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Building Diagnostic Techniques and Building Diagnosis: The Way Forward

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-09507-3_74

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Building Diagnostic Techniques
and Building Diagnosis: The Way
Forward

A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

Abstract As buildings become old, their structural conditions deteriorate, causing

concerns of irreparable damage and structural safety. To address these concerns of
aged buildings, regular inspection and condition assessment for the purpose of
building diagnosis are required. The inspection may consist of visual inspection,
crack mapping, deflection measurement, settlement measurement, and observations
of signs of water leakage and steel corrosion, whereas the condition assessment
generally comprises of taking samples for materials testing, in situ measurement of
temperature, moisture, half-cell electrical potential, vibration and delamination, and
occasionally even continuous monitoring. However, in Hong Kong, not all of
the test and measurement methods are accredited and often different laboratories/
personnel follow different practices. Finally, building diagnosis has to be performed
to make a judgment on the overall structural condition in terms of expected residual
life and the repair needed. This requires good knowledge of structural engineering,
materials and testing. Hence, building diagnosticians should be recognised as
professionals of a special discipline, but this is not happening yet.

1 Introduction

There are lots of post-World War II buildings in Hong Kong that are already more
than 50 or even 60 years old. Most of the public housing blocks more than 40 years
old have been redeveloped and replaced by new ones, but many private buildings
more than 50 years old are still around. Relatively, because of dispersed ownership
and unwillingness of the owners to pay for maintenance, the conditions of private

A.K.H. Kwan
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
e-mail: khkwan@hku.hk
P.L. Ng (&)
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
e-mail: irdngpl@gmail.com

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 849

P.W. Tse et al. (eds.), Engineering Asset Management - Systems,
Professional Practices and Certification, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-09507-3_74
850 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

buildings are usually worse than those of public housing blocks at the same age.
The many dilapidated buildings in Hong Kong are giving people a shabby
impression of the city, albeit modern.
Depending on the maintenance provided, the conditions of old buildings could
vary widely and some old buildings are in very bad shape with obvious concrete
cracking, concrete spalling, steel corrosion, water leakage and excessive deflection
etc. In reality, the design life of common buildings is only 50 years and when
buildings come close to the end of their respective expected life span, the buildings
would start to have various health problems and in the worst case even terminal
diseases. The only way to ensure good health of a building is to provide proper
maintenance. Building maintenance, which could amount to more than HK
$100,000 per repair per dwelling unit, is quite costly; nonetheless, this is imperative
to the safety and serviceability of the building, and could reduce the rate of value
depreciation of the premise.
Building maintenance is not just for the purpose of avoiding health deterioration
of the buildings. In fact, it should also be viewed from public safety perspective.
We could imagine the disastrous consequence resulted from a piece of concrete
falling off from the wall of a multi-storey building onto a crowded street and hitting
a vehicle or pedestrian in the street. Fortunately no one has been killed from
incidents of such nature but this scenario is bound to happen sooner or later if we
keep ignoring the maintenance of old buildings in Hong Kong.
Before we plan our maintenance and repair works, building inspection and con-
dition assessment should be conducted for building diagnosis [10]. Building
inspection is more on the overall and general conditions, as can be directly observed
or measured. It may consist of visual inspection, crack mapping, deflection mea-
surement, settlement measurement, and observations of signs of water leakage and
steel corrosion. Condition assessment is more on detailed investigations and analysis.
It generally comprises of taking samples for materials testing, in situ measurement of
temperature, moisture, half-cell electrical potential, vibration and delamination, and
occasionally continuous monitoring of movement and water leakage.
In theory, both building inspection and condition assessment should be entrusted
to professionals with good knowledge and experience in materials and testing.
However, in reality, this is not the case probably because there are insufficient
professionals with adequate knowledge and experience. Moreover, the building
diagnostic tests should all be accredited, but actually some of the building diag-
nostic tests are not yet accredited. Different personnel adopt different practices
because there are no official guidelines established so far to regulate the perfor-
mance of tests. Some equipment operators, technicians and report writers might not
possess the expertise required. This situation has recently been steered to improve
with the introduction of the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) in
2012 [8]. The MBIS was launched following the enactment of amendments to the
Building Ordinance and Building (Inspection and Repair) Regulation in 2011.
Building Diagnostic Techniques … 851

Under the MBIS, the building inspection shall be carried out by Registered
Inspector (RI), who must be a learned person, as assessed and approved by the
Buildings Department to perform building inspection works. In tandem with
the MBIS, joint efforts need to be paid by the government, learned societies, and the
practitioners.
At the outset, we need to bear in mind that building diagnostic testing and
building diagnosis are not the same; the former is performing specific tests for
obtaining data for interpretation while the latter is interpreting the data so obtained
and making a judgment on the overall structural condition in terms of residual life
and the repair needed. Building diagnosis, which requires structural safety
appraisal, must be entrusted only to professionals with good structural sense.

