Journal of Nondestructive Evaluation, Vol. 19, No.

1, 2000

Application of Infrared Thermography Technique in

Building Finish Evaluation
Zongjin Li,1 Wu Yao,2 Stephen Lee,1 Chihung Lee,1 and Zhiyu Yang1
Submitted February 11, 1999; revised March 10, 2000

Infrared thermography is a well-established technique for evaluating material properties through

thermal measurement. In this paper, the thermographic principle of debonded building-finish system
is proposed based on laboratory calibrations. An effective approach is developed to eliminate the
disturbance of reflection. The survey results prove that this method is reliable in detecting the
debonded ceramic tiles on a building finish. With defective areas appearing differently from wellbonded regions, as a result of their differential transmittance of infrared (IR) radiation, the large
surfaces can be rapidly scanned. The proposed approach makes it possible to perform interpretation
and analysis with a high degree of accuracy.

KEY WORDS: building finishes; ceramic tile; evaluation; infrared camera; infrared thermography; thermal
performance.

INTRODUCTION

stage in their development. Most of the traditional methods of nondestructive testing (NDT), such as hammering,
tapping or ultrasonic testing, are too time consuming and
labor intensive to have much practical application, other
than for use on a small surface area.
The difference in temperature on a tile surface is
related to the thermal properties of an overall structure
and could reveal the degree of damage of a tile system.
Thermography has potential for this type of application.
Thermography measures the infrared radiation (IR) emission from objects under certain ambient conditions and
displays it in the form of a visual heat image. This principle is adopted to determine the debonding of tile finishes
from the substrate using IR cameras. It is difficult to
detect such defects visually unless distress has reached
a serious stage. Using an IR camera, the scope of an
investigation can be narrowed to potential problem areas
because it can quickly examine very large areas. This
type of survey ensures that all the defective areas are
precisely located, leading to a more accurate and comprehensive repair program.(25) However, IR techniques and
methods are sometimes discredited, because of the dis-

Ceramic tile systems have been a very popular surface finish for buildings in many big cities of the world.(1)
The decoration of buildings using ceramic tile finishes
not only improves the stark appearance, but also offers
some degree of protection from carbonation to the concrete surface beneath. Unfortunately, almost every building could experience some degree of failure on its ceramic
tile finish due to the progressive damage caused by application of mechanical load or changes in environmental
conditions. In the case of high-rise buildings, in particular,
the portion of finishes that are debonded without visible
signs, pose imminent danger to human life. An effort has
been made to establish a method for checking the presence
of major surface defects in existing buildings. In addition,
it is important to detect hidden defects between surface
layer and substrate in order to rectify them at an early
1

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay,

Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
2
The State Key Laboratory of Concrete Materials Research, Tongji
University, Shanghai, China.

11
0195-9298/00/0300-0011$18.00/0 q 2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation

12
turbance of reflection during the survey or irrelevant analysis and interpretation of IR data.
In this paper, the basic principles of thermographic
detection of debonded ceramic tiles are proposed and IR
thermographic inspections were carried out to identify the
types of thermal patterns produced by various debonding
mechanisms. Factors of reflection contributing to the discrediting of survey results are discussed and an effective
approach is proposed to solve the problem. The results
presented in this paper proved that IR thermography could
be used as a diagnostic tool to identify severe defects
beneath the surface of building finishes and could provide
essential and accurate information for maintenance and
repair.

