TRAINING COURSE SERIES No. 17 Guidebook on non-destructive testing of concrete structures INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 2002 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Industrial Applications and Chemistry Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria GUIDEBOOK ON NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES IAEA, VIENNA, 2002 IAEA-TCS-17 ISSN 1018-5518 © IAEA, 2002 Printed by the IAEA in Austria September 2002 FOREWORD The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been active in the promotion of non ­ destructive testing (NDT) technology for many years. NDT is an important component of a number of IAEA regional projects successfully executed or currently being executed. These are the Regional Co-operative Arrangements for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America (ARCAL), the Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology for Asia and the Pacific (RCA), the African Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) and, more recently, the NDT Regional Project in West Asia. Under these regional projects many regional and national training courses are conducted. Since the IAEA relies heavily on experts from Member States to conduct training courses, it is necessary to have agreed syllabi, training guidelines and training material not only to guide the experts but also to provide some consistency between courses and resultant uniformity in the training provided. The syllabi for training courses that cover the conventional NDT methods are available in IAEA-TECDOC-628. This TECDOC covers the conventional methods of liquid penetrant testing, magnetic particle testing, eddy current testing, radiographic testing, ultrasonic testing, visual inspection and leak testing. Based on these syllabi, training course notes have been produced to cover Industrial Radiography (IAEA Training Course Series No. 3) and Ultrasonic Testing of Materials at Level 2 (IAEA Training Course Series No. 10). These training course notes deal predominantly with the NDT of metallic materials. While NDT of metallic materials is a very important application, NDT is being used increasingly for the inspection of concrete structures. Training Course Series Nos. 3 and 10 cover the inspection of concrete using the relevant NDT method; however, coverage is brief and does not present the whole range of NDT methods used for the NDT of concrete. Concrete has become a very common construction material in most IAEA Member States and problems have occurred because of faulty construction practice. A need was therefore identified for a guidebook on the NDT of concrete. The first IAEA Training Course on the NDT of Concrete and other Non-Metallic Materials was held in 1987 in Japan, at the Japanese Society for Non ­ Destructive Inspection. Subsequent courses/workshops were held in Thailand and Singapore. In 1998, AFRA national co-ordinators prepared a draft syllabus on the NDT of Concrete. This syllabus was circulated for comment to national co-ordinators in other IAEA projects. R.S. Gilmour (Australia) compiled the first draft of the training material, which was circulated to the national NDT co-ordinators for the NDT subproject in different RCA countries. IAEA experts discussed the amendments made to this draft at a Meeting on the NDT of concrete in the Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology (MINT), Malaysia in September 1999. During the compilation of this manuscript, guidance and support were provided by Abd Nassir Ibrahim from Malaysia and G. Singh from India. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was A.A. Khan of the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. CONTENTS 1. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE....................................................................................................1 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1. Importance and need of non-destructive testing ...................................... 1 1.1.2. Basic methods for NDT of concrete structures........................................2 1.1.3. Qualification and certification .................................................................. 3 1.2. Basic manufacturing processes and defects of concrete structures............................ 3 1.2.1. Types of concrete structures..................................................................... 3 1.2.2. Composition of concrete ........................................................................... 4 1.2.3. Process of concrete manufacture.............................................................. 7 1.2.4. Properties of concrete and their control ...................................................9 1.2.5. Discontinuities and defects in concrete structures.................................. 11 1.2.6. Situations where NDT is an option to consider for investigation of in situ concrete .............................................................. 13 1.3. Testing of concrete ....................................................................................................13 1.3.1. Quality control tests................................................................................ 13 1.3.2. Partial destructive tests............................................................................15 1.3.3. Other tests................................................................................................17 1.4. Comparison of NDT methods .................................................................................. 26 1.5. Quality control ......................................................................................................... 32 1.5.1. The need for quality and quality control ................................................32 1.5.2. Basic definitions related to quality assurance......................................... 33 1.5.3. Responsibility for quality........................................................................ 35 1.5.4. Quality control applications in concrete construction ............................ 37 1.5.5. Quality management system................................................................... 40 2. VISUAL INSPECTION....................................................................................................... 44 2.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 44 2.2. Tools and equipment for visual inspection .............................................................. 44 2.3. General procedure of visual inspection .................................................................... 44 2.4. Applications of visual inspection ............................................................................. 46 2.5. Sketches of typical defects found by visual inspection ............................................ 46 3. HALF-CELL ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL METHOD...................................................... 56 3.1. Fundamental principle ............................................................................................. 56 3.2. Equipment for half-cell electrical potential method ................................................ 56 3.3. General procedure for half-cell electrical potential method ...................................57 3.4. Applications of half-cell electrical potential testing method ..................................59 3.5. Range and limitations of half-cell electrical potential inspection method ..................................................................................................................... 59 4. SCHMIDT REBOUND HAMMER TEST.......................................................................... 61 4.1. Fundamental principle ............................................................................................. 61 4.2. Equipment for Schmidt/rebound hammer test......................................................... 61 4.3. General procedure for Schmidt rebound hammer test............................................. 61 4.4. Applications of Schmidt rebound hammer test........................................................ 62 4.5. Range and limitations of Schmidt rebound hammer test......................................... 63 5. CARBONATION DEPTH MEASUREMENT TEST......................................................... 67 5.1. Fundamental principle ............................................................................................. 67 5.2. Equipment for carbonation depth measurement test...............................................67 5.3. General procedure for carbonation depth measurement test...................................67 5.4. Range and limitations of carbonation depth measurement test..............................68 6. PERMEABILITY TEST.....................................................................................................