Lecture 13

Non-Destructive Testing of Concrete

Rebound Hammer
Probe Penetration
Pull out Test
Break-off Test

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

What is NDT / NDE ?

Test methods which measure physical

properties in place or can be used to detect
flaws, and cause no significant structural
damage to concrete
Non-destructive vs. Semi-destructive tests

Some test methods may cause minor damage

like drilled cores, load testing, pin penetration,
break off and pull off tests
These are considered semi-destructive

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

NDT / NDE

Obtain the properties

of concrete in-situ
Primarily, all engineers
need some estimate of
strength
Other parameters also
can be identified

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Other advantages of NDT

Member dimensions
Location of cracking, delamination, and
debonding
Degree of consolidation, and presence of voids
and honeycomb
Steel reinforcement location and size
Corrosion activity of reinforcement
Extent of damage from freezing and thawing,
fire, or chemical exposure
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Why Non-Destructive Testing ?

Determine the suitability of the structure to

serve its intended functions
Be able to predict the performance without
being invasive
Invasive techniques are location specific and
expensive
Invasive techniques can cause further
damage to the structure
Invasive techniques do not often allow
examination of large areas
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Why Non-Destructive Testing ?

Concrete in actual structures may exhibit a

different behavior than the lab-tested ones
how do we know if the tested material is
similar to the one in service?

Specimen preparation issues in site and the

concreting for the structure
Curing procedures between specimen and the
structure
Size effects
Laboratory testing anomalies
Sample uniformity
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Application of NDT

Both new and old structures

New structures

Quality control
Dispute resolution about the material /
construction quality

Old / Existing structures

Adequacy of load carrying capacity

Age related material distress

Load related overload
Construction quality related
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Typical situations when NDT is

useful - I

quality control of pre-cast units or construction in

situ
removing uncertainties about the acceptability of
the material supplied owing to apparent noncompliance with specification
confirming or negating doubt concerning the
workmanship involved in batching, mixing,
placing, compacting or curing of concrete
monitoring of strength development in relation to
formwork removal, cessation of curing,
prestressing, load application or similar purpose
location and determination of the extent of cracks,
voids, honeycombing and similar defects within a
concrete structure
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Typical situations when NDT is

useful - II

determining the concrete uniformity, possibly

preliminary to core cutting, load testing or other
more expensive or disruptive tests
determining the position, quantity or condition of
reinforcement
increasing the confidence level of a smaller
number of destructive tests
determining the extent of concrete variability in
order to help in the selection of sample locations
representative of the quality to be assessed
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Typical situations when NDT is

useful - III

confirming or locating suspected deterioration of

concrete resulting from such factors as
overloading, fatigue, external or internal chemical
attack or change, fire, explosion, environmental
effects
assessing the potential durability of the concrete
monitoring long term changes in concrete
properties
providing information for any proposed change of
use of a structure for insurance or for change of
ownership.
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Situations where NDT can be used

to investigate the homogeneity of concrete mixing

to determine the density and strength of concrete in a
structure
to determine the location of reinforcing bars and the
cover over the bars
to determine the extent of defects such as corrosion
to determine the location of in-built wiring, piping,
ducting, etc.
to determine whether internal defects such as voids,
cracks, delaminations, honeycombing, lack of bonding
with reinforcing bars, etc. exist in concrete
to determine if there is a bond between epoxy bonded
steel plates and concrete members.
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Summary of NDT Methods

See attached sheets

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Schmidt Hammer / Rebound

Hammer (ASTM C 805)

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Schmidt Hammer

Based on the same

principle of why a
superball bounces
Mainly tests the
surface hardness of
concrete, then related
to strength
Fundamentally a
complex problem of
impact loading and
stress-wave
propagation
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Schmidt Hammer
Springs stretched
Hammer released

Hammer
Impacts
And
Plunger
Rebounds
Indicator
Records
rebound

Rebound number
10 to
100
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair,
and Strengthening

