrations in apartments with combustion sources were higher regardless of the levels of MI. Corner apartments had a higher fraction of MI compared to non-corner apartments (p = 0.002); higher levels of MI were detected in apartments where a resident had an asthma attack in the past 12 months. Our data suggest that integration of different data streams produces a more informative IAQ investigation. This pilot-level study should be performed on a larger scale to examine its wider applicability in the IAQ field.

Use of Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging in the Electromyography Clinic: A Case Series.

Introduction: Foot drop often results from denervation of the dorsiflexor muscles in the leg. Neurological evaluation begins with lower extremity motor testing followed by electromyography needle electrode examination (EMG-NEE). We explored digital infrared thermography (IRT) as a complementary tool in diagnosing peripheral nerve disorders.Methods: Using a digital IRT camera, we recorded differences in skin surface temperatures from affected and unaffected limbs in three patients with unilateral foot drop. Denervation in the affected limb was confirmed with EMG-NEE.Results: IRT imaging revealed lower relative skin surface temperatures in regions of the leg corresponding to denervated dorsiflexor muscles for all three consecutive patients who presented to the EMG Clinic with foot drop. Conclusions: Denervation appears to cause a decrease in thermal energy output from affected muscle groups. Alongside the EMG and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), IRT may have an important role in assessing the severity and prognosis of a nerve injury. This observation may have implications for chronic pain syndromes, such as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), in which thermal change is a diagnostic criterion.

A Rotating Machinery Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Feature Learning of Thermal Images

The rotating machinery plays a vital role in industrial systems, in which unexpected mechanical faults during operation can lead to severe consequences. For fault prevention, many fault diagnostic methods based on vibration signals are available in the literature. However, the vibration signals are obtained by using different types of sensors, which can cause sensor installation issues and damage the rotating machinery. In addition, this kind of data acquisition through vibration signal induces a large amount of signal noise during machine operation, which will challenge the later fault diagnosis. A recent fault detection method based on infrared thermography (IRT) for rotating machinery avoids these issues. However, the corresponding literature is limited by the fact that the characteristics of the manual design cannot characterize the fault completely so that the diagnostic accuracy cannot exceed the diagnostic method based on the vibration signals. This paper introduces a popular image feature extraction method into the fault diagnosis of rotating machinery based on IRT for the first time. First, capturing the IRT images of the rotating machinery in different states, and then two popular feature extraction methods for IRT images, bag-of-visual-word, and convolutional neural network, are tested in turn. Finally, the extracted features are classified to implement the automatic fault diagnosis. The developed method is applied to analyze the experimental IRT images collected from bearings, and the results demonstrate that the developed method is more effective than the traditional methods based on vibration signals.

Optimal Region growing and Multi-kernel SVM for fault detection in Electrical Equipments using Infrared Thermography Images

Infrared thermography (IRT) has played an essential part in observing and examining thermal defects of electrical equipment without ending, which has vital enormity for the dependability of electrical recorded. This paper dissected the electrical parts are faulted or non-faulted with the help of segmentation and classification model. The features are calculated from the input thermal images and regions of interest (ROI) is segmented by utilising optimal region growing (ORG) technique and faults are classified using multi kernel support vector machine (MKSVM). In the tests, the classification performances from different input features are assessed. For enhancing the performance of the segmentation investigation optimisation procedure that is whale optimisation (WO) is used. Before classifying, the extracted electrical components are fused by using feature level fusion (FLF) procedure to fused vector in all images. These multi kernel classification performance indices, including sensitivity, specificity and accuracy are utilised to recognise the most appropriate input feature and the best arrangement of classifiers. The performance of SVM is contrasted with a neural network. The correlation comes about demonstrating that our technique can accomplish a superior performance with accuracy at 98.21%.

