NDT&E International 36 (2003) 195202 www.elsevier.

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Application of impact-echo technique in diagnoses and repair of stone masonry structures

Afshin Sadri*
Andec International Services Corporation, 124 Skyway Avenue, Toronto, Ont., Canada M9W 4Y9

Abstract The impact-echo technique is traditionally used to determine position of intermediate and large defects within concrete structures. In this paper, application of the impact-echo technique for assessment of bonding condition between the facing stones, mortar, and inner rubble core in stone masonry structures is discussed. In addition, results of eld testing on a historic Canadian stone masonry building is presented, which illustrates the capabilities of an impact-echo system to help with evaluating the structural stability of critical components, particularly the bonding conditions and presence of voids and cavities. q 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Non-destructive testing; Impact-echo; Stone masonry Structures; AndeScope

1. Introduction There is an increasing demand for ongoing structural maintenance and repair for aging and deteriorated old stone masonry structures around the world. Historic and heritage stone masonry structures, unless upgraded in the last twenty years, were designed and built in the last couple of centuries with specications suitable for the times. In particular, bridges should be assessed to evaluate their performance under heavier modern terric loads. For buildings, elements such as weathering, water inltration, and in some cases exposure to de-icing chemicals results in deterioration and ultimately, structural failure. An evaluation assessment program for maintenance, repair and retrot work of stone masonry structures should preferably be non-destructive, non-intrusive, and cost and time efcient. Among various non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques, impact-echo described by Sansalone and Streett [1] is suitable for integrity evaluation of stone masonry structures since it can provide information about the internal bonding conditions, and the presence of voids and discontinuities. In order to verify the effectiveness of the impact-echo technique as a tool for repair of these structures, a preliminary investigation was carried out on an exterior bay wall and the adjacent buttress of a stone masonry building. The AndeScope, a concrete stress wave NDT
* Tel.: 1-416-213-8000; fax: 1-416-213-8004. E-mail address: asadri@andec.ca (A. Sadri).

device, was used to perform the impact-echo tests. The tests were carried out on selected external masonry stones. In the case of the bay wall, the tests were conducted only on the single available face, but in the case of the adjacent buttress, both faces were tested. The frequency responses from the impact-echo signals were used to determine presence of defects or the condition of bonding between various elements.

2. Background 2.1. Stone masonry structure The subject of this study is the stone masonry structure, which consists of a stone masonry inner wall, a stone masonry outer wall and a number of stone masonry buttresses. The main concerns are primarily related to the outer wall and the buttresses. The outer wall and the buttresses are the elements which have been most exposed to extreme weather conditions, water inltration, as well as exposure to de-icing chemicals, and whose internal condition is not fully known or understood. The outer ring wall is approximately 1200 mm thick at the grade level, reducing to about 850 mm above the main oor level. It is of random rubble construction built in courses. The outer face of the wall is squared and bedded in mortar, the inner face being built up of coursed random rubblework, which was grouted up as the work progressed. The outer buttresses are between 1800 and 2500 mm thick

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lled with rubble and mortar. The exterior wythes are faced sandstone with an inner rubble core. The major structural concern is related to the integrity of the inner core condition of the stonewall and buttresses, and the presence or absence of a structural connection between the face masonry and the central core. 2.2. Impact-echo technique The impact-echo NDT technique was used in order to characterize the condition of a selected wall and buttress in this structure. This testing technique is based upon a simple concept: a mechanical impact is generated on the surface of the test object, and the surface displacements close to the impact point are measured. The principle stress wave monitored in this technique is the P-wave, which propagates into the object and undergoes multiple reections between the test surface and the internal defects or the opposite boundary of the test object. The path length of reected Pwaves is twice the distance from the surface to the internal defect, 2T. Hence, the travel time, t, between the successive arrivals of reected P-waves relies on the P-wave velocity, CP ; and is computed by the following equation: t 2T CP 1

The resulting time domain signal can be converted to the frequency domain by using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Eq. (2) can be re-written into the following format: T

bCp 2f p

Frequency analysis has been the recommended method for interpreting the results of impact-echo tests. Peaks in the amplitude spectrum can be readily converted to the depth of the reecting interfaces. A spectral peak plotting technique is usually used to construct an image of the interior of the test object. For accurate detection of defects and thickness, shape condition of the structures, b, must be taken into consideration. In this study, a value of 0.96 for plate like structures [1] was used as a correction value for the shape of the wall and buttress. 2.3. Instrumentation The AndeScope is a computerized stress wave testing system with frequency spectral analysis capabilities particularly designed for applications in civil infrastructures. The AndeScope operates in three stress wave NDE modes: ultrasonic through-transmission, ultrasonic pulse-echo, and impact-echo. In this project, the impact-echo testing mode of the AndeScope was used. Fig. 1 shows the AndeScope stress wave testing system.

