Integration of NDT in Rapid Screening of Concrete Structures

Ageing of infrastructures is a major concern for the civil engineering community world over. Buildings, bridges, and every other structure are expected to serve for the designed life provided periodic inspection and proper maintenance is done. However maintenance is a word seldom associated with civil infrastructure. Non Destructive Testing (NDT) has gained relevance in this context as more and more infrastructure are getting aged and replacement of a existing ­structure with a new one is not feasible every time and within a short span of time. Testing, evaluation of the existing condition and retrofitting of the structures will extend the service life and hence give the authorities time to think about future course of action. This paper intends to provide a scheme to evaluate the existing condition of any concrete structure and suggests ‘points’ based evaluation. The scheme consists of standard NDT techniques both field and laboratory tests that are generally employed individually and their results analyzed separately. The formulated scheme has been employed on two existing buildings and its applicability demonstrated.