Some things to note

Can be used in horizontal, vertical or inclined

positions
Hammer should be perpendicular to the surface
under testing
Should develop a correlation between the rebound
number and the concrete being tested (the
aggregate type is very significant)
Higher rebound number, higher the strength
Dont rely too much on the calibration curve
supplied with the instrument
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Limitations of Rebound hammer - I

Near surface measurement will not get

properties of the core concrete
Smoothness of surface

Size, shape and rigidity of the surface

Surface has to be smooth, variations between methods

of surface finishing
If the concrete moves (cracking, poor surface) the
numbers are not reliable

Age of the specimen

Should not do on low strength concrete at early ages

the aggregate effect dominates and will get faulty
readings
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Limitations of Rebound hammer - II

Related to stiffness than strength

Surface and internal moisture conditions

Aggregate dependence
Type of cement

High rebound number for wet specimens than air cured

dry specimens
Presaturation preferred

High alumina cement shows higher strength

Supersulfated cement 50% lower than Type I

Carbonation of the surface

Carbonation increases surface density

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Rebound number-Strength
relationship

Guidebook on NDT for Concrete

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Rebound number-strength
relationship

Different types of gravel

as fine aggregate

Different types of
Coarse aggregates
Guidebook on NDT for Concrete

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Probe Penetration (Windsor probe)

Drives a probe into the

concrete with a known
amount of force
Another Impact test

James Instruments, Cement Assoc of Canada

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Probe penetration (ASTM C 803)

Shoots an alloy probe into concrete

6.3 mm dia, 79.5 mm length

Exposed length of the probe measured, and

related to the compressive strength of concrete
Much higher energy than rebound hammer
Influenced by the surface smoothness of the
concrete
Influenced by the presence of aggregates
Much larger damage area than the rebound
hammer
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Relating strength and penetration

depth

Hard
Aggregates

Soft
Aggregates

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Damage zone in probe penetration

Need to identify the

location of
reinforcing bars
since the probe will
be affected
Pin penetration
modified version of
the probe requires
less energy than the
probe

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Pullout Test (ASTM C 900)

Concrete subjected to
static loading unlike
Rebound hammer
and probe
penetration

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Pullout test

Measures the maximum force required to pull an

embedded metal insert with an enlarged head
from a concrete specimen or structure
Force is applied by a tension jack, or center-hole
ram, that reacts against the concrete surface
through a reaction ring concentric with the insert
A roughly cone-shaped fragment of the concrete is
extracted as the insert is pulled out
Diameter of the conic fragment d2 is determined
by the inner diameter of the reaction ring, and the
small diameter d1 is determined by the insert-head
diameter
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Pulled out specimens

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Advantages and Disadvantages

Produces a well-defined
fracture surface in the
concrete
Measures a static strength
property
Empirical relationships can
be developed between the
pullout strength and the
compressive strength of
the concrete

Pullout strength governed

by that portion of concrete
located next to the conic
frustum defined by the
insert head and the
reaction ring
Limited to new
construction insert has
to be embedded
The empirical relationship
is applicable to only the
particular test
configuration and concrete
materials used in the
correlation testing

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Break-off test (ASTM C 1150)

Measures the force

required to break off a
cylindrical core from a
larger concrete mass
The measured force and
a pre-established
strength relationship are
used to estimate the inplace compressive
strength

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Break-off test

Plastic sleeve inserted into fresh concrete to

form the core
Also, the test specimens can be prepared in
hardened concrete by using a special core
bit to cut the core and the counter bore
Can be used to evaluate concrete in both
new and existing construction

Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening

Break-off test procedure

Sleeve is removed and a special loading jack is placed into

the counter bore
A pump supplies hydraulic fluid to the jack that applies a
horizontal force to the top of the core
The reaction to the horizontal force is provided by a ring
that bears against the counter bore
The force on the core is gradually increased by operating
the pump until the core ruptures at its base
The hydraulic fluid pressure is monitored with a pressure
gage having an indicator to register the maximum pressure
achieved during the test
The maximum pressure gage reading in units of bars [1
bar = 0.1MPa (14.5 psi)] is called the break-off number of
the concrete.
Neithalath, Spring 2006, CE 455/555 Structural Damage: Assessment, Repair, and Strengthening