By monitoring the vertical surface displacements caused by the arrival of the multiple P-wave reections (echoes), the depth of the reecting surface can be determined. Generally speaking, the impact-echo test system is composed of three components: an impact source, a receiving transducer, and a waveform analyzer, which is used to capture the transient output of the transducer, to store the digitized waveforms, and to perform the signal analysis. The contact time (duration), tc ; and the time history of the impact is critical in determining the depth and size of internal defects which can be detected; the contact time determines the frequency of the stress pulse. As a general rule, the highest frequency component with signicant amplitude has a frequency value that is approximately equal to the inverse of the contact time, and the shortest wavelength (wave speed divided by maximum frequency) has to be approximately equal to or less than the dimension of the smallest aw to be detected. The receiving transducer must be broadband so that it will respond over a wide range of frequencies. This is a low frequency approach, which is the main reason why it has the potential to be successfully used in the inspection of large, heterogeneous structures such as concrete and stone masonries. However, the complex waveforms make the time domain analysis difcult and impractical. The periodical arrival of P-waves on the surface can be expressed in frequency by the following equation: t 1 fp 2

3. Test procedure The impact-echo testing was carried out on both sides of the selected buttress. An electronically controlled, mechanical impactor having a 1.25 cm diameter spherical tip was used for generating the stress wave signals. A vertical displacement broadband piezoelectric transducer with a maximum sensitivity range of 200 150 kHz was used as the receiver. The distance between the source and the receiver was 5 7 cm throughout the testing procedures. Fig. 2 describes the relationship between the impact source and the receiver. In each station, the nal signal was the resulting average of ten waveforms, taken from the center of each stone. A band pass lter was used to enhance the signal to noise ratio for each signal. The signal resolution was kept constant throughout the data collection procedure using a sampling rate of 100 kHz and 1024 data points for each station. It should also be mentioned that using the 100 kHz sampling rate and 1024 sampling numbers, the position of defects are calculated within ^ 5 cm. This resolution can be improved by increasing the sampling rate to higher values. However, the drawback of using higher sampling rate and data numbers is the sensitivity of the test setup for detection of high frequency components of the signal, creating a difcult environment for later interpretations.

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Fig. 1. The AndeScope.

The signals were captured and stored in the AndeScope for further analysis. Because of the complexity of the structure and its constituent materials, at each point, an average P-wave velocity was computed. To average the overall P-wave velocity of the buttress, the results of impact-echo testing on three selected stations of known

thickness with minimum to no internal defects were selected and the computed P-wave velocities from each station, computed based on Eq. 3, were averaged. Knowing the Pwave velocity for testing stations, the position of the anomalies could be calculated from the surface using Eq. 3. Fig. 3 shows the impact-echo testing on the buttress.

Fig. 2. The relationship between the source and the receiver.

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Fig. 3. The impact-echo testing on the buttress.

The results from the impact-echo testing indicate the areas of bonding and non-bonding. In the following classication, bonding is referred to the overall compaction and solidication of the buttress. The quality of buttress bonding is reduced based on increasing presence voids, defects, discontinuities and honeycombing. To be more

specic, the results were classied as: very good bonding (VGB), fair bonding (FB), poor bonding (PB), and very poor bonding (VPB). The schematic drawing in Fig. 4 shows the test set-up in relation to the buttress thickness. When there is no grouting behind the masonry, the entire signal will reect back from the stone/grout interface. Hence, the maximum peak amplitude in the frequency spectrum indicates the thickness of the stone masonry. Presence of voids, discontinuities and honeycombs within the core will result in reection frequencies with lower values than reections from stone/ grout interface. Presence of voids and discontinuities can be identied based on high amplitude peaks in the frequency spectra between reections from the thickness frequency and the stone/grout interface frequency. In the case that there are very large voids and discontinuities, larger than the longest wavelength, the entire signal reects back from the defect, hence there is no thickness frequencies in the resulting frequency spectrum and the position of the defect can be calculated using Eq. 3. The presence of voids and discontinuities can also be veried when the amplitude and value of the thickness frequency is lower than the results obtained from the sound portion of the buttress. Nevertheless, there are no certain ways to distinguish presence of voids or discontinuities, since the reections occur from the surface that causes drastic changes in material properties. However, honeycombing can be distinguished in the frequency spectra from single discontinuities and voids. The honeycombing is identied when in the frequency spectra multiple peak frequencies at closed range appear between the thickness frequency and the stone/grout interface frequency. Finally, it is important to qualify the bonding condition for the constituent of the structure. To qualify the bonding conditions, the peak frequencies between the thickness and reected anomalies are compared. In case, the frequency amplitude for the full thickness is smaller than the defect peak frequency, it indicates that

Fig. 4. Schematic drawing of the buttress and the test set-up.