IRT image segmentation and enhancement using FCM-MALO approach

Infrared Thermography (IRT) is a method that has modernized the way for monitoring the thermal conditions, finding some potential faults or defects that could be available in electrical systems. In the proposed work, IRT electrical images are taken for diagnosing the faults by the image pre-processing and segmentation process. Initially, the IRT images are changed over into a grayscale image, trailed by image pre-processing is performed where histogram equalization is applied. With the intention of segmenting the faulty portion (high temperature zone) from the electrical equipment, Fuzzy C Means (FCM) strategy is introduced. For optimizing the centroid of FCM algorithm Modified Ant Lion Optimization (MALO) is proposed. From the segmented images, small size portions are removed by using Region Pros function. This operation can remove the isolated pixels from the image and extract image components for better representation of images. The optimum results show that the proposed work accomplishes maximum segmentation accuracy compared to existing segmentation algorithms.

Retrospective Outcome Evaluation of Cervical Nucleoplasty Using Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging.

ObjectivePercutaneous cervical nucleoplasty (PCN) is used to treat cervical disc herniation. Radiological imaging studies, including plain radiography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), have been used to make early predictions of cervical spinal surgery outcomes. However, simple radiological studies do not provide sufficiently detailed information; moreover, CT and MRI are highly expensive. Herein, we aimed to elucidate the usefulness of digital infrared thermography imaging (DITI) as an outcome marker after cervical nucleoplasty by correlating the changes in thermal difference (ΔTD) with the changes in pain intensity after PCN expressed as visual analogue scale (ΔVAS) scores. MethodsFor this study, 255 patients treated with PCN at Thomas Hospital between March 2012 and August 2014 were included. For each patient, demographic and clinical data, including preoperative MRI results, ΔVAS, ΔTD at the disc level treated with PCN, subjective symptom improvement, procedure-related discomfort, overall satisfaction, and adverse effects, were collected and evaluated for up to 3 months retrospectively. ResultsThermal difference (TD) and VAS scores improved after PCN (p<0.05), but ΔTD showed no significant correlation with ΔVAS. If the preoperative TD was larger, the postoperative VAS was worse and there was less pain relief (ΔVAS) after PCN (p<0.05). Only few adverse effects were noticeable after PCN. ConclusionIn DITI, which was used to evaluate the outcomes after cervical nucleoplasty, the ΔTD did not seem to reflect the ΔVAS after PCN. However, preoperative DITI findings could be useful for predicting VAS reduction and clinical improvements after PCN.

Experimental factors affecting the within- and between-individual variation of plantar foot surface temperatures in turkeys (Meleagris gallopovo) recorded with infrared thermography

Footpad dermatitis is a welfare concern in turkeys kept for meat production. In order to develop the basis for future standardized infrared thermography (IRT) protocols to screen for impaired foot health, this study investigated within- and between-individual temperature variation in two plantar sub-regions (Footpad, and the whole plantar Foot surface), and effects of cleaning procedures, in 80 turkey toms. A thermal camera (FLIR System AB) was used to collect IRT images. Feet were cleaned with water and dried with a paper towel. The minimum and maximum temperature (Tempmin and Tempmax) of Footpad and Foot in dirty and cleaned feet were determined. Sources of variation related to anatomical region, cleaning procedure and image analysis method were identified. Tempmax Foot was significantly higher than Tempmax Footpad both before (4.8 °C 95%CI (4.36, 5.19), t = 22.9, p < 0.001) and after cleaning (3.5 °C 95%CI (2.96, 4.04), t = 12.9, p < 0.001). Furthermore, Tempmax Foot (3.92 °C 95%CI (3.54, 4.3), t = 20.6, p < 0.001) and Tempmax Footpad (2.64 °C 95%CI (2.08, 3.2), t = 9.3, p < 0.001) were significantly higher before than after cleaning. Potential effects of e.g. evaporation and skin emissivity due to residual water, and shielding properties of dirt are discussed. In general, Tempmax variance differences were lower before cleaning than Tempmin variance differences. The variance differences between Tempmax and Tempmin Footpad before cleaning were lower for Tempmax (F = 3.38, p < 0.001), and Tempmax Footpad did not exhibit any significant variance differences before and after cleaning (F = 0.75, p = 0.2). Thus, it is necessary to create a strict protocol (i.e. specifically define the anatomical region of interest, take into account image analysis methods and cleaning procedures) for reducing errors of temperature measurements in future studies of turkey foot health. Specifically, the results indicate that Footpad Tempmax, regardless of cleaning procedures, represent an optimal anatomical region and analysis method for future studies where severity of footpad lesions and impact on animal welfare are studied.

