Cross-sectional imaging of building elements by new non-linear tomosynthesis techniques using imaging plates and ⁶⁰Co radiation

The quantitative measurement of the positions and diameters of steel reinforcements in buildings is based on the concept of non-linear backprojection (NLBP). Advantages are 3D-image reconstructions from a small number of views, fast numeric algorithms and the consideration of the statistical, spectral and other characteristics of the object. For the radiographic inspection a ⁶⁰Co source was used and both X-ray films and imaging plates for detection. The imaging plates were combined with special filter screens for contrast optimization. The digitized images from the plates have a high dynamic range and can be read into a computer without a photographic developing process. A numerical preprocessing procedure was developed as space filtering in different directions followed by a combination of the image angle components. A generalized Hough or Radon transformation and a statistical evaluation of the resulting image was employed. The special advantage of this method is the reconstruction of direction-selective structures.