2 Building Inspection

Visual inspection is the prime step of building inspection. Before the visual
inspection, the building and structural plans, and the construction and maintenance
records of the building should be obtained for preliminary study. During the visual
inspection, particular attention shall be paid to additions and alterations (whether
legal or illegal), the inspector should also identify the structural components and
non-structural components, observe the presence of cracks, record any signs of
water leakage and steel corrosion, tap at plasters, tiles and concrete surfaces to
detect delamination, check the straightness of structural members to detect exces-
sive deflection, and check the inclination of the building using a plumb line. All the
observed defects should be marked on drawings for detailed desk top study together
with the building and structural plans. At this stage, it may be necessary to liaise
with the building owner for more information. In order to avoid missing out traits
and information that are important to the ensuing investigations, the first visual
inspection must be led by an experienced professional.
Following the first visual inspection and the desk top study, further field inves-
tigation is required including crack mapping, measurements of deflection, settlement
and inclination, locating the possible sources of water leakage and a more thorough
survey of the identified defects. Some non-destructive test methods may be used for
a quick and preliminary appraisal. These include: covermeter survey of concrete
cover to steel rebars, ultrasonic pulse velocity tests for detecting voids and defects in
concrete, rebound hammer tests for rough estimation of concrete strength, impact
echo test for detecting delamination, infrared thermography for remote detection of
delamination and/or water leakage, and surface penetration radar for detecting
internal cracks and defects etc. An account of non-destructive testing and evaluation
of concrete structures was presented by Maierhofer et al. [14]. Brief description of
these non-destructive test methods is given in the following.
852 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

2.1 Covermeter Survey

The working principle of covermeter is based on electromagnetism. Electric current

in the coil winding of the probe generates a magnetic field which propagates
through the concrete and interacts with any metal buried therein, such as reinforcing
steel. The interaction causes a secondary magnetic field to propagate back to the
probe where it is detected by another coil, or in some instruments by modifying the
primary field. The signal received will increase with increasing rebar size and
decrease with increasing rebar distance (concrete cover). By making certain
assumptions about the rebar and specifically by assuming the presence of only one
rebar within the primary magnetic field, the instrument can be calibrated to convert
the intensity of signal to distance and hence the cover thickness. Reference is made
to British Standard BS 1881 Part 204 [5] for the guidelines of conducting cover-
meter survey. However, if there is more than one rebar within the range of the
primary field, the instrument will receive a greater signal and indicate a shallower
cover than the true cover. Some manufacturers claim that the size of the reinforcing
bar may be determined by the use of spacer blocks and associated in-built math-
ematical processing. Such methods work satisfactorily only where a single rebar is
present within the range of the probe. Therefore, the accuracy of covermeter
is mainly affected by grouped reinforcing bars of unknown bar sizes.

2.2 Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Test

In the ultrasonic pulse velocity test, the time of travel of an ultrasonic pulse through
the concrete structure is measured and the pulse velocity is determined by the
relation: pulse velocity = distance/time. As void and defects in the concrete prevent
direct passage of ultrasonic pulse owing to the existence of concrete-air interfaces,
the ultrasonic test can reveal internal defects of concrete such as the presence of
honeycombing at the interior. Besides, as there is positive relationship between
wave velocity and elastic modulus, as well as between elastic modulus and strength,
the ultrasonic velocity is able to reflect the concrete strength. Reference can be
made to British Standard BS EN 12504 Part 4 [6] and American Standard ASTM C
597 [1] for the guidelines of conducting the ultrasonic pulse velocity test. The
equipment and field work of the test are illustrated in Fig. 1.

