CE 611 Advanced Concrete

Technology
Non-Destructive Evaluation

Outline

Introduction to condition assessment

Visual investigation
Sound based methods
Rebound and penetration techniques
Thermography and Radiography
Electromagnetic techniques

Need for inspection

The fracture mechanics viewpoint!

With timely inspections and repair, the service life of the structure
can be prolonged

Need for inspection

The Civil Engineering perspective

Inspections are necessary for servicing ailing infrastructure

Remaining life can be assessed
Strategy for repair and rehabilitation can be decided depending on the
extent of damage and the new design criteria

Steps in condition assessment

Initial inspection and appraisal.
Information gathering, research and
documentary review.
Detailed investigations.
Assessment of structural condition.
Reporting and recommendations.

Initial inspection
Visual inspection Forms an integral part of any
assessment
A trained inspector can
make good use of his eye
80% of all inspections
are visual
Even when other tests
are used, visual
inspections are always
performed

Visual Aids
Telescopes, Borescopes, Magnifying lenses, Realtime video, Camera
Ruler, measuring tape, crack width gauge
Light hammer, chipping / scraping tools
Borescopes Rigid, flexible, and video-assisted
Limitations of visual methods only surface
cracks, low reliability, needs good lighting, human
factors critical!

Borescopes
Borescopes are industrial telescopes that give access
to closed areas. These can be of three types:
Rigid: limited to straight line of sight; different
fields of view can be used either straight ahead or
on the side of the instrument
Flexible: these are fibre optic bundles that can curve
and fit into enclosed areas that are unreachable
using rigid borescopes
Video-assisted: these are flexible borescopes with
an attached Charged Couple Device (CCD) camera
that can give a real time video feed.

Visual inspection what can be assessed

Concrete construction
Patterns, location, and orientation of cracks (whether stress
related or not)
Scaling and spalling
Exposed reinforcement
Signs of water penetration
Delamination
Cracks can be classified into:

Hairline barely visible

Fine 1/32 to 1/16 inch
Medium 1/16 to 1/8 inch
Wide Greater than 1/8 inch

Visual inspection what can be assessed

General defects Surface distress: Disintegration of the surface,
surface honeycombing, scaling.
Water leakage: Surface dampness, seepage or
leakage through joints or cracks.
Movements: Deflection, heaving, settlement.
Metal corrosion: Rust staining, exposed posttension cable strands, exposed reinforcing bars.
Miscellaneous: Blistering membranes and
coatings, pounding of water, Discoloration

Detailed investigation
Identifying and locating structural elements to establish the
overall structural form.
Obtaining the properties of the structural materials used in
the building
Determining the type and disposition of reinforcements in
elements and connections.
Locating deteriorated material and other defects, and
identifying their causes.
It is very much necessary to investigate the structure as it
stands; seldom do drawings show exactly what was built,
and in any case, the structure would have been changed
during its lifetime.

Techniques of detailed investigation

Primarily two types:
(a) Intrusive - cause minor damage to the
material or structure upon completion of
the test, and
(b) Non-destructive

Non-destructive techniques

Sound-based techniques

Primary types of sound waves

Compressional / longitudinal wave (P-wave; P for
primary)
Shear / transverse wave (S-wave; S for shear)
Surface wave (R-wave; R for Rayleigh)
VP (E/)0.5
VS (G/)0.5

P-wave is the fastest

VS ~ 0.5 0.6 VP
VR ~ 90% of VS

In a P-wave, the particles of the material vibrate in a direction

parallel to the wave propagation; perpendicular in the case of Swave; both in case of surface waves (elliptical particle motion)

Acoustic impedance
Sound waves traveling from on
medium to another:

ER = (Z1-Z2)2/(Z1+Z2)2
ET = 4Z1Z2/(Z1+Z2)2

Incident sound wave

Energy E

Medium 1
Reflected sound wave
Energy ER

Transmitted sound wave

Energy ET

Medium 2

Where Zi = Acoustic Impedance of

Medium I
Z = V, i.e. the product of the density of
the material and the wave velocity
Z (in kg/m2s) for:
Air = 0.40; Water = 1.5x106
Concrete = 9x106; Steel = 47x106

