Concrete Structures

&
Their Quality Control
in Practice
 Concrete
 Composition of concrete
 Process of concrete manufacture
 Properties assessed by concrete testing
 Types of concrete structures
 Discontinuities and defects in concrete structures
 Quality control tests
 Basic methods for NDT of concrete structures
 Typical situations for using non-destructive testing
 Methods and inspection technique required
 Quality control applications in concrete construction
 Conclusion
Concrete is considered the world’s most used
construction material

Aggregates + Cement + Water + Chemical Admixtures

=
Concrete
Composition of concrete
The main ingredients of concrete are:
 Cement (General purpose cement , high early strengths cement , low
Heat Cement , sulphate resisting cement, blended cements, white and
coloured cements
 Coarse aggregate (more than 5 mm in diameter and are either crushed
rock generally from quarries, or gravels excavated from pits or from river
beds, etc.)
 Fine aggregate (fine and coarse sands or crushed rock finer than 5 mm)
 Chemical admixtures (accelerating admixtures, retarding admixtures,
Water reducing admixtures, Air-entraining admixtures)
 Water (Potable)
Acceptable concretes usually have proportions within the following ranges
(by volume)
Cement - 7% to 17%
Water - 15% to 20%
Aggregate (coarse and fine) - 63% to 78%
Paste (water + cement) - 22% to 37%.
Process of concrete manufacture
 Selection of materials
 Mix Design
 Batching
 Mixing
 Transporting
 Placing
 Compaction
 Finishing
 Curing
Properties assessed by using Concrete Testing
 Density
 Elastic modulus
 Strength
 Surface hardness
 Surface absorption
 Voids, cracking and delamination.
 Reinforcement location, size and
distance from the surface
Types of Concrete Structures
 Plain Cement Concrete
 Reinforced Cement Concrete
 Prestressed concrete
 Precast concrete
 Cast-in-situ concrete
 Composite
Discontinuities and defects in concrete structures
 Cracking of concrete before concrete hardens
• plastic shrinkage cracks
• plastic settlement cracks
• cracks caused by movement of the formwork
 Cracking of concrete after concrete hardens
• Spalling
• Honeycombing
• Dusting
• Crazing
• Rain damage
• Efflorescence
• Blistering
• Corrosion of reinforcing bars
Types of Concrete Testing
 Slump test (Plastic/fresh concrete)
 Compression test (Hardened concrete)
 Splitting test
 Flexure test
 Chemical analysis
 Microscopical examination
 Moisture measurements in concrete
 Completely non-destructive (no damage to the concrete)
 Slightly destructive (concrete surface is slightly damaged)
 Partially destructive tests (surface has to be repaired after
the test), such as core tests and pullout and pull off tests
Basic methods for NDT of concrete structures
 Visual inspection, which is an essential precursor to any
intended non-destructive test. An experienced civil or
structural engineer may be able to establish the possible
cause(s) of damage to a concrete structure and hence
identify which of the various NDT methods available could
be most useful for any further investigation of the problem.
 Half-cell electrical potential method, used to detect the
corrosion potential of reinforcing bars in concrete.
 Schmidt/rebound hammer test, used to evaluate the
surface hardness of concrete.
 Carbonation depth measurement test, used to determine
whether moisture has reached the depth of the reinforcing
bars and hence corrosion may be occurring.
 Permeability test, used to measure the flow of water
through the concrete.
 Penetration resistance or Windsor probe test, used to
measure the surface hardness and hence the strength
of the surface and near surface layers of the concrete.
 Covermeter testing, used to measure the distance of
steel reinforcing bars beneath the surface of the
concrete and also possibly to measure the diameter
of the reinforcing bars.
 Radiographic testing, used to detect voids in the
concrete and the position of stressing ducts.
 Ultrasonic pulse velocity testing, mainly used to
measure the sound velocity of the concrete and
hence the compressive strength of the concrete.
 Sonic methods using an instrumented hammer
providing both sonic echo and transmission
methods.
 Tomographic modelling, which uses the data from
ultrasonic transmission tests in two or more
directions to detect voids in concrete.
 Impact echo testing, used to detect voids,
delamination and other anomalies in concrete.
 Ground penetrating radar or impulse radar
testing, used to detect the position of
reinforcing bars or stressing ducts.
 Infrared thermography, used to detect voids,
delamination and other anomalies in concrete and
also detect water entry points in buildings.
Typical situations for using non-destructive testing

 Quality control of pre-cast units or construction in situ

 Removing uncertainties about the acceptability of the
material supplied owing to apparent non-compliance with
specification
 Confirming or negating doubt concerning the workmanship
involved in batching, mixing, placing, compacting or curing of
concrete
 Monitoring of strength development in relation to formwork
removal, stopping of curing, prestressing, load application or
similar purpose
 Location and determination of the extent of cracks, voids,
honeycombing and similar defects within a concrete structure
 Determining the concrete uniformity, possibly preliminary to
core cutting, load testing or other more expensive or disruptive
tests
 Determining the position, quantity or condition of
reinforcement
 Increasing the confidence level of a smaller number of
destructive tests
 Determining the extent of concrete variability in order to
help in the selection of sample locations representative of
the quality to be assessed
 Confirming or locating suspected deterioration of concrete
resulting from such factors as overloading, fatigue, external
or internal chemical attack or change, fire, explosion,
environmental effects
 Assessing the potential durability of the concrete
 Monitoring long term changes in concrete properties
 Providing information for any proposed change of use of a
structure for insurance or for change of ownership.
Quality control applications in concrete construction
The quality control of a concrete construction can involve
many requirements, such as determining the:
 mechanical properties of the reinforcement to be used
 dimensions of the reinforcement
 location of the reinforcement in the construction
before concrete is poured
 location of pre-stressing ducts
 properties of the cement used in the concrete
 properties of the concrete mix designed for use in the
structure
 control of the aggregates and sand going into the
concrete
 control of water additions
 mixing of the concrete
 transport of the concrete to the construction site
 slump of the concrete
 pouring of the concrete
 vibration/compaction of the concrete
 preparation of areas where different concrete
pours are done
 control of compression test samples
 control of formwork removal.
METHODS AND INSPECTION TECHNIQUE REQUIRED
First survey (regular inspection)
 date of survey
 name and address of building
 building’s use
 date of construction
 no. of floors
 area of each floor
 type of construction
 span between beams
 kind of foundation
 Designer
 building supervisor
 Builder
 name of maintenance personnel
 environmental conditions
 presence of vibration
 presence of chemicals
 presence of air conditioning
 distance from sea
 prevailing wind direction
 side of building closest to the sea
 average wind speed
 history of building use
 extensions or rebuilding carried out
 any repairs necessary
 any accident
 type of concrete used( cement, sand, aggregate, use of admixture
 design strength
 fabrication method.
Second survey (specific/particular inspection)
 depth of carbonation of the concrete
 extent of corrosion of the reinforcing bars
 extent of any cracking
 severity of water leakage
 any deterioration of concrete strength
 identification of any areas of excessive deflection
 the identification of any areas with surface
deterioration.
Third survey
A third survey is necessary if the concrete condition
is very severe.
 Corrosion of bars
 Cracking
 Water leakage
 Large deflection
 Surface deterioration
CONCLUSION
One of the most important parameters that
determine the safety of a building is its strength.
In all cases, if the investigation finds the strength
of concrete is less than the design strength, the
result needs to be presented to the engineer in
charge (civil engineer/structural engineer) who
must make a decision based on the results
presented as well as other considerations.