2.3 Rebound Hammer Test

Rebound hammer test, or Schmidt hammer test, is a simple method to estimate the
in situ concrete strength. Guidelines for conducting the rebound hammer test can
be referred to British Standard BS EN 12504 Part 2 [7]. The hammer measures the
Building Diagnostic Techniques … 853

Fig. 1 Ultrasonic pulse velocity test

rebound of a spring loaded mass impacting against the surface of the concrete. The
rebound hammer has an arbitrary scale ranging from 10 to 100. Empirical corre-
lation was established between concrete strength and the rebound number. It should
be noted that the surface for testing should be grinded flat and smooth. When
conducting tests, the hammer should be held at right angles to the surface, because
the rebound reading can be affected by the orientation of the hammer. When used
on the underside of a suspended slab, gravity will increase the rebound distance of
the mass (vice versa for a test conducted on the top surface of a floor slab). Each
rebound hammer should be calibrated before use. The major drawback of rebound
hammer test is the limited accuracy. Even for calibrated hammers, the error of test
could be about 15 %; whereas for uncalibrated hammers, the accuracy is much
worse and the error can reach 30 %.

2.4 Impact Echo Test

In the impact echo test, a short-duration mechanical impact, produced by tapping a

small steel sphere against the concrete surface, generates low-frequency stress
waves (up to about 80 kHz) that propagate through the structure and are reflected by
flaws and/or external surfaces. Multiple reflections of these waves within the
structure excite local modes of vibration, and the resulting surface displacements
are recorded by a transducer located adjacent to the impact. The piezoelectric
crystal in the transducer produces a voltage proportional to the displacement, and
the resulting voltage-time signal (called a waveform) is digitized and transferred to
the memory of a computer, where it is transformed mathematically into a spectrum
of amplitude versus frequency. The dominant frequencies, which appear as peaks in
the spectrum, are associated with multiple reflections of stress waves within the
structure, or with flexural vibrations in thin or delaminated layers. The fundamental
equation of impact-echo is: depth of flaw = wave speed/frequency/2. The frequency
854 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

Fig. 2 Impact echo test

is obtained from the test as the dominant frequency of the signal, whereas the wave
speed should be measured prior to the test. Guidelines of conducting the impact
echo test can be referred to ASTM C 1383 [3]. Figure 2 depicts the schematic
diagram of and equipment for impact echo test.

2.5 Infrared Thermography

The use of infrared thermography (or abbreviated as IRT) in structural damage

assessment is one of the broad applications of thermal imaging. Thermographic
camera detects radiation in the infrared range and produce images of the radiation.
At the surface of concrete structure, regions with moisture trapping, water leakage,
concrete spalling, debonding of tiles, etc. emit different amount of infrared radia-
tion, and show up in the thermographic image by their different temperature
transmittance. The procedures to conduct IRT can be referred to the specific test
manual [11]. Examples of thermographic images are displayed in Fig. 3. The main
features of IRT are: free of contact by remote sensing, full-field examination of
large areas, poses no requirement of human accessibility, generation of real-time
images for rapid detection, compatibility with digital post-processing, and ability of
radiation to penetrate mist. On the other hand, the limitations of IRT include: (1) the
test is qualitative rather than quantitative; (2) only the surface is measured but not
the interior; (3) for delamination failure, the thickness of delamination cannot be
assessed; (4) the surface temperature can be altered by human activities and climatic
factors such as rain and wind; (5) the test is interfered by reflected solar radiation,
external shadings, shadows cast by nearby structures, and radiation from sur-
roundings; (6) thermal radiation is obstructed by the presence of objects between
the camera and detected surface; (7) test results are affected by the thickness of
rendering and services buried in the structure; (8) accuracy deteriorates with dis-
tance due to attenuation of thermal radiation; (9) viewing at large angle of elevation
introduces distortion to the image; and (10) difficulty in the interpretation of test
results arose from noise and variation in emissivity.
Building Diagnostic Techniques … 855

Fig. 3 Thermographic images from infrared thermography

2.6 Surface Penetration Radar

Surface penetration radar, or SPR, involves the propagation of pulses of electro-

magnetic waves in concrete structure, and these waves are reflected when they
encounter a material that has substantially different electrical properties (or
dielectric constants) from concrete. It allows determination of concrete cover,
spatial distribution of steel reinforcement, location of cast-in objects, and detection
of internal defects, where electrically contrasting layers exist (between concrete and
steel, or between concrete and air) and partial reflection of incident energy occurs at
the interface. The concrete cover or thickness can be determined via the propagation
856 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

