Nondestructive Strength Assessment of Concrete-Based Structures

摘要

The research was directed at evaluating the feasibility of using a sonic wave nondestructive evaluation (NDE) method to provide cost-efficient, reliable determination of the compression strength of individual concrete members. It involved: (1) collection of NDE data from concrete cylinders in the laboraotry (2) deveelopment of models to predict the compression strength of the cylinders, and (3) evaluation of the ability of the developed models to predict concrete strength in comparison to current strength prediction techniques. The standard error of estimate (SEE) was used to define the reliability of the NDE models. The resulting SEEs for the concrete cylinders are 230 psi for the pendulum-based NDE and 232 psi for the impulse hammer-based NDE. The results have verified the validity of the sonic wave spectral analysis NDE approach. Commercial development will provide applications for both in-situ concrete members and quality control of new concrete.