Sounding
The quality of sound produced
by just striking the surface of
concrete with a hammer can
reveal information about damage
Intact concrete ringing sound
Cracked concrete drummy
sound
Other popular technique Chain
drag

Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Technique

(UPV)
Principle is that the speed of travel of the
sound wave depends on the density and
stiffness (or modulus of elasticity) of the
material
From a measurement of the time taken by
the pulse to travel, the dynamic modulus of
elasticity of the material can be determined
L
v = L/t = f(E/)
t, E,
Transmitt
Receiver
er
Object

UPV Techniques
Direct

Semi-direct

Indirect

Three modes of testing

Use of the indirect method

UPV Scenarios

BIS criterion for UPV

No.

Pulse velocity obtained in direct

transmission mode (km/sec)

Condition of concrete

> 4.5

Excellent

3.5 4.5

Good

3.0 3.5

Medium

< 3.0

Doubtful*

* Either quality is poor or more tests necessary

Characterization of concrete using UPV

results from tests conducted at the
Construction Materials Laboratory, IIT Madras

Variation of UPV with stress levels in concrete

100
day 1
day 7
day 28

90
80

% of ultimate stress

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Pulse velocity (m/s)

Application: Basic material characterization;

assessment of damage level in structures

Variation of pulse
velocity with stress
level has been
plotted; as the stress
gets closer to the
ultimate stress, the
pulse velocity shows
a sharp decline due
to the increase in
cracking

Use of indirect method

M1 - Day 1
350

Pulse time (microseconds)

300
y = 5.7453x
R2 = 0.9904

250

Determination of
pulse velocity by
indirect method

200

150

100

50

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Distance between transducers (cm)

m = 5.7453 s/cm Pulse velocity V = 10000/5.7453 m/s =

1741 m/s

Advantage: No need for two-sided access

Comparison of methods
6000

5000

Direct
y = 272.17Ln(x) + 3456.7
R2 = 0.8636

Pulse velocity (m/s)

4000

Comparison of
direct, semi-direct,
and indirect
methods

Semi-direct
y = 268.34Ln(x) + 3355.1
R2 = 0.5432

3000
Indirect
y = 284.78Ln(x) + 2041.2
R2 = 0.821
2000

1000

0
0

10

15
Age (days)

20

25

30

Assessment of damage in cracking due to

uniaxial compression
LV
DT

C
cla mp

Tr
an
sd

uc

er

Rubber sheet

Spring

Amplitude (mV)

Assessment of damage in cracking due to

uniaxial compression

Transit time x 10-2 sec

Assessment of damage in cracking due to

uniaxial compression
1.1

1.0

HSC

1.0
0.9

NSC

0.8
0.7

A / A0

V / V0

HSC

0.8

0.6

0.6

NSC

0.4

0.5

0.2

0.4
0.3

20

40

60

% of ultimate load

80

100

0.0

20

40

60

% of ultimate load

80

100

Assessment of damage in cracking due to

uniaxial compression
8

x 10

NSC

Frequency dependence
of response

5
4
3
2
1
0
0

x 10

20

40

60

80

100

120

HSC

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Assessment of damage in cracking due to

uniaxial compression
80

0.8
0.6

70
60
NSC
HSC

50
40

Solid Line - A / A0
0.4 Dotted Line - Crack length

30
20

0.2
0.0
0.0

10
0.2

0.4
0.6
0.8
Normalized strain

1.0

Crack Length (mm)

Relative Amplitude

1.0

Amplitude drop is able to better

represent the increase in crack
length at all levels of strain in
both the types of concrete. This
result indicates that ultrasonic
pulse velocity alone is not
sufficient to characterize
damage. The actual ultrasonic
signal can give valuable
information pertaining to the
signal amplitude (and energy),
as well as frequency dependence

Pulse-echo Method
Pulse generated on the surface is reflected
back by any discontinuities or cracks within the
material
If total depth is
known, a
comparison of
the travel times
can indicate the
crack location
Pulse can also be generated by an impact
source Impact-echo method