velocity of the electromagnetic wave through the studied concrete, which is gov-
erned by the equation: propagation velocity through concrete = propagation
velocity in free space (i.e. 3 × 108 m/s)/√dielectric constant. The test procedures
using SPR are contained in the specific test manual [12]. Figure 4 illustrates the
usage of SPR. SPR has the merits of high accuracy and reliability, and the results of
SPR can be readily digitized and processed by visualization software to facilitate
the tracking of defects. On the other hand, there are limitations of SPR, including
limited depth of test concrete due to wave attenuation and dispersion, and inability
to cope with relatively conductive test surfaces such as very wet or saturated
concrete surface and concrete containing slag aggregate with high iron content.
The crack mapping and the non-destructive test results of structural components
should be sent to concrete experts for detailed study. There are many possible
causes of concrete cracking, such as plastic shrinkage, plastic settlement, early
thermal movement, temperature variation, sulphate attack, acid attack, alkali-silica
reaction, rebar corrosion, overloading, vibration and fire damage etc. and therefore
rigorous analysis by a real concrete expert is needed, as misunderstandings in
concrete cracking behaviour leading to false conclusions are commonplace in the
industry. For example, some engineers simply attribute the water leakage through
cracks in concrete to drying shrinkage of the concrete, without paying regard to the
false logic in claiming the concrete to be drying while there is water leakage.
Dependent on the situation, there may be a necessity to conduct some more tests
during the condition assessment to find out the exact causes of the cracks, because
the crack repair method is dependent on the causes of cracking.
The above-mentioned non-destructive tests should be carried out by an accredited
laboratory (in Hong Kong, the accreditation protocol is the Hong Kong Laboratory
Accreditation Scheme, or HOKLAS, operated by Hong Kong Accreditation Service,
or HKAS), which has these tests accredited (note that HOKLAS does not just
accredit a laboratory, it accredits also each individual test to be carried out by the
laboratory). This is a point of importance as some professionals may not be fully
aware of the operation mechanism of HKAS and HOKLAS, and they just accept test
certificates issued by an HOKLAS accredited laboratory without verifying whether
the laboratory has the specific tests accredited. Nevertheless, we do need to bear in

Fig. 4 Surface penetration radar survey

Building Diagnostic Techniques … 857

mind that some of the above-mentioned tests are quite new and have never been
accredited at all. As the way forward, standardization and accreditation of each test
are required.

3 Condition Assessment

Subsequent to the building inspection, a detailed plan for condition assessment

should be worked out. At the minimum, core samples should be taken from the
structural components (i.e. the walls, columns, beams and slabs) for concrete
strength tests, dry powder samples should be taken for chloride content tests, and
carbonation depth measurement should be carried out. Detailed description of the
testing and assessment methodology can be found in Bungey et al. [9]. For an overall
appraisal, the sampling locations should be representative of each environmental
condition (internal and external, facing the sea and facing the hill, normally dry,
normally wet and cyclically dry and wet etc.), each type of structural component
(wall, column, beam and slab) and each grade of concrete.
Past experience revealed that the strength of concrete in some old buildings
could be rather low and in extreme cases as low as only 5 MPa. When such low
concrete strength is encountered, a full structural checking of the load carrying
capacity of the building is required. Moreover, due probably to the use of sand
containing salt as fine aggregate in the concrete and the use of seawater for flushing
of toilets, the chloride content in the concrete could far exceed the permissible
limits. For buildings more than 30 years old, there is also a high probability that the
carbonation depth has reached beyond the embedded steel rebar surfaces. At
locations with high chloride content or large carbonation depth, resistivity and half-
cell electrical potential measurements should be carried out, as explained in the
following.

3.1 Carbonation Test

The carbonation test is to determine the carbonation depth. A phenolphthalein

solution is sprayed onto freshly exposed concrete surface (as phenolphthalein is
insoluble in water, ethanol is employed as the solvent). The solution turns pink
when pH > 8.6, and remains colourless when pH ≤ 8.6. The carbonation depth is
measured as the average depth of the colourless region, in which the alkalinity had
been neutralized by carbonation. Specification of the carbonation test was published
by the Hong Kong Housing Authority [13]. It should be noted that as de-passivation
of steel can take place at pH below 10.5, the carbonation test does not fully reflect
the extent of possible steel corrosion. Figure 5 shows the colour change of phe-
nolphthalein sprayed onto concrete.
858 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

Fig. 5 Carbonation test of concrete cores

3.2 Resistivity Measurement

As corrosion of steel is an electro-chemical process, the electrical resistance of the

concrete will cast influence on the corrosion rate. The lower is the electrical
resistance, the more readily the corrosion current flows through the concrete and the
greater is the probability of corrosion. This property is utilized in the non-
destructive testing of concrete structures by using a four-probe resistivity meter
(Fig. 6). Among the four probes, the two outer probes pass a current, and the inner
probes measure voltage difference. ASTM D 3633 has provided guidelines for
resistivity measurement [4].

