Impulse response test for condition assessment of concrete: A review

Abstract

The impulse-response test is one of the most versatile nondestructive test (NDT) methods for condition assessment of concrete structures. It is an elastic stress-wave propagation based low-strain and low frequency NDT method, which is widely employed in the NDT industry. Nevertheless, it is used mainly as a relative basis test, in which contour plots of the response parameter are used to distinguish between intact and anomalous regions in the test element. This article is the first to compile current published literature on the subject. A summary of the published case studies using impulse-response test is presented, followed by the current state-of-the-art of the fundamental theoretical understanding of the method. Current knowledge gaps are identified and recommendations are proposed to address these issues. The recommendations are aimed to move the impulse-response test from a qualitative NDT method to a quantitative condition assessment tool for concrete structures.