Use of pulse-echo

MB Main bang, FE Flaw echo, BE (BE1 and BE2) Back echo

Scanning with pulse-echo

Linear scan

Area scan

Pulse-echo for fresh concrete

Steel plate

Concrete inside mould

Technique is still in research stage;
some researchers call it the Wave
Reflection Factor Method

As concrete hardens, more of

the sound energy will get
transmitted; in the fresh state,
most of the energy will be
reflected from the steelconcrete interface
Problems Interference by
bleed water
Applications: Determination
of setting and strength gain
of concrete

Acoustic Emission
Sound bursts emitted by growing cracks can
be detected by sensors; by careful placement
of sensors, exact location can be pointed out

Problems: Extremely sensitive technique;

only growing cracks can be detected

Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves

(SASW) Technique
Rayleigh waves (surface sound waves, like
in an earthquake) have a spectrum of
wavelengths and travel at different speeds
in layered media, like pavements,
depending on the stiffness (E)
The wave spectrum
can be analysed to
obtain the stiffness
profiles

Limitations of sound based methods

High attenuation of sound waves due to the
presence of air voids in concrete; hence,
deep defects are not easy to find
Low frequencies only can be used
resolution is compromised
Interference in results from the aggregates
and reinforcement heterogeneity of
concrete is a problem!

Hardness / Penetration
measurements

Rebound/Penetration Tests
Schmidt rebound hammer: Measures the
elastic rebound from the surface of a
material (mainly used for concrete);
correlated empirically to strength
Windsor probe: Shot into the concrete at a
given force; depth of penetration indicates
level of concrete strength

Rebound hammer test

Adequate care must be taken for preparation of the surface. If the surface is rough,
or has too many bugholes, it needs to be smoothened using a grit or sandpaper
(areas near bugholes should be avoided). In addition, the area to be investigated
should be clean. In case the concrete is covered with plaster, the plaster layer should
be chipped off to reveal the concrete surface for conducting the test.

Rebound tests some lab results

Data shows lot of
scatter

40

35

Stress in concrete (MPa)

30

Very difficult to use it

for quantitative
prediction

25

20

15

10

0
0

10

15

20

25
Rebound number

30

35

40

45

50

Good tool for

monitoring quality over
a given region of the
structure

Hardness tests
Hardness is the property of a material that
enables it to resist plastic deformation,
usually by penetration. However, the term
hardness may also refer to resistance to
bending, scratching, abrasion or cutting.
Measurement by: Scratching!, Rockwell,
Brinell, Vickers, Knoop tests

Mohs scale
Diamond

10

Corundum

Topaz

Quartz

Orthoclase
(Feldspar)

Apatite

Fluorite

Calcite

Gypsum

Talc

Typically used for rocks (minerals)

The steps are not of equal value and
the difference in hardness between 9
and 10 is much greater than between
1 and 2.
Principle harder material scratched
softer material
Only qualitative, not quantitative

Thermography and Radiography

Thermal techniques

IR Source

Object

Thermal Scan

Detection of heat loss, moisture variation,

concrete integrity, air leakage, delaminations on
concrete decks

IR Scan

When a defect is present in the body, it would show up as a

cold spot when heat is flowing inward, and as a cold spot when
the heat is flowing outward.

Radiography

Source
X-rays or neutrons

Object

Radiograph

Detect cracks in materials, especially useful for

pipe testing, 360 degree scans (CAT) also possible
for 3-D reconstruction; problems hazardous,
expensive, not suited for field

Electromagnetic techniques
Mainly used for steel
Eddy current
techniques
Discontinuities
cause disturbances in
the applied electric
field; detected by an
indicator

Magnetic particle
techniques
Magnetic particles
align along cracks in
the direction of the
magnetic field
Also a surface
technique

Surface technique
onlyuseful for metallic (conductive and magnetic)
Only
elements

EM technique for reinforced concrete

Summary
A number of non-destructive techniques are
available to assess materials and structures
Success of the technique depends on:
- Training with the method
- Calibration of the instrument(s)
- Knowledge of the damage

Causes of damage in structures

Some examples

Concrete damage - durability

Concrete damage volume changes

Concrete damage thermal effects

Concrete damage - fire

Steel damage corrosion, and joint defects

Defects in timber

Brick masonry foundation settlement

damage