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Influence of the number of cores on concrete strength assessment by nondestructive tests in old existing structures

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Abstract

Nowadays, the diagnosis of degraded concrete in existing reinforced concrete structures and the evaluation of their structural capacity has become an important issue in the construction industry. The accuracy of core tests and their locations have a major role in the evaluation methodology and the accuracy of results. An incorrect or inaccurate interpretation of results or an undetected structural problem can lead to a failure or collapse of a building causing potentially loss of lives and materials. Generally, core tests are used in conjunction with non-destructive tests (NDT) for assessing concrete quality. Due to the budgetary constraints and with the aim of ensuring the structural integrity it is necessary to minimize the number of needed cores to estimate the concrete strength in structures without decreasing the accuracy of the assessment. Some researchers have tried to identify and optimize the number of cores that should stabilize the model error from synthetic data as well as more recently on real structures. There is a need for more case studies to draw better conclusions and to quantify the number of cores required to assess degraded concrete, which is not clearly treated in the recent recommendations of RILEM TC249-ISC. In this paper, both rebound hammer (RH) and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) tests in combination with core tests are used for the estimation of the concrete compressive strength in existing structures. These structures were built in the 1970s and have been degraded predominantly by steel corrosion. 234 and 86 structural elements were tested by RH and UPV, respectively. 36 cores were also drilled at NDT locations and tested under compression. The root mean square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (r2) were used as statistical indicators for the evaluation of the accuracy of the non-destructive assessment in predicting concrete strength. The obtained results show that RH method accuracy in concrete strength assessment is more affected by the degradation of concrete compared to the UPV method. The minimal number that guarantees a sufficient precision of concrete strength assessment for combined or single NDT methods is nine cores.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all persons who contribute and helped them to achieve this work, especially the consultancy firm society of consulting and testing engineering (SCTE), Algiers. This support is thankfully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University Blida1, Blida, Algeria

    Youcef Boussahoua & Said Kenai

  2. I2M, Department of Environmental Civil Engineering, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Zoubir Mehdi Sbartai & Denys Breysse

  3. Department of Technology, University Djillali Bounaama, Khemis-Miliana, Algeria

    Khoudja Ali-Benyahia

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  1. Youcef Boussahoua
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  2. Said Kenai
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  3. Zoubir Mehdi Sbartai
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  4. Denys Breysse
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  5. Khoudja Ali-Benyahia
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YB wrote the initial manuscript. SK provided the funding and supervision and revise the manuscript. KAB prepared the figures. MS and DB revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Said Kenai.

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Boussahoua, Y., Kenai, S., Sbartai, Z.M. et al. Influence of the number of cores on concrete strength assessment by nondestructive tests in old existing structures. Asian J Civ Eng 24, 1731–1745 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42107-023-00599-0

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