ASSESSMENT OF A MULTI-STOREY CONCRETE BUILDING BY NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING―A CASE STUDY

摘要

Concrete is considered as durable material but it is still, potentially vulnerable to deteriorate, unless certain precautions are to be taken. Strength and durability of concrete structures depend on number of factors such as design, detailing, materials and workmanship, quality control, environment as well as periodic inspection and regular maintenance. This paper discusses the assessment of concrete structures by Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods such as Rebound hammer, Ultrasonic pulse velocity, Carbonation and Rebar locator tests and some partial destructive testing methods like Pull-off, Pull-out and Core tests etc. The main aim of the paper is to highlight the importance and significance of the different NDT methods employed to assess the quality of concrete structure through a case study. Further, through the NDT tests and observations, a rational approach towards interpretation of results for making recommendations to identify and improve the strength and performance of the structure wherever required. It is important to note that almost all the NDT methods indirectly estimate the concrete strength and strength obtained by these methods, in most of the cases, is comparable. Even then, no single method can be said to be fully reliable and therefore, more than one method should be performed and results should be correlated.