Thermochemical monitoring of brucite carbonation using passive infrared thermography

Heat generation from passive CO2 sequestration in mafic/ultramafic mining wastes and tailings remains a poorly explored facet of ambient mineral carbonation. In this work, heat generation and carbon dioxide uptake during the carbonation of brucite were monitored in a specially-designed dual-cell carbonation reactor replicating environmental conditions. The reactor was instrumented with a passive infrared thermography imaging system combined with CO2 sensing and tactically positioned thermocouples to yield the instantaneous evolution of i) surface temperature changes induced by carbon dioxide sequestration, ii) heat fluxes exchanged between the reacting mineral layer and its surroundings, and iii) intrinsic carbonation rates. Comparison with the adiabatic temperature rise of the surface temperature variations measured through infrared thermography highlighted significant differences in normalizing the specific heat generation rate of carbonation with respect to the carbonating mineral or to the entire hosting solid matrix. The impact of ambient atmosphere reservoir was considerable with sizable heat fluxes pumped out of the reacting material to an extent to impede temperature rises from neighbouring their theoretical adiabatic temperature analogs. This prospective study on model brucite mineral portends future prospects for assessing heat generation for the sequestration of carbon dioxide using complex multi-mineral matrices such as magnesium-silicate mineral residues.

Comparative assessment of stained‐glass windows materials by infrared thermography

AbstractThis paper reports the analyses of infrared thermography images of two stained‐glass windows with the objective of the in situ characterization of this type of artworks. The analyses were carried out by active thermography. The observations revealed that glasses absorbed the long‐wave IR radiation emitted by the halogen lamps and their apparent surface temperature progressively increased. After switching the spotlight off, they experienced a progressive decrease in temperature. Silver stained glasses presented the same thermographic behavior than uncolored glasses because silver nanoparticles were too small or the yellow layer was too thin to produce a different response than the base glass with the IR radiation. The apparent surface temperature of enamels and grisailles depended on their thickness and color. Lead cames maintained an almost constant surface apparent temperature, except those painted that behave in a similar way than enamels. Metallic tin‐lead welds experienced the most important variation in the surface apparent temperature in reflection mode due to the energy reflected by the surface of the weld. Glass defects such as big bubbles were also observed.

First Evaluation of Infrared Thermography as a Tool for the Monitoring of Udder Health Status in Farms of Dairy Cows.

The aim of the present study was to test infrared thermography (IRT), under field conditions, as a possible tool for the evaluation of cow udder health status. Thermographic images (n. 310) from different farms (n. 3) were collected and evaluated using a dedicated software application to calculate automatically and in a standardized way, thermographic indices of each udder. Results obtained have confirmed a significant relationship between udder surface skin temperature (USST) and classes of somatic cell count in collected milk samples. Sensitivity and specificity in the classification of udder health were: 78.6% and 77.9%, respectively, considering a level of somatic cell count (SCC) of 200,000 cells/mL as a threshold to classify a subclinical mastitis or 71.4% and 71.6%, respectively when a threshold of 400,000 cells/mL was adopted. Even though the sensitivity and specificity were lower than in other published papers dealing with non-automated analysis of IRT images, they were considered acceptable as a first field application of this new and developing technology. Future research will permit further improvements in the use of IRT, at farm level. Such improvements could be attained through further image processing and enhancement, and the application of indicators developed and tested in the present study with the purpose of developing a monitoring system for the automatic and early detection of mastitis in individual animals on commercial farms.

