Condition Assessment of Existing Structures by using NDT Techniques

Damage assessment of structures is one of the most important and emerging fields in Civil Engineering. Damage to structures may occur as a result of normal operations, accidents, deterioration or severe natural events such as earthquakes and storms. Most often the extent and location of damage may be determined through visual inspection. However, in some cases this may not be feasible. Non-destructive testing is conducted on the main structural and relatively more affected column and beam members in various buildings. In the present work, Condition Assessment of the Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings is carried out with special reference for the further usage of the structures. Non-Destructive Tests (NDT) like Rebound Hammer and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Tests are used to carry out insitu evaluation and condition assessment. The report analyzes the deficiencies in the construction of a multi-storied reinforced concrete framed building and onshore cum offshore structure. NDT are conducted to assess the real strength gained by the RC elements like columns, beams and slabs. The test results show that there is a considerable effect of exposure to sea environment on durability of the RC buildings and the rebound number method is more efficient in predicting the strength of concrete under certain conditions. A combined method for the Rebound Hammer and UPV tests reveals an improvement in the concrete strength estimation. In addition, the structural analysis is performed using STAAD PRO v8i or ETABS software for evaluating the design of constructed components of the building and analysis results concluded that the structure requires immediate attention of strengthening the existing RC columns by adopting suitable rehabilitation techniques.