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE DEFECTS OF

BUILDING FINISHES
The ceramic tile finishes are usually applied to the
render using a secondary skin coat. They may fail as
the result of incorrect positioning or even omission of
movement joints, from the time of their construction.
They may also fail through poor adhesion of the skin
coat to either the render or the tile. In some instances,
problems may occur with cheap glass mosaics. Under
damp conditions, the alkalis, in the form of free lime
from the cement, attack the glass, causing cracking and
expansion, which results both in debonding and delamination of the mosaic. However, based on the statistics, it
has been concluded from the failure patterns that the
hollow area is the main cause of the defects of ceramic
tile systems.
Because the hollow area tends to get larger as a
result of subsequent thermal movement, debonding in the
tile system is likely to take place between the rendered
surface and the tiles and/or between the render and the
substrate. In some instances, large areas of tiles will
debond because of thermal expansion, especially on projecting features, such as a balcony, exhaust outlets, and
window surrounds. In addition, moisture may penetrate
into the cement and promote alkaline attack. This process
can result in large areas of tile debonding from their
backing mortar, or of render separating from substrate.
The alkaline attack may also be associated with surface
cracking of the tiles.
A detailed discussion on the variety of defect patterns relevant to evolutions of buildings performance is
beyond the scope of this paper. We shall deal with two
common debonding patterns, shown in Fig. 1. Figure 1a
shows the pattern of a hollow defect filled with water

Li, Yao, Lee, Lee, and Yang

due to rain or moisture condensation, while Fig. 1b shows
another pattern of a hollow defect simply filled with air.

BASIC PRINCIPLE OF THE

THERMOGRAPHIC DETECTION OF
DEBONDED TILE SYSTEM
Consider a thin tile, with one of its surfaces being
open to air and exposed to sunshine. The other surface
is in contact with the concrete wall. The equation for the
temperature of an element of tile is
B

dT
5 H 2 K(T 2 T0)
dt

(1)

where B is the heat capacitance per unit area of the tile;

H is a heat flow onto the tile/air surface due to sunlight;
K is the thermal conductivity between the tile and the
wall. In the most simplified model, T0 is the wall temperature, which remains constant because of its large thermal
capacitance. In a more sophisticated model, the temperature of the thick wall varies across the thickness section
of the wall, which is in contact with tile on one surface
and with room ambient on the other. The temperature
variation of the wall is such that its surface on the tile
side will follow the change of the tile temperature, while
the temperature of its indoor surface remains constant.
Since the heat flow is determined by the temperature
gradient, an equivalent temperature T0 can be found to
be such that K(T 2 T0) is equal to the actual heat flow
from tiles to the wall.
The values of B and K may vary across the plane
of the tiles due to the variation of tilewall boundary
conditions, thus causing temperature variation that can
be detected by a thermal camera. Here, the lateral thermal
conduction and the thermal conduction of surfaceair are
ignored. These factors can be ignored only within a short
period of time when the tile temperature is transient. Over
a longer period (several hours), the thermal conduction
to air and lateral conduction will result in a uniform
temperature distribution all over the tiles, and the defects
behind the tiles will not be easily detected. Therefore, it
is important that the thermograph measurements be carried out within the period of transient heating.
Case 1: Heating Process of the Building
Suppose that the tiles are at T0 when t 5 0; this
would likely be the condition in the morning before the
sunrise, where H 5 0. As heat stimulation is quickly
imposed on the tile wall (in real situations this could be

Infrared Thermography Applications

13

Fig. 1. Two simple patterns of defects in building envelopes.

due to sunrise, building shadow movement, or clearing

up of clouds), the time-dependent temperature can be
obtained by solving the equation below with the proper
initial conditions, as
T 5 T0 1

H
(1 2 e2Kt/B)
K

(2)

It can be observed that the time variable in the exponential depends on K/B, and the steady state is T0 1
H/K. In practice, within t 5 5B/K, T(t) will reach 99%
of its steady value. This steady value is actually only
quasi-steady because the lateral thermal conduction and
air conduction are not considered. A quasi-steady state
thermograph should therefore be valid during a period
from t 5 5B/K to a time at which the lateral conduction dominates.
A debonding defect is a hollow space between tile
and wall. The hollow space could be filled either with
water, due to rain or moisture condensation, or simply
with air. However, the two fillings, water and air, have
different effects on the thermal properties, namely B and
K, of a tile system. A water-filled cavity will probably
lead to a larger K because of the improved thermal contact
and of similar heat conductivity with cement. On the
other hand, the thermal capacitance (B) will increase if
the water is considered part of the tile system. Comprehensively, the influence from K is larger than that from
B and thus the surface of a tile with water underneath
would show a lower temperature than well-bonded tile
during heating transient period. An air pocket (void) with
its poor thermal conductivity will lead to a reduced K

and a similar B value in a tile system. The surface temperature of a tile portion with a underling air pocket will
then be higher than the rest of the intact ones during the
transient stage.
Case 2: Cooling Process of the Building
Case 2 is the opposite of case 1, i.e., a heat stimulation has been applied for a long period and is then slowly
withdrawn, which would be a likely condition at sunset.
The initial temperature is then T0 1 H/K, when tiles are
still in quasi-steady state. The solution to the equation
is then
T 5 T0 1

