Non-Destructive Evaluation of the Penetrability and Thickness of the Concrete Cover

RILEM TC 189-NEC: State-of-the-Art Report May 2007

CHAPTER 10.

CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK

R. Torrent (1) and L. Fernndez Luco (2)

(1) Holcim Group Support Ltd., Im Schachen, CH-5113 Holderbank, Switzerland
(2) Instituto Eduardo Torroja de Ciencias de la Construccin, Serrano Galvache s/n, E-28033
Madrid, Spain
10.1 Conclusions
The main objective of RILEM TC 189-NEC "Non-destructive Evaluation of the Concrete
Cover" was the selection of suitable non-destructive test methods for the evaluation of the
thickness and quality of the concrete cover, in view of the durability of concrete structures.
The main findings and conclusions of the preceding chapters of this report will be
summarized in this Section.
Chapter 1: The lack of durability of a significant number of concrete structures is a matter of
concern for society and, in particular for those involved in or affected by the issue: owners
and users, builders, materials suppliers and designers as well as the public in general. The
classical (prescriptive-oriented) specification approach, still used in the majority of Codes and
Standards, has proved insufficient to cope effectively with the problem, particularly when
structures are exposed to severely aggressive environments.
There is a pressing need for performance-oriented specifications, based on the evaluation
of the penetrability and thickness of the concrete cover, which acts as a protective barrier
against the ingress of harmful substances. Attempts to move in that direction are gradually
taking place. Some of them, recognizing the impossibility of reproducing the characteristics
of the real covercrete in cast specimens, are based on non-destructive site tests or on
laboratory tests performed on cores drilled from the actual structural elements.
Chapter 2: Aggressive substances penetrate the concrete cover due to various mechanisms;
these are often idealized to suit well-known physical laws (Hagen-Poiseuille, Fick, NernstPlank, etc.). Nevertheless, the complexity of the problem, involving almost invariably more
than one mechanism at the time (as well as chemical processes), makes the application of
these laws difficult, often even under strictly controlled laboratory conditions.
In general, the parameters that describe the easiness with which substances penetrate the
covercrete (permeability, sorptivity, diffusivity, conductivity, etc.) are interrelated, albeit not
in a univocal manner. Hence, in this TC, the attempt is made to describe the penetrability of
the concrete cover by means of some of these parameters individually, through relatively
simple controlled laboratory tests, so-called Reference Tests.
Several laboratory (Reference) tests were successfully applied in the Comparative Test for
Penetrability (Chapter 8). Table 10.1 summarizes the tests applied and their response in
terms of their capability to detect differences in the penetrability of the various

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covercretes tested. A Successful Differentiation means that the difference in

penetrability has been correctly assessed, at a statistical significant level.
The very good performance of several of the applied Reference Methods indicates that
they can be used to describe and characterize the performance of different concrete mixes at
the laboratory level. Moreover, they can be used to measure the penetrability of site
concrete (by means of drilled cores), be it directly or as a backup for non-destructive test
methods.
Table 10.1 Performance of Reference Tests applied in the Comparative Test
Property
Measured

Test Method

Standard or
Recommendation

Successful
Differentiation

O2-Permeability

RILEM-Cembureau

RILEM TC 116-PCD

7 out of 7

Water Absorption

Fagerlund

RILEM TC 116-PCD

7 out of 7

Electrical
Resistivity

Reference Method

RILEM TC 154-EMC

6 out of 7

Chloride
Migration

Chloride Ion
Penetration

ASTM C1202-97

7 out of 7

Chloride
Migration

NT Diffusivity

NT BUILD 492:1999

7 out of 7

O2-Permeability

Durability Index

South African
Approach

5 out of 5

Water Absorption

Durability Index

South African
Approach

3 out of 5

Chloride
Migration

Durability Index

South African
Approach

5 out of 5

Chapters 3, 4 and 5: A thorough survey of available non-destructive test methods, designed to

measure the penetrability of the concrete cover on site, revealed the situation summarized in
Table 10.2.

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Table 10.2 Penetrability Site Tests Identified

Main
Mechanism

Test Method

Autoclam*
Figg-Poroscope*
Germann GGT*
Parrott*
Gas
Paulmann
Permeability
Schnlin
Torrent Permeability Tester* #
TUD
Zia-Guth
Autoclam*
Water
Figg-Poroscope*
Sorptivity
Germann GWT*
ISAT* #
Autoclam*
Water
Florida Permeability Test*
Permeability
Electrical Resistivity (4-Point)* #
Electrical Resistivity (2-Point)*
Ion Migration Electrical Resistivity (Disc)*
Permit*
Whiting Method
#
* Commercially Available
Standardized

Applied in
Comparative Test
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
-

In brief, 20 methods were identified, out of which 15 currently available on the market,
with 3 of them covered by national standards. Seven of these methods were applied in the
Comparative Test, described in Chapter 8.
Chapter 6: Almost all transport mechanisms taking place in concrete are affected, to a greater
or lesser extent, by the degree of water saturation of the pores, and by the temperature. For the
Reference Tests performed in the laboratory, specimens are preconditioned with respect to
moisture content and temperature (see Section A.4 for details on the preconditioning regimes
used in the Comparative Test), in order to control the influence of those factors. When dealing
with site testing methods, such control is almost impossible (this includes any attempt to
control drying or saturation of concrete on site), which hinders their application.
Table 10.3 summarizes the effect of an increase of Temperature or Moisture Content on
the measured Penetrability (P) of concrete.

