Abstract Non-destructive testing plays an important role in areas where security requirements are important, such as nuclear, automotive, aviation, rail and particularly in civil engineering structures. The used techniques are various: ultrasound, X-ray, infrared and the choice of a particular method depends on the structure geometry, the material nature and the required accuracy. In this range of methods, thermal non-destructive control based on infrared thermography has the advantage to be well suited to auscultation of large structures without any contact with them and the results can be exploited immediately without any prior treatment. In this work, we present the results of simulations on non-destructive thermal characterization of a wall chimney having internal defects in form of cracks. In this application, the model is based on the finite element method. The influence of the size, position and nature of defects in the wall chimney are studied