H 2Kt/B
e
K

(3)

Due to lower thermal conductivity, an air-filled defect

will cause a faster decrease, or a lower local temperature,
while a water-filled hole will have a higher temperature
because of its larger thermal capacitance and higher thermal conductivity.

LABORATORY CALIBRATIONS
In order to verify the above predictions, laboratory
tests were carried out. The tested samples are shown in
Fig. 2. The test specimen, which contained some simulated defects, was made by affixing a ceramic tile to one
surface of the concrete cube with render materials (see
Fig. 2a). Before testing, the upper half of the specimen

14

Li, Yao, Lee, Lee, and Yang

Fig. 2. Surface temperature distribution of a debonded tile sample (a) with upper half dry and lower
half filled with water, (b) uniform heating of the inspected face; and (c) after cooling for one half hour.

was kept dry and the lower half was filled with water.
An external thermal source (infrared lights) was applied
to the tile side of the specimen. A sensitive IR thermographic system, which can identify temperature differences as small as 0.078C and convert the IR radiation
into digital signals, was used to record the images. The
images were taken continuously within 1-min intervals.
It can been seen from the line profile that the surface

temperature of the defect area filled with water (bottom

of the tile) was lower, while those filled with air (top of
the tile) was higher than that of the sound-bonded area
(center and corners of the tile) (see Fig. 2b). Once the
thermal source was withdrawn, the tile sample would
start to cool off. After one-half hour, it was found that
the surface temperature of the bottom half (water filled)
in the IR image was higher than that of the top half (air

Infrared Thermography Applications

filled) (see Fig. 2c). This was due to the fact that the
moist area have a higher heat capacity.

BUILDINGS INSPECTION
As described in the previous section, the favorable
condition for field inspection is a steep thermal gradient
between the environment and target objects. This usually
occurs in the morning after sunrise, in the afternoon
before sunset, or during slow movement of cloud shadow.
The steep gradient stimulates the transient behavior of
the tiles. When the finishing material is in perfect bond
with the substrate, the incidence of heat on the surface
is conducted away by the mass of substrate (concrete
wall). However, when there are debonded areas filled
with moisture in the finish materials, their thermal properties will be different. Figure 3 shows a corresponding
thermogram of such a case. The survey was performed
in the morning during sunrise. Before the survey was
conducted, it had rained for several days and it was very
likely that condensed moisture or water were trapped in
the defective areas (indexed by arrows). Due to water
having infiltrated a porous material increasing its specific
heat, the surface temperature of the defective areas was
lower than that in the sound areas.
In the case of air-filled debonding, the thermograms
behave differently. When the sun is shining on the surface
of the tile-clad wall, the wall begins to heat up. The

15
surface over a debond or potential void filled with air
will heat up faster, because the fracture plane of the defect
acts as a small insulator, trapping the heat in the tile.
These hot spots on the surface are generally 238C
higher than the surrounding areas and can be easily
detected by the IR camera. Figures 4 and 5 identify this
type of pattern. The higher temperature regions in these
figures were suspected to be severely debonded areas on
the walls (see the downward arrow in Fig. 4 and the right
pointing arrows in Fig. 5). The location of these areas
was further confirmed by the tapping technique.
Moreover, even fairly small defects can be detected
by thermography. In Fig. 6 the smallest hot spot was
only about 50 3 50 mm in size. Debonded areas like
this are generally held in place by the interlock of the
surrounding materials. However, any small defect has a
potential to propagate into a large detachment. Hence,
it should be marked for future surveys to monitor its
size stability.