3.3 Half-Cell Electrical Potential Measurement

As mentioned in the above, the corrosion of steel in concrete is an electro-chemical

process, similar to the reaction in a galvanic cell (i.e. a battery). The electro-
chemical reaction produces an electric current, which is measurable as an electric

Fig. 6 Resistivity measurement

Building Diagnostic Techniques … 859

field on the concrete surface. This potential field is measured with an electrode
known as half-cell, which is made up of a piece of metal in its own solution, e.g.
copper (Cu) in copper(II) sulphate (CuSO4) solution. By making measurements
over the whole concrete surface, distinction between corroding and non-corroding
locations can be identified; and by producing isopotential contour map of the
surface, different zones of varying degrees of corrosion can be demarcated.
Guidelines for conducting the half-cell electrical potential measurement can be
referenced to ASTM C 876 [2]. Figure 7 depicts the schematic diagram and field
work of half-cell electrical potential measurement. The drawbacks of using half-cell
potentiometer are as follows. Firstly, it requires small open-up into the concrete
member for the probe to be in contact with the embedded reinforcement. Secondly,
surface preparation of concrete is required. Thirdly, the results are largely depen-
dent on the effectiveness of electrical contact. Fourthly, the protective or decorative
coatings applied to concrete may introduce errors to the results. Finally, the
potentiometer makes no indication of the corrosion rate but only the probability that
corrosion is underway.
Generally, where there are high chloride contents, large carbonation depths or
signs of water leakage, resistivity measurement should be carried out (the resistivity
reflects the moisture condition because wet concrete has low resistivity whereas dry
concrete has high resistivity). High chloride content and/or large carbonation depth
coupled with high water content (low resistivity) would lead to a high potential of
steel corrosion. Half-cell electrical potential measurement may also help to identify
potential areas of steel corrosion. At such areas, concrete repair to replace the
concrete covers and restore passivity protection to the steel rebars, application of
coating to stop further ingress of moisture, chloride and carbon dioxide, and
injection of corrosion inhibitors may be advisable. In addition to the above, at
locations where large temperature variations are expected such as on the roof or near
the roof (related to thermal cracking), inside or outside cold storage (related to
condensation of water droplets on concrete surfaces) and concrete surfaces subjected
to strong sunshine (related to ageing of polymer and adhesives), measurement or
even continuous monitoring of temperature using thermal couples should be carried
out.

Fig. 7 Half-cell electrical potential measurement

860 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

Table 1 Test methods and reference standards for condition assessment

Test method Reference standard
Chloride content CS1: 2010 section 21
Core strength test CS1: 2010 section 15
Surface penetration radar HKCI: TM2
Half-cell potential ASTM C 876
Impact echo ASTM C 1383
Infrared thermography HKCI: TM1
Alkali silica reactivity ASTM C 856
Rapid chloride permeability CS1: 2010 section 19
Resistivity ASTM D 3633
Ultrasonic pulse velocity BS EN 12504-4, ASTM C 597
Covermeter BS 1881 Part 204
Phenolphthalein test (carbonation) HKHA MTS specification
Rebound hammer BS EN 12504-2
Tensile test of steel reinforcing bars CS2: 2012
Tensile test of structural steelworks BS 4360 or BS EN 10025

The various test methods and their reference standards are listed in Table 1.
These test methods are based on the British Standards, the European Standards, the
American Standards, the Hong Kong Construction Standards, and prevalent spec-
ifications and test method manuals in Hong Kong. Each test method has its own
limitations and thus several tests may be required. As there is a lack of prevailing
authoritative guidelines, the authors have come across some laboratories performing
the above tests without following any recognised standards or seeking accreditation,
and yet their reports were accepted. Moreover, the sampling rates and the accep-
tance criteria of some of these tests have remained a matter of engineering judg-
ment, leading to widely different practices by different diagnosticians or
laboratories. Apparently the development of universal guidelines to regulate the
building diagnostic tests is needed.