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Table 10.3 Influence of an Increase of Temperature or Moisture

on concretes Penetrability P
Transport
Mechanism
Gas
Permeability
Water
Sorptivity
Water
Permeability
Electrical
Resistivity

Influence of Temperature
Rating
Effect on P

Influence of Moisture Content

Rating
Effect on P

Minor

Reduction

Significant

Reduction

Moderate

Increase

Significant

Reduction

---

None

Significant

Increase

Moderate

Reduction

Significant

Increase

The on-site determination of temperature and moisture content of the covercrete is not
easy, particularly of the latter. An accurate and reliable instrument to measure the moisture
content of concrete on site is needed. The Autoclam NDT system and the Parrott method rely
on the measurement of the relative humidity in a cavity drilled into the covercrete, to assess
whether the conditions are adequate for getting meaningful results. The Torrent method relies
on a compensation of effects, based on the combined measurement of air permeability and of
electrical resistivity, given their opposite response to the influence of moisture content (in
terms of measured penetrability).
Chapter 7: In the recurrent case of deterioration due to steel corrosion, the thickness of the
concrete cover is as important as (if not more than) the penetrability. A decrease of 10%
(i.e. of the order of 5 mm usually) in the cover thickness would lead to a reduction of 20%
(some 10 years for a 50-years service life design) in the service life of a structure1.
The non-destructive techniques to detect the location of steel bars and assess their diameter
and cover thickness have experienced a silent yet significant development. Last generation
covermeters, mostly based on the eddy-current technique, can detect the location and
estimate the diameter and cover thickness of single re-bars with high accuracy. This accuracy
is impaired by the presence of neighbouring bars (e.g. meshes) or by special arrangements of
bars (lapped or paired bars).
Five commercial covermeters were tested in the Comparative Test, with results that indicate
the potential of most of them to evaluate the thickness of the concrete cover on site effectively
and accurately (see Chapter 9).
Chapter 8: The Comparative Test of non-destructive instruments and procedures to measure
the penetrability of the concrete cover, was designed to evaluate the capability of those
instruments to detect differences in the penetrability of various concrete covers and the
degree of correlation they showed with Reference laboratory Tests. The results of the

Assuming that the penetration rate of the aggressive substance relates to the square root of time

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Comparative Test are summarized in Table 10.4. A Successful Differentiation means that
the difference in penetrability has been correctly assessed, at a statistical significant level.
Table 10.4 also shows some practical aspects, such as duration of the tests and impact on
the concrete surface.
Table 10.4 Performance of different Penetrability test methods applied in the
Comparative Test
Transport mechanism

Aspect

Methods Autoclam
Air *

Successful Differentiation

Water
Electrical
Sorptivity Resistivity

Gas Permeability

5/7

Correlation coefficient R# 0.67 (0.90)

HongParrot

Torrent

Autoclam
Sorptivity*

Wenner

5/7

6/7

6/7

5/7

0.92

0.97

0.47

0.83

Measurements per test

condition

20

Duration per test

condition [min]

69

120

99

69

14

9x6

4 x 20

9x6

Surface Impact: No. holes

x diameter [mm]
#

Correlation with Reference Test for the same transport mechanism

* The results of the Autoclam Test might have been affected by the RH of the concretes
exceeding 80%, maximum recommended for performing the measurements with this
instrument.

The figure in brackets is the R value resulting after removal of one outlier result

The results of the Comparative Test show that several methods capable of differentiating
the penetrability of the concrete cover on site in a statistical significant manner are
available. Furthermore, some of them (in particular the methods based on the measurement of
gas permeability and of electrical resistivity) correlate very well with corresponding
Reference Tests performed on drilled cores. Moreover, the methods are practical (the required
number of tests to assess a test area take between 15 and 120 minutes to be performed) and
leave no or just cosmetic damage onto the surface of the concrete elements.
Chapter 9: The results of the Comparative Test of non-destructive instruments to measure the
thickness of the concrete cover are summarized in Table 10.5.
The % of success indicates the amount of bars (in percentage of the total embedded in the
concrete elements) that were correctly located and for which the cover depth was assessed
within 10% of the actual depth (measured directly on a sawn cross section of the elements).
The bias is the average value of d (d = estimated depth - real depth); and the variability is the
standard deviation of d.

