Application of infrared thermography in the analysis of pathological manifestations in a prison building

Abstract

Prison Buildings are in constant need of preventive, non-destructive inspections that can be carried out quickly. Thus, in order to avoid further damage to the construction element, a resource used by forensic engineering and appraisals is the indirect method of damage analysis, which allows investigation and/or analysis using non-destructive techniques, such as infrared thermography (IT) to identify pathological manifestations (PM).  In this context, the general objective of this work is to analyze the pathological manifestations in a prison building, highlighting the applicability of the use of IT in this type of building. The PM, visible and hidden damage was identified, classified and analyzed by construction system, pointing out their causes, origins and mechanisms, as well as recovery actions were proposed. The results showed that the greatest occurrence of PM is in the structural system, followed by the installations and the origin is due to design faults (especially in the roof) and in the electrical network, combined with a lack of maintenance and specific use of the building (damage caused by human action). The application of the IT technique in the investigation of PM contributed to the optimization of the investigation, such as the reduction in collection time, the discovery of PM and hidden damage. And it has allowed the internal movement of prisoners to be carried out without the need to deactivate the site being assessed. Future work should take into account the use of a more representative sample for specific damage caused by human action, such as research in prison units with a longer period of use.