4 Building Diagnosis

Building diagnosis is not the same as building diagnostic testing. Even with all the
building diagnostic tests accredited and only well-trained or approved personnel
allowed to perform the accredited tests, there are still problems of how the test
results should be interpreted and how to make a judgment on the overall structural
condition, the residual life or the probability of achieving the designed working life,
and the repair needed. As an analogy, in medicine, diagnosis is the job of a medical
doctor, whereas diagnostic testing is the job of a medical laboratory. In building
inspection and maintenance, diagnosis is the job of professionals called building
Building Diagnostic Techniques … 861

diagnosticians, whereas diagnostic testing is the job of construction materials

testing laboratories.
Building diagnosis is a specialty by itself and building diagnosticians should be
recognised as professionals of a special discipline. This is not happening yet
because many people just claim themselves to be building diagnosticians without
making due regard to the high knowledge requirements of structural engineering,
materials and testing. Building diagnosticians should be professionally qualified
with good knowledge of structural engineering, materials and testing. Preferably,
building diagnosticians should also be able to carry out forensic investigations on
the probably causes of various defects in buildings, or alternatively, the building
diagnostician could refer to specialists when necessary.

5 Conclusions

The Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) for buildings in Hong Kong
has come into force, and in accordance with the scheme, the building inspection
works are entrusted only to Registered Inspectors (RI), who must possess the nec-
essary knowledge. Various test methods for building inspection and condition
assessment have been presented in this chapter, including covermeter survey,
ultrasonic pulse velocity test, rebound hammer test, impact echo test, infrared
thermography, surface penetration radar, carbonation test, resistivity measurement,
and half-cell electrical potential measurement. To ensure that the building diagnostic
tests are properly and reliably conducted, the tests must be carried out by an
accredited laboratory with the specific tests accredited. In this regard, the Hong Kong
Accreditation Service (HKAS) plays the important role of master control and to set a
reasonably high standard for accreditation. The Buildings Department also plays the
important role to enforce the requirements of accreditation and to administer the
MBIS. To enable the RIs to make good judgment as building diagnosticians,
guidelines and training are needed.

References

1. ASTM International (2009) ASTM C 597–09: standard test method for pulse velocity through
concrete. American Society for Testing and Materials, Pennsylvania
2. ASTM International (2009) ASTM C 876–09: standard test method for corrosion potentials of
uncoated reinforcing steel in concrete. American Society for Testing and Materials,
Pennsylvania
3. ASTM International (2010) ASTM C 1383–04(2010): standard test method for measuring the
p-wave speed and the thickness of concrete plates using the impact-echo method. American
Society for Testing and Materials, Pennsylvania
4. ASTM International (2012) ASTM D 3633–12: standard test method for electrical resistivity
of membrane-pavement systems. American Society for Testing and Materials, Pennsylvania
 862 A.K.H. Kwan and P.L. Ng

5. British Standards Institution (1988) BS 1881: testing concrete: part 204: recommendations on
the use of electromagnetic covermeters. BSI, London
6. British Standards Institution (2004) BS EN 12504: testing concrete: Part 4: determination of
ultrasonic pulse velocity. BSI, London
7. British Standards Institution (2012) BS EN 12504: testing concrete in structures: Part 2: non-
destructive testing—determination of rebound number. BSI, London
8. Buildings Department (2012) Code of practice for the mandatory building inspection scheme
and the mandatory window inspection scheme 2012. Buildings Department, Hong Kong,
p 101
9. Bungey JH, Millard SG, Grantham MG (2006) Testing of concrete in structures, 4th edn.
Taylor and Francis, Oxon, p 339
10. Chung HW (1994) Assessment of damages in reinforced concrete structures. Concr Int 16
(3):55–59
11. Hong Kong Concrete Institute (2009) Test method for detection of building surface defect by
infrared thermography. Hong Kong Concrete Institute, Hong Kong, p 9
12. Hong Kong Concrete Institute (2009) Test method for determination of concrete cover and
distribution of steel rebar by surface penetration radar. Hong Kong Concrete Institute, Hong
Kong, p 17
13. Hong Kong Housing Authority (2012) HKHA MTS (2012/2014): maintenance and building
materials specification: Part D. Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong
14. Maierhofer C, Reinhardt H-W, Dobmann G (2010) Non-destructive evaluation of reinforced
concrete structures. CRC Press, Boca Raton

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