APPROACH TO ELIMINATE THE EFFECT

OF REFLECTION
In the previous sections, we showed how infrared
thermography allows detection, localization, and characterization of subsurface defects in ceramic tile finishes.
In fact, an IR camera in front of an object not only detects
the emitted radiance but also a part of the radiance due

Fig. 3. The lower temperature areas (indexed by upward arrows) indicating the defected areas filled with water or moisture.

16

Li, Yao, Lee, Lee, and Yang

Fig. 4. Thermogram indicating air-filled defect area of the external wall.

to reflection of the ambient fluxes by the object surface

whose reflectivity is nonzero. It is necessary to take into
account this phenomenon for objects with reflective surfaces, such as ceramic tiles, when interpreting the survey results.
In the fundamental equation of thermography, the
radiance NCAM received by the IR camera is expressed by

NCAM 5 tatm Nobj 1 tatm rNenv 1 (1 2 tatm)Natm

(4)

where tatm 5 transmission coefficient of the atmosphere

in the spectral window of interest, 5 object emissivity
(the object is considered opaque), r 5 object reflectivity,
Nobj 5 radiance from the surface of the object, Nenv 5
radiance of the surrounding environment considered as

Fig. 5. Thermogram indicating several large air-filled defect areas on the external wall of building.

Infrared Thermography Applications

17

Fig. 6. Thermogram indicating several small air-filled defect areas on the external wall of building.

a black body, and Natm 5 radiance of the atmosphere,

supposed constant. If the transmission coefficient of the
atmosphere is considered to be close to unity, Eq. (4) can
be simplified as follows.
NCAM 5 Nobj 1 rNenv

(5)

If the emissivity is very high (more than 0.9),

according to Kirchhoff laws, 5 (1 2 r), Eq. (5) can
be further reduced to Nobj ' NCAM. According to some
relationships, camera signals can be converted to radiance
Nobj and temperature Tobj values. If the emissivity is
not high enough, but with perfectly diffuse reflection,
temperature of object can also be qualitatively obtained
from the radiance NCAM received by the IR camera.
For a ceramic tile, the emissivity is about 0.6 ,
0.8, not high enough to ignore the effect of the surface
reflection. Moreover, because of its smooth surface, the
reflection has better specular than diffusion of tile surface
does and, hence, the intensity of reflected radiation is not
constant in all directions. In an actual survey, the specular
reflection toward the camera will yield apparent hot spots
or strips in the IR images. Hot spots or strips could be
falsely interpreted as damage zones, following the active
thermography principles discussed above. Consequently,
extreme care is required and adequate approach should
be adopted when IR thermography is being employed on
materials with specular reflective surfaces.
Here we take the reflectivity to be the sum of a
specular component and a diffuse component:

r 5 rs 1 rD

(6)

We define the diffuse radiance ND as the total diffuse

energy leaving the surface per unit area and per unit
time, that
ND 5 Nobj 1 rD Nenv

(7)

In Eqs. (5) and (7), it is known that Nobj is related to the

surface temperature of a unit area and NCAM and ND are
related to the detected temperatures by the IR camera for
the unit area with and without specular reflection toward
the camera, respectively. The temperature detected by
the IR camera may be overestimated due to reflectivity.
Moreover, the specular reflection will create parasitic hot
spots that further complicate thermogram interpretation.
The most effective way to solve the problem is to
remove the influence of specular reflection. This can be
done by grabbing the images continually at the same
zone, (when the images are recorded and neither the
object nor camera is moved), and then recording the
thermography images during a dual transient period, i.e.,
right after a thermal source is applied and then withdrawn
abruptly. During daytime, a favorable weather condition
for this purpose is partially cloudy. The movement of a
cloud leads to the change from sunshine to shadow and
back to sunshine again, providing opportunity for
recording the transient behavior with or without specular
reflection from the wall tiles under inspection. During
sunshine, the object is thermally stimulated, but with

18

Li, Yao, Lee, Lee, and Yang

Fig. 7. Thermal trend analysis approach (a) and the development of the spots over the series of images at different time (b).

