• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to describe the Non-Destructive Testing(NDT) of the rockbolt and investigate the applicability of the NDT methods to estimate the integrity of the rockbolt. To examine the rockbolt integrity including rockbolt itself and grouting material, two methods are adopted: numerical and experimental methods. In the numerical method, the numerical code DISPERSE is used to analyze the dispersion of the rockbolt. The dispersion curve shows the effects of the thickness and stiffness of grouted materials on the embedded rockbolt. Therefore, the optimal frequency for the integrity test of the rockbolt is obtained: 20~120kHz in L(1,0) mode. In the experimental methods, destructive and non-destructive tests are carried out in a laboratory. In the non-destructive test, the low frequency mode generated by an impact and t he high frequency mode generated by an ultrasonic transducer seem to characterize the rockbolt condition readily. The experimental results show that the guided waves attenuate more significantly when the stiffness of the grouted material increases and/or the zone of the defect increases. Meanwhile, the ultimate capacity of rockbolt was evaluated through the pull-out tests and is compared to the NDT results. This study demonstrates that the NDT is a valuable tool for the rockbolt integrity evaluation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.757-781
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• 2016

The results of diagnostics and analysis of an industrial hall located on the premises of a thermal power plant severely damaged by fire are presented in the paper. The comprehensive failure-related diagnostics, non-destructive and destructive tests of steel and concrete materials, geodetic surveying of selected structural members, numerical modelling, static analysis and reliability assessment were focused on two basic goals: The determination of the current technical condition of the load bearing structure and the assessment of its post fire resistance as well as assessing the degree of damage and subsequent design of reconstruction measures and arrangements which would enable the safe and reliable use of the building. The current mechanical properties of the steel material obtained from the tests and measured geometric characteristics of the structural members with imperfections were employed in finite element models to study the post-fire behaviour of the structure. In order to compare the behaviour of the numerically modelled steel roof truss, subjected to the effects of fire, with the real post-fire response of the damaged structure theoretically obtained resistance, critical temperature and the time at which the structure no