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The values in Table 10.5 are the average for all the slabs tested and refer to the experiment
when the diameter of the bars and approximate location were known. The embedded bars had
diameters of 12 and 16 mm.
Table 10.5 Performance of different covermeters applied in the Comparative Test
Instrument
Performance

Hilti Profometer Profometer Protovale

CM9#
FS10*
4*
5

Protovale
CM52#

% Success ( 10%)
Cover depth < 40 mm
% Success ( 10%)
Cover depth 40-85 mm
Bias (mm)

100

100

100

100

100

50

38

82

88

100

3.5

-3.3

-0.9

1.1

-1.1

Variability (mm)

6.8

7.2

2.7

1.6

1.8

* Instruments not operated by the manufacturers

#

Instruments operated by a team of two persons

The results of Table 10.5 show that the performance of the instruments, in terms of their
capability of accurately assessing the thickness of the concrete cover was very good; it was
particularly perfect for the case of shallower depths (< 40 mm), which is actually the most
critical case for poor durability. For deeper cover depths, just one instrument (Protovale
CM52) reached a perfect response, although the performance of Protovale CM9 and
Profometer 5 was also very good. The response of the other 2 instruments for deeper depths
was rather poor.
10.2

Overall Conclusions

The overall conclusions of the work of TC 189-NEC are the following:

Instruments to measure the penetrability of the concrete cover accurately, in a relatively
short time and with no or just slight damage to the concrete surface, are readily available
on the market

The best performing on-site techniques seem to be those based on air-permeability and
electrical resistivity which in the Comparative Test - on top of their good differentiation
capability showed very good correlations with the corresponding Reference Tests

This opens good perspectives for their use as durability indicators, both for specification
and compliance control purposes

Present attempts to control and/or compensate the influence of external factors such as
temperature and moisture content, although partly successful, seem still insufficient to
cope with the problem effectively, particularly under extreme external conditions

Instruments to measure the thickness of the concrete cover accurately, in a relatively short
time and without damage to the concrete surface, are readily available on the market

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These instruments proved capable of measuring accurately ( 10%) the thickness of

relatively shallow covers (< 40 mm). For deeper covers, the type of instrument made a
difference

The pressing durability issue requires that the potentialities of both sets of instruments
(penetrability testers and covermeters) are utilized more widely and intensively to
improve the service life of concrete structures

A perfect solution cannot be waited for; most likely it will never be found. What is
needed is a swift action to apply the scientific knowledge already amassed, with sound
and realistic engineering judgement, into practice. An imperfect solution that is better than
what we have today would still mean a significant step towards the goal of more durable
concrete construction.

10.3

Further Work

During the development of the work of TC 189-NEC, knowledge gaps were found that
would require more research, development and application work:
1. More experimental data, recorded on site, on the variability of the durability indicators
(permeability, sorptivity, resistivity, etc.) is needed, in order to substantiate any attempt to
develop specifications and compliance control procedures which, inevitably will have to
include sound statistical principles. In particular, the level and variability of the indicators
for structures where the Codes and Standards principles of control - regarding concrete
quality and concreting practices - were rigorously observed should serve as targets to be
set in the future. Concrete producers and/or contractors unable to reach those targets will
have to pay the penalty of using more expensive mixes to compensate for their belowstandard practices.
2. Although the results of the Comparative Tests indicate that the performance of the NDT
instruments to measure the penetrability of the concrete cover was satisfactory, it was
one step behind the performance of the Reference Tests (compare last column of Table
10.1 with third row of Table 10.4). This opens room for further improvement in the
instruments themselves but, perhaps more important, in the way they are applied. Better
user guidelines for calibration and operation procedures, as well as for number of readings
required to achieve a successful differentiation and for interpretation of results, will result
in a more efficient and reliable utilization of those instruments.
3. More robust ways to deal with the application of the penetrability site tests under
unfavourable conditions of temperature and moisture content of the concrete are still
badly needed.
4. NDT methods capable to accurately measure the moisture content of the covercrete are
still missing. If and when available, they will make an important contribution to point 3
5. The Comparative Test suggested that the performance of the NDT instruments to measure
the thickness of the concrete cover may depend to a considerable extent on the skills of
the operators. Although the issue is partly covered by British Standard BS 1881:204
(dating from 1988), updated and more detailed guidelines are required for a more robust

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and accurate use of the last generation covermeters. The guidelines should include ways
to cope as best as possible with the effect of complex re-bar patterns
Finally, the creation of a new RILEM TC, tentatively named PSD Performance-based
Specification and Control of Durability, is strongly recommended to continue the work of
TCs 189-NEC and 116-PCD. The subject matters of the new TC could be:
a) Establish guidelines for the specification of the penetrability and thickness of the
concrete cover as function of the exposure conditions and designed service life, and for its
compliance control through suitable site tests (NDT and/or drilled cores)
b) Draft detailed recommendations for the application of such suitable test methods
Some hints on the possible tasks to be tackled by the new TC are:

Definition of the scope of the TC Work (approach level, complexity, durability indicators,
deterioration phenomena/exposure conditions, test methods, etc.)

Critical review of existing approaches

Identification of suitable, sound and robust approaches

Preparation of State-of-the-Art report

Test of the selected approaches on at least two, if possible three, real cases of concrete
structures (different climates, if possible)

Evaluation of the results of the approaches

Definitive selection of suitable approaches

Final report with guidelines on suitable approaches and detailed recommendations on

suitable test methods, their proper use, scope and limitations

Organization of RILEM Workshop

208