Application of Schmidt rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity techniques for structural health monitoring

Abstract

The concept of non-destructive testing (NDT) is to obtain material properties of place specimens without the destruction of the specimens and to do the structural health monitoring. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) used together with Schmidt Rebound Hammer (SRH) tests give a combined test method for health assessment by a suitable correlation between these two tests along with test by compressive testing machine. The structural health monitoring by NDT methods which comprised of UPV and RSH were carried out in the laboratory and site. The experimental investigation using NDT methods showed that a good correlation exists between compressive strength, SRH and UPV. The SRH offers method of achieving concrete strength with accuracy of ±15 to ±20 parent and the UPV method is a perfect instrument for both existing structures and those under construction with accuracy within ±20%. Key words: Ultrasonic pulse velocity, Schmidt rebound hammer, laboratory, site, experimental investigation.