Infrared Thermography Applications

reflective disturbance; when the clouds block the sun,
the effect of surface reflection is minimized and the temperature detected by the IR camera corresponds to the
actual surface temperature of the object. Because of the
quick change of temperature during transient period, a
grab rate of a frame per 30 seconds is suggested.
When the images are taken in this way, the points
of interest will always be in the exact, or nearly the same
place in all images. Figure 7 shows some results of images
taken this way, where each image was grabbed at a different time but at the same position. In image 1, we marked
down the X/Y coordinates of three points, named P1, P2,
and P3. By using the Trending Analysis program, the
three points (that we placed in image 1) were automatically placed at exactly the same pixel locations in all of
the images (see Figure 7a), and the graph showing the
temperature variation of the spots over the series of
images is shown in Fig. 7b.
In Fig. 7, it is shown that in about 15 min, the
temperatures detected by the IR camera for the three fixed
points are different, because of the sunlight beams in and
out of the clouds. The temperature of P3 is higher than
that of the other two points, both with and without clouds,
indicating the zone near this point is a damaged area with
a subsurface filled with air. The temperature of P1 is the
lowest during all the time, indicating the region near P1
is a sound area. It should be noticed that the temperature
change of P2 is somewhat different when compared to
these two points. In the case without clouds, the temperature is higher than that of P1 and only slightly lower than
that of P3. However, in the case with clouds (stage AB,
C, DE, and FG in Fig. 7b), the detected temperature of
P2 is nearly equal to that of P1, which indicates the
influence of specular reflection on the sight P2. Hence,
we can conclude that the actual surface temperatures of
points P1 and P2 are almost the same and the region near
point P2 is also a sound area. The higher temperature of
P2 in the case without clouds is caused by the effect of
specular reflection and may be falsely interpreted as a
damaged zone if the object was stimulated by sunshine
all the time. In summary, the proposed approach is very
useful for eliminating the effects of reflection and makes
it possible to interpret and analyze the true debonded
region with a high degree of accuracy.

CONCLUSIONS
The results presented in this paper prove that the IR
thermography could be used as a diagnostic tool to identify severe defects beneath the surface of building fin-

19
ishes. Based on thermographic principles and our field
building survey, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. Thermography can be used to narrow the scope
of an investigation by accurately pinpointing potential
problem areas. Very large surfaces can be examined
quickly, allowing the investigator to focus only on those
areas where problems exist.
2. The difference in temperature on a tile-clad surface is related to the thermal properties of an overall
structure, which could reveal its degree of damage.
3. Under certain ambient conditions, buildings with
debonded render or ceramic tiles filled with air or moisture emit differing amounts of infrared radiation. Using
the IR camera, the surface of such buildings can be rapidly
scanned and defective areas identified.
4. The debonded area filled with moisture or water
will lead to a lower surface temperature, while the
debonded area filled with air will lead to a higher surface
temperature during the heating transient stage or vice
versa during the cooling transient stage.
5. The approach proposed in this study is very effective for solving the problem of reflection and makes
it possible to interpret and analyze the thermographical
images with a high degree of accuracy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support from the Architectural Services Department of
Hong Kong to HKUST (ASD 96/97 EG01). The advice
and assistance offered by Mr. W.M. Tang, Mr. K. Chung,
and Mr. A.R. Wilson during the course of this research
are also gratefully acknowledged. Acknowledgement is
also extended to the technical support of Materials and
Structure Laboratory of Civil Engineering and Advanced
Engineering Materials Facility.

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extrenal surfaces of concrete buildings and structures in Hong Kong
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2. A. Colantonio, Thermal performance patterns on solid masonry
exterior walls of historic buildings, SPIE 3056. Thermosense XIX,
87 (1997).
3. S.-A. Ljungberg, Infrared survey of fifty buildings constructed during 100 yearsthermal performances and damage conditions, SPIE
2473. Thermosense XVII, 36 (1995).
4. A. Colantonio, Air leakage effects on stone cladding panels, SPIE
2473. Thermosense XVII, 27 (1995).
5. M. D. Lyberg, M. Mattsson, and J. Sundberg, Detection of moisture
damage in buildings using thermography, SPIE 1313. Thermosense
XII, 100 (1990).