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Fig. 5. Frequency spectrum from SB7, very poor bonding.

not much of the energy is passed through the structure and most of the impact energy is reected from the anomaly. On the other hand, if the signal reections from the opposite side of the structure are stronger or equal to the internal reections, it indicates that the bonding is good or fair. Fig. 5 is an example of the frequency spectrum taken from a point with VPB between the stone masonry face and the rest of the buttress. In this case, the dominant peak frequency in the spectrum at 6054 Hz is generated from the stone masonry/grout boundary. A smaller peak amplitude at 1172 Hz is generated from the multiple reections from the back of the buttress. The result at this station indicates that most of the signal is reecting from the stone/grout interface. Part of the stress wave signal reaches the opposite side of the buttress. However, since the thickness

frequency is very low in amplitude, it indicates that the amount of energy reaching the opposite side of the buttress is very small. In this situation the bonding is classied as very poor. Fig. 6 shows another example of a frequency spectrum collected from PB in the buttress. A frequency value at 878 Hz indicates that the stress wave reaches the opposite side of the buttress, however, the numerous frequency peaks between 5100 and 7200 Hz indicates presence of small voids and honeycombing behind the stone masonry face. This spectrum also indicates the presence of voids and cavities within the main core. Fig. 7 shows an example of a frequency spectrum collected from a FB in the buttress. In this case, there are multiple reections from the opposite side of the buttress

Fig. 6. Frequency spectrum from M8, poor bonding and presence of honeycombing.

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Fig. 7. Frequency spectrum from M13, fair bonding, but presence of voids within the core.

giving a 1269 Hz peak, which is high in amplitude. This indicates that a substantial part of the stress wave reaches the opposite side of the buttress. The maximum peak in the spectrum at 5273 Hz is a result of reections from the top surface of a defect within the core. The smaller higher frequency values after the maximum peak are generated from the stone masonry/grout boundary and within the face stone. Fig. 8 shows an example of a VGB throughout the buttress. The maximum peak frequency in the spectrum is generated from the multiple reections between the testing surface and the opposite side of the buttress. Most of the stress wave passes through various layers in the buttress without major reection. In this case, the bonding between the stone masonry and the grout is also good in a way that the contrast cannot be picked up.

The average P-wave velocity in the buttress and wall was 3000 m/s. It was interesting to see that the average P-wave velocity at the top of the structure was 2800 m/s, but at the base, the average P-wave velocity increased to 3300 m/s. This increase in P-wave velocity could be explained by deterioration of the core materials on the top and accumulation of denser and larger materials at the base of the structure. The average thickness for the facing sandstones was found to be 0.13 m. The thickness of the facing stones were not constant; in some cases the sandstones were found to be as thick as 0.2 m. The presence of voids and discontinuities were detected within the main core of the buttress and the wall. Because of diversities in material properties, it is very difcult to accurately compute position of defects within these structures, however,

Fig. 8. Frequency spectrum from N19, very good bonding.

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Fig. 9. Classication of stone masonry buttress based on impact-echo results.

the impact-echo technique was very useful for outlining the problematic area for further repairs. Fig. 9 shows the impact-echo data classied based on presence of voids, discontinuities, and bonding quality. For data interpretation, variation in P-wave velocity was not a determining factor in this study. The main focus was quality determination of signals reecting from the opposite face of the structure, presence of multiple or single peak frequencies reected from different positions within the structure, and the distribution of reected signals in terms of energy.

and quality of one selected buttress and wall in a stone masonry structure. A random selection of masonry stones were tested using the AndeScope, a low frequency stress wave inspection system. The testing points were classied in ve categories: very good bonding, good bonding, fair bonding, poor bonding, and very poor bonding. Using an average P-wave velocity from each testing point, the positions of discontinuities were quantitatively determined. The following conclusions were reached as a result of this preliminary study: The majority of the testing points illustrate PB throughout the structure. In some cases, the severity of damage is extended inside the masonry stone. The external stones are also fractured internally. This was veried on the top of the buttress, where the total length of the buttress was

4. Discussions and conclusions Among the various stress wave NDE techniques, impact-echo was used for the determination of integrity

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exposed and multiple reections were detected from their internal cracks. The local zones of high and low quality bonding are identiable by impact-echo testing. The position of discontinuities is detectable based on the average P-wave velocity computed at each point. Based on the comparison between the P-wave velocities through out the structure, the lower portions contain denser materials. In almost all cases, the thickness of masonry stones was easily calculated.

consistency of overall material properties of the testing object. In case of this project, since the material constituents of the buttress were not consistent, we focused our efforts on qualifying overall condition of the buttress and not detection of the defects. Where the material consistency is even throughout the testing object, detection and accurate location of defects would be the primary objective. The results of this inspection suggest that in complex situations, impact-echo can be used for preliminary quality assessment of stone masonry structures. Impact-echo testing can also be used in later projects to monitor repairs and grouting procedures.

In general, the impact-echo technique can be used as a tool for evaluating the integrity of the bonding and detection of voids in stone masonry structures. Even though, impact-echo technique can be used for detection and location of defects in the stone masonry structures the accuracy of positioning defects relays very much in

Reference
[1] Sansalone MJ, Streett WB. Impact-echo: nondestructive evaluation of concrete and masonry. Ithaca, NY: Bullbrier Press; 1997. p. 339.