CET456 Module 2-Ktunotes - in
CET456 Module 2-Ktunotes - in
BUILDING
CET 456-notes-
Prepared by-Nirmala Krishnan, AP CED VAST
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Condition assessment of the structure is the systematic and logical examination of the structure to
identify the area and cause of distress.
CET 456-notes-
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● Review of records,
● Condition survey.
The condition survey when carried out as a part of preliminary investigation is just a rapid visual
inspection. Limited non-destructive and destructive testing techniques can sometimes be used to confirm
the measurements and observations made during the condition survey. This can include non-destructive
physical testing such as visual inspection to find cracks and staining, localization of voids, measurement
of the concrete cover around the reinforcement, measuring the size of cracks, estimate the widths and
length of the cracks, to determine the movement the movement in cracks, i.e. if the cracks are active or
passive, to record the located cracks on structural plan or grid sheet.
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● Verification of information collected during desk study, i.e., to verify if the on-site conditions are
in conformance to the available designs and drawings.
● Structural framing
● Record of the existing condition of concrete, i.e., note of construction faults like bugholes, cold
joints, honeycombing, exposed reinforcement, corrosion etc.
● Presence of cracking (location, depth, width, nature of cracking, the surface appearance of the
cracks, current state of activity, physical state of concrete when the cracking occurred)
● Surface appearance of cracks (pattern of cracks, length of cracks, short cracks or interconnected)
● The surface appearance of concrete (texture, discolouration, staining, spalling,delamination and
erosion)
● Sources of leakage or seepage due to concealed services, through joints or cracks,inadequate
systems of rain water disposal, improper terrace slope or absence of rain water pipes, ponding of
water and discoloration due to dampness must be noted.
● Movements of structures in the form of excessive deflections, heaving or settlement.
● Damage to structural elements & finishes like blistering membranes and coatings.
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● Description of the actual condition of the existing structure including the location, extent and
nature of the deterioration or distress.
● A quality classification of the components or the whole structure and the repair/rehabilitation
option based on condition and degree of damage.
● Is there any need for detailed investigation
4. Detailed Investigation:
The detailed investigation is required to be conducted when the pertinent data like the original
construction drawings and design of the structure, foundation details and structural details are not
available. It is also required when the information furnished by the preliminary investigation is not
conclusive and further investigation is required to design a repair/retrofitting works. The detailed
investigation may not necessarily be done to document the condition of the whole building, but only the
elements subjected to investigation in detail based on recommendations of preliminary investigation.
The detailed investigation generally involves a wide range and types of sampling and testing. The
selection of the testing methods however depends upon the type, extent of deterioration and the
importance of the structure. The use of various testing methods like destructive tests, semi destructive
becomes necessary at the stage of detailed investigation. These tests are required to be conducted to
determine typical parameters like:
CET 456-notes-
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Principle
The rebound of an elastic mass depends on the hardness of the surface against which its mass strikes
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Steps to be followed
• All members to be marked with well defined grid points - spacing of 200 - 300 mm
preferred
• Each grid point to be cleaned and surface smoothened
• A minimum of 6 readings to be obtained at each point and average considered omitting
too low and too high values.
• Do not repeat impacts on same point
• A statistical analysis gives indication on overall quality and variability
• Delamination of cover concrete can be identified with low and very low rebound
numbers
• Very high rebound numbers greater than 50- may represent carbonated concrete - to be
confirmed by chemical test
Advantage:
● It is simple & quick method.
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Limitation:
Results are affected by the angle of test, surface smoothness and mix proportions of concrete. It
does not provide a reliable prediction of the strength of concrete. The possible error may be up to ± 25%
Principle
The method is based on the principle that the velocity of an ultrasonic pulse through any material
depends upon the density, modulus of elasticity, the presence of the reinforcing steel & poision’s ratio
of the material.