Dynamic thermal properties of building components: Hot box experimental assessment under different solicitations

The envelope thermal behaviour in dynamic conditions is becoming essential to assess the whole year energy performance of buildings. International Standards describe in detail the theoretical approach, but few examples of experimental analyses and procedures exist to determine the performance of materials and components in unsteady-state conditions. The work is aimed at filling this vacancy, describing a modification of hot box devices, which are generally designed for stationary measurements, but they could be successfully used also for time-dependent investigations. Two different methods are proposed: a hot box system where one-day period sinusoidal solicitations in terms of temperature and heat flow are imposed, and another type of boundary condition, with a faster impulsive thermal driving force. The former showed a good agreement with the expected theoretical results; the latter proved also suitable but suffered a lower accuracy, being characterised in turn by a significant reduction of the measurement time. It is also showed that hot boxes allow also more detailed investigations, such as infrared thermography imaging, to better analyse the thermal performance of the tested samples.

Reliability of Infrared Thermography Images in the Analysis of the Plantar Surface Temperature in Diabetes Mellitus

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability of image assessment of infrared thermography of the plantar surface of people with diabetes mellitus. MethodsFifty-one participants with diabetes were included. The interexaminer reliability (test) consisted of measuring the temperature of the plantar surface by 2 evaluators who separately performed the analysis of thermographic images. The intraexaminer reliability (retest) consisted of the revaluation of the images by a single evaluator 10 days after the first analysis. ResultsThe analysis of intrareliability and interreliability indicated excellent levels of correlation (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.75, 95% confidence interval >0.70) in the plantar surface points analyzed. ConclusionInfrared thermography image evaluation identified intrareliability and interreliability for temperature analysis of the plantar surface of people with diabetes mellitus. However, further studies need to be conducted to assess validity and its application in health care.

Passive Control and Enhancement of Low Reynolds Number Slot Jets Through the Use of Tabs and Chevrons

Liquid microjets are emerging as candidate primary or secondary heat exchangers for the thermal management of next generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs). However, the thermal and hydrodynamic behavior of confined, low Reynolds number liquid slot jets is not yet comprehensively understood. This investigation experimentally examined jet outlet modifications—in the form of tabs and chevrons—as techniques for passive control and enhancement of single-phase convective heat transfer. The investigation was carried out for slot jets in the laminar flow regime, with a Reynolds number range, based on the slot jet hydraulic diameter, of 100–500. A slot jet with an aspect ratio of 4 and a fixed confinement height to hydraulic diameter ratio (H/Dh) of 1 was considered. The local surface heat transfer and velocity field characteristics were measured using infrared (IR) thermography and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques. It was found that increases in area-averaged Nusselt number of up to 29% compared to the baseline case could be achieved without incurring additional hydrodynamic losses. It was also determined that the location and magnitude of Nusselt number and velocity peaks within the slot jet stagnation region could be passively controlled and enhanced through the application of outlet tabs of varying geometries and locations.

Infrared thermal imaging as a method to evaluate heat loss in newborn lambs

Thermal imaging technology has been identified as a potential method for non-invasive study of thermogenesis in the neonatal lamb. In comparison to measurement of the core body temperature, infrared thermography may observe thermal loss and thermogenesis linked to subcutaneous brown fat depots. This study aimed to identify a suitable method to measure heat loss in the neonatal lamb under a cold challenge. During late pregnancy (day 125), ewes were subjected to either shearing (n=15) or mock handling (sham-shorn for 2min mimicking the shearing movements) (n=15). Previous studies have shown an increase in brown adipose tissue deposition in lambs born to ewes shorn during pregnancy and we hypothesized that the shearing treatment would impact thermoregulatory capacities in newborn lambs. Lambs born to control ewes (n=14; CONTROL) and shorn ewes (n=13; SHORN) were subjected to a cold challenge of 1h duration at 4h after birth. During the cold challenge, thermography images were taken every 10min, from above, at a fixed distance from the dorsal midline. On each image, four fixed-size areas were identified (shoulder, mid loin, hips and rump) and the average and maximum temperatures of each recorded. In all lambs, body surface temperature decreased over time. Overall the SHORN lambs appeared to maintain body surface temperature better than CONTROL lambs, while CONTROL lambs appeared to have higher core temperature. At 30min post cold challenge SHORN lambs tended to have higher body surface temperatures than lambs (P=0.0474). Both average and maximum temperatures were highest at the hips. Average temperature was lowest at the shoulder (P<0.05), while maximum temperatures were lowest at both shoulder and rump (P<0.005). These results indicate that lambs born to shorn ewes maintained their radiated body surface temperature better than CONTROL lambs. In conjunction with core temperature changes under cold challenge, this insight will allow us to understand whether increased body surface temperature contributes to increased overall heat loss or whether increased body surface temperature is indeed a mechanism contributing to maintenance of core body temperature under cold challenge conditions. This study has confirmed the utility of infrared thermography images to capture and identify different levels of thermoregulatory capacity in newborn lambs.

