Faculty : Construction Page 1/6

Management and Entrepreneur

Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1
Engineering Checking No
Title : REBOUND HAMMER TEST Effective Date 17/6/04
Amendment Date

1.0 OBJECTIVE

1.1 To check the uniformity of concrete

1.2 To determine the properties of the surface of the concrete
1.3 To estimate strength of concrete in structures

2.0 EXPERIMENT OUTCOME

2.1 Able to carry out surface hardness testing by rebound hammer according to
BS 1881: Part 202: 1986

3.0 EQUIPMENT & MATERIAL

3.1 Equipment
(i) Rebound hammer type N

3.2 Material
(i) Close textured concrete

4.0 PROCEDURE

(A) Method of Testing

1. Select a rebound hammer appropriate to the type of concrete tested, check that it
is working correctly and check its reading on the steel reference anvil.

2. Choose suitable test locations. Only smooth surfaces should be tested.

3. Confine the readings of a test to an area not exceeding 300 mm x 300 mm

4. Draw a regular grid of lines 30 mm apart and to take the intersections of the
lines as test points

5. Twelve readings are needed at a location.

 Faculty : Construction Management and Page 2/6
Entrepreneur
Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1
Engineering Checking No
Effective Date
Title :REBOUND HAMMER TEST Amendment Date

(B) Procedure of Using Rebound Hammer

1. The hammer is pressed against concrete. Plunger retracts against spring and the
hammer is ready to be used.

2. Press the hammer to the test location until the mass hammer impact against the
surface through the plunger.

3. Hammer should be operated perpendicular to the surface horizontally.

4. Press the button at the side of hammer and read the amount of rebound of the
mass, R from the indicator.

5. Refer to the calibration curve on the standard steel anvil to read the compressive
strength.

6. Estimate the compressive strength with refer to the table given in Appendix I.
 Faculty : Construction Management Page 3/6
and Entrepreneur
Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1
Engineering Checking No
Title : Effective Date
REBOUND HAMMER TEST Amendment Date

(5) CALCULATION SHEET

Test Test Recorded Mean Inclination Corrected Compressive

Ref. Location R Value R Angle (°) R Strength
(Nmm²)
34 32 32
Under 32 32 32
1 32 90 0 23.7
Staircase 32 32 28
32 32 32
32 28 30
Internal 30 31 26
2 30 90 0 20.6
Column 33 29 30
33 26 30
30 29 31
28 27 32
3 Pavement 29 90 0 19.1
29 30 30
28 28 30
36 39 42
37 38 36
4 Walkway 38 90 0 33.6
41 39 36
37 38 39
29 32 28
Column at 30 32 28
5 29 90 0 19.1
staircase 25 28 26
28 32 31
27 35 39
Beam at 35 31 36
6 34 90 0 26.8
staircase 37 31 35
34 35 32
 Faculty : FPTP Page 4/6

Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1

Engineering Checking No
Title : Effective Date
REBOUND HAMMER TEST Amendment Date

Appendix I:
 Faculty : FPTP Page 6/6

Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1

Engineering Checking No
Title : Effective Date
REBOUND HAMMER TEST Amendment Date

Discussion :

During the experiment , the systematic error occur because of rebound hammer. This is
due to the rebound hammer not function well while we knock it to the wall. And also
need to take the reading to get the result. From the table, the result show 12 time
recorded of knock with the different value and at different location. The all 12 value will
be calculated to get the mean at every location and also to get the estimation compressive
strength of concrete in structure.

Conclusion :

From this test, we can conclude that in every location have a different compressive
strength. Besides that, the surface of the concrete as can see on the result, there are not
uniformity.
 Faculty : FPTP Page 5/6

Department : Structure and Materials Edition 1

Engineering Checking No
Title : Effective Date
REBOUND HAMMER TEST Amendment Date

Appendix II :

Figure 1 : Draw a 12 point uniformly before Figure 2 : Do the knock on the beam
do the knock on the structure with rebound hammer

Figure 3 : The surface before knock by Figure 4 : The surface after been knock by
the rebound hammer the rebound hammer