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Procedure
• Divide the members into well defined grid points
• Each grid point is prepared to obtain smooth surface - a thorough cleaning
• Application of acoustical coupling - grease, thick oil, petroleum jelly may be done
• Transmitting the pulses by placing the transmitter and receiving at other end
• Recording the transit time displayed by the instrument - a reliable steady reading to be
recorded
• Measurement of length between transmitter and receiver
• Calculation of velocity, V = L / T ( L – Path length, T-time)
There are three possible ways of measuring pulse velocity through concrete :
In this method transducers are held on opposite face of the concrete specimen under test.
The method is most commonly used and is to be preferred to the other two methods because this
results in maximum sensitivity and provides a well-defined path length.
Sometimes one of the face of the concrete specimen under test is not accessible, in that case we
have to apply semi-direct method .In this method, the sensitivity will be smaller than cross probing and
the path length is not clearly defined.
This method of pulse transmission is used when only one face of concrete is accessible.
Surface probing is the least satisfactory of the three methods because the pulse velocity measurements
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Limitations: The test does not give the precise strength of concrete. A large number of factors affect
the values of pulse velocity that include surface condition and moisture content, temperature of concrete,
micro-cracks in concrete, age of concrete, presence of steel rfm, aggregate type, content & size. When the
concrete is subjected to abnormally high stress, pulse velocity value is reduced due to development of
micro-cracks
The principle
The penetration depth is inversely proportional to the compressive strength of concrete, but the relation
depends on the hardness of aggregate.
The minimum distance between the edge of the concrete member should be of the order of 150 mm and
that between the test positions be 200 mm. The penetration will be effected by the presence of reinforcing
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Manufacturers provide calibration charts of strength versus penetration for the normal probe for
aggregates with hardness between 3 and 7 on Mohrs scale. However, the penetration resistance should be
correlated with the compressive strength of a standard test specimen or core of the actual concrete used.
Application:
● Form Removal
● Structural Analysis
● Light-weight concrete strength determination
● Standard concrete strength determination
● High-strength concrete strength determination
● High-precision determination
Advantage:
● The test is relatively quick and the result is achieved immediately provided an appropriate
correlation curve is available.
● The probe is simple to operate, requires little maintenance except cleaning the barrel and
is not sensitive to operator technique
● Access is only needed to one surface.
● The correlation with concrete strength is affected by a relatively small number of
variables.
● The test result is likely to represent the concrete at a depth of from 25 mm to 75 mm
from the surface rather than just the property of the surface layer as in the Schmidt
rebound test.
Limitation:
● The minimum acceptable distance from a test location to any edges of the concrete
member or between two test locations is of the order of 150 mm to 200 mm.
● The minimum thickness of the member, which can be tested, is about three times the
expected depth of probe penetration.
● The distance from reinforcement can also have an effect on the depth of probe penetration
especially when the distance is less than about 100 mm.
● The test is limited to <40 MPa and if two different powder levels are used in an
investigation to accommodate a larger range of concrete strengths, the
● correlation procedure becomes complicated.
● The test leaves an 8 mm hole in the concrete where the probe penetrated and, in older
concrete, the area around the point of penetration is heavily fractured.
● On an exposed face the probes have to be removed and the damaged area repaired
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8. . Pullout test
There are two options for the pullout test:
DANISH LOK TEST which requires that the head be cast into the concrete at the time of
construction. This test gives a good indication of near surface compressive strength. Building Research
Establishment,
Building Research Establishment, UK (BRE) PULL OUT involves drilling a hole and inserting
a “fixing” which is pulled out. The advantage of this test is that it does not require a head to be cast
into the concrete during construction. The disadvantage is that the test really measures tensile
strength and is then calibrated to compressive strength.
The pullout test is a test that falls in the transition area between a destructive test and a
non-destructive test. It is destructive in the sense that a relatively large volume of the concrete is
damaged but non-destructive because the damage can be repaired.
The pullout test measures the force required to pull an embedded metal insert with an enlarged
head from a concrete specimen or a structure. The insert is pulled by a loading ram seated on a bearing
ring that is concentric with the insert shaft. The bearing ring transmits the reaction force to the concrete.
The pullout test is widely used during construction to estimate the in-place strength of
concrete to help decide whether critical activities such as form removal, application of post
tensioning, or termination of cold weather protection can proceed. Since the compressive strength is
usually required to evaluate structural safety, the ultimate pullout load measured during the in-place test is
converted to an equivalent compressive strength by means of a previously established correlation
relationship.
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Advantage:
The test is simple & quick to perform. Damage caused to concrete is minor and can be repaired easily.
Limitation:
The main limitation is the curing time of the adhesive which is 24 hours. During testing if the adhesive
fails because of its inferior quality, then the entire test result becomes meaningless. Hence, six discs are to
be used to determine the strength.
9. Core Test:
Condition of concrete in the structure after construction can be assessed directly by core drilling
at required location or at suspected location. The core samples obtained are then taken for visual
inspection and compression test to determine maximum compressive strength. The core drilling and
compression testing shall be done in accordance with ASTM Method C 42-87.
The extracted cores can be subjected to a series of tests and serve multiple functions such as:
The selection of location of the cores is made after conducting NDT which can give guidance on
the most suitable area of extraction. Cutting of cores requires special equipment. Most of the cores are
either 100 mm or 150 mm in diameter. If the core size is small in relation to the maximum aggregate size,
then care must be taken during analysis. The choice of the core diameter will be influenced by the length
of the specimen. It is generally accepted that cores for compression testing should have a length/diameter
ratio between 1 and 2. T
Application:
The core samples can also be used for the following:
3.Chemical analysis
4. Water/gas permeability
CET 456-notes-
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Advantage:
Cores provide the simplest method of obtaining samples of in-situ concrete. chemical analysis can be
performed on the remains of crushed core. Visual inspection of the interior of concrete can prove to be
very valuable where no records of concrete are available.
Limitations:
The main limitation is the cost and inconvenience, damage and localized nature of the results. The test is
possible only if the quality of concrete is reasonably good in the structure that is tested. If the quality is
poor, then core samples will be vulnerable to damage during coring or testing operation.
In this test, the electrical Indication capacity of concrete to Resist Chloride Ion Penetration is checked.
This test enables the prediction of the service life of concrete structures It can also be utilized for
durability-based quality control purposes. In this test, the steady voltage (V) is applied to a concrete
specimen for 6 hours, and the current (i) going through the concrete is recorded to find the coulombs
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Test Procedure
The concrete specimen having a diameter of 100 millimeters and thickness of 50 millimeters is
cast and saturated. The concrete sample is placed in between the two reservoirs having NaCl solution in
one reservoir and NaOH solution in the other reservoir.
These reservoirs are connected to the DC supply and the voltage of 60 Volts is applied to the concrete
specimen at both ends for six hours.
Now measure the current going through the concrete at various time intervals.
The current going through the concrete is calculated by an LCD which is connected to the cell.
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The test is most commonly carried out by spraying 0.2% solution of phenolphthalein in ethanol
on freshly exposed surfaces of concrete broken from the structure or on split cores. Sometimes the powder
from drill holes can also be sprayed or allowed to fall on phenolphthalein impregnated paper. The test
must be applied only to freshly exposed surfaces, because the reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide
starts immediately.
CET 456-notes-
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where t is the time for carbonation, d is the concrete cover, k is the permeability.
The significance of carbonation is that the usual protection of the reinforcing steel generally present in
concrete due to the alkaline conditions caused by hydrated cement paste is neutralized by carbonation.
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Equipment
If there is a need to physically measure the extent of carbonation it can be determined easily by
spraying a freshly exposed surface of the concrete with a 1% phenolphthalein solution. The calcium
hydroxide is coloured pink while the carbonated portion is uncoloured.
Another formula, which can be used to estimate the depth of carbonation, utilizes the age of the
building, the water-to-cement ratio and a constant, which varies depending on the surface coating on the
concrete.
R varies depending on the surface coating on the concrete (β) and whether the concrete has been
in external or internal service (α).
The phenolphthalein test is a simple and cheap method of determining the depth of carbonation in
concrete and provides information on the risk of reinforcement corrosion taking place. The only
limitation is the minor amount of damage done to the concrete surface by drilling or coring
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