Assessing concrete quality in structures through statistical interpretation of ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements

Abstract

The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) test has good potential to be developed into a very useful and inexpensive non-destructive tool for assessing intrinsic concrete properties. The challenge in interpretation of UPV test results is to select statistical tools properly for estimating specific characteristics. Understanding the physical significance of the output of any statistical treatment is important to correlate the mathematical parameter with the physical behaviour of the material. Columns of an aged turbo generator foundation are selected for study in this paper. Conventional statistical methods are employed to analyse the UPV test results and their physical significance is discussed. A new method is proposed to characterise the UPV test results without comprehensive details of conventional statistics. The overall approach adopted in this paper allows the engineer to understand the material quality through UPV testing and characterisation through statistical analysis.