Prediction of concrete strength by non-destructive testing in old structures: Effect of core number on the reliability of prediction

Abstract

When assessing the quality of concrete on site, it is necessary to base the interpretation on reliable and representative test results. Generally, core tests are the most reliable and effective method for assessing the quality of concrete. Unfortunately, this type of testing is expensive and time consuming and only a limited number of cores can be carried out in practice. Non-destructive tests (NDT) can be used to overcome these drawbacks. The most popular and widely used NDT methods for assessing concrete strength are rebound hammer (RH) and the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV). The use of these methods provide unreliable predictions unless their results are correlated to destructive tests. A sufficient number of cores is needed to accurately predict the compressive strength of concrete. Recent researches have been carried out for identifying and optimizing the number of cores able to stabilize the calibration model on data from recent structures and from synthetic data. However, more case studies are needed to draw conclusions. In addition, the effect of the degradation of reinforced concrete elements on the number of cores needed for obtaining a reliable prediction needs to be investigated. In this paper, RH and UPV in conjunction with core tests are used to evaluate the concrete compressive strength in existing structures built in the 1970s and degraded mainly by steel corrosion. More than 234 elements were tested by RH and 86 elements by UPV. Also, 36 cores were drilled and tested under compression. A regression analysis is adopted to establish the correlations between NDT and strength measurements. The accuracy of the predictive assessment was evaluated using two indicators: the root mean square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r2). The results of this case study showed that seven to nine cores is the minimal number of cores that guarantees the improvement of concrete strength assessment by combined or single NDT methods.