Infrared thermography reveals effect of working posture on skin temperature in office workers

Introduction. Musculoskeletal symptoms related to using traditional computer workstations are common. Quantitative methods for measuring muscle stress and strain are needed to improve ergonomics of workstations. We hypothesize that infrared thermography (IRT) is suited for this purpose. Methods. This hypothesis was evaluated by estimating muscle activity in upright and traditional working postures with IRT and surface electromyography (sEMG). IRT and sEMG measurements were conducted in 14 female participants with both working postures. First, measurements with the traditional posture were performed. Later, participants had 1 month to adjust to the upright working posture before repeating the measurements. IRT images were acquired before and after a full working day, with sEMG recordings being conducted throughout the measurement days. Participants evaluated their neck pain severity using neck disability index (NDI) questionnaires before the first and after the second measurement day. Results. Spatial variation in upper back temperature was higher (p = 0.008) when working in traditional posture and the upright working posture reduced (p < 0.05) upper back muscle activity. The NDI was significantly lower (p = 0.003) after working in the upright posture. Conclusion. IRT was found suitable for evaluating muscle activity and upright working posture to reduce the NDI and muscle activity in the upper back.

SERS Investigation of Cancer Cells Treated with PDT: Quantification of Cell Survival and Follow-up

In this study Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) data recorded from mouse mammary glands cancer cells (4T1 cell line) was used to assess information regarding differences between control, death and viable cells after Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) treatment. The treatment used nanoemulsions (NE/PS) loaded with different chloroaluminumphthalocyanine (ClAlP) photosensitizer (PS) contents (5 and 10 µmol × L−1) and illumination (660 nm wavelength) at 10 J × cm−2 (10 minutes). The SERS data revealed significant molecular alterations in proteins and lipids due to the PDT treatment. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to analyze the data recorded. Three-dimensional and well reproductive PCA scatter plots were obtained, revealing that two clusters of dead cells were well separated from one another and from control cluster. Overlap between two clusters of viable cells was observed, though well separated from control cluster. Moreover, the data analysis also pointed out necrosis as the main cell death mechanism induced by the PDT, in agreement with the literature. Finally, Raman modes peaking at 608 cm−1 (proteins) and 1231 cm−1 (lipids) can be selected for follow up of survival rate of neoplastic cells after PDT. We envisage that this finding is key to contribute to a quick development of quantitative infrared thermography imaging.

A data processing methodology for infrared thermography images of concrete bridges

This study presents a methodology to improve the usability and efficiency of infrared thermography (IRT) for subsurface damage detection in concrete structures. A practical and more objective approach to obtain a threshold for IRT data processing was developed by incorporating finite element (FE) model simulations. Regarding the temperature thresholds of sound and delaminated areas, the temperature of the sound part was obtained from the IR image, and the temperature of the delaminated area was defined by FE model simulation. With this methodology, delaminated areas of concrete slabs at 1.27cm and 2.54cm depths could be detected more objectively than by visually judging the color contrast of IR images. However, it was also found that the boundary condition affects the accuracy of the method, and the effect varies depending on the data collection time. On the other hand, it can be assumed that the influential area of the boundary condition is much smaller than the area of a bridge deck in real structures; thus, it might be ignorable on real concrete bridge decks. Even though there are some limitations, this methodology performed successfully paving the way towards automated IRT data analysis for concrete bridge deck inspections.