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Volume 13 | Issue 7 | Year 2026 | Article Id. IJCE-V13I7P101 | DOI : https://doi.org/10.14445/23488352/IJCE-V13I7P101

Tomographic Terahertz (THz) Wave Based Image Reconstruction for Subsurface Crack Identification in Civil Infrastructure Buildings

Surajit Mohanty, Subhendu Kumar Pani, Suvendu Tripathy, Achyutananda Rout, Rajeev Agarwal, Sunita Dalei

Received Revised Accepted Published
19 Mar 2026 01 Jun 2026 19 Jun 2026 29 Jul 2026

Citation :

Surajit Mohanty, Subhendu Kumar Pani, Suvendu Tripathy, Achyutananda Rout, Rajeev Agarwal, Sunita Dalei, "Tomographic Terahertz (THz) Wave Based Image Reconstruction for Subsurface Crack Identification in Civil Infrastructure Buildings," International Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 1-14, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488352/IJCE-V13I7P101

Abstract

Detection of cracks in civil infrastructure buildings at an early age is very much important to give these structures structural safety, serviceability and long life. Traditional Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods, which include visual inspection, ultrasonic testing and infrared thermography, are usually limited to detect concealed or near-surface defects especially on heterogeneous building materials. This paper introduces a Terahertz (THz) wave-based imaging technology to be able to detect and identify subsurface cracks in civil infrastructure buildings non-invasively. Thanks to the capacity of poring non-metallic materials, including concrete, masonry, and composites, THz imaging allows detecting internal discontinuities of high resolution without being in physical contact or preparing the surface. The suggested framework combines THz time-domain imaging and improved signal processing and image reconstruction algorithms to improve the visibility of cracks and depth discrimination. The test studies done on model building materials show that the THz system has the potential to identify the existence of both micro- and macro-level under-surface cracks which cannot be detected by other conventional methods. The findings suggest that THz wave based imaging has a high potential as an intelligent, non-destructive assessment instrument of early damage and structural health monitoring of civil infrastructure buildings.

Keywords

Terahertz imaging, Civil infrastructure buildings, Structural Health Monitoring, Subsurface crack detection, Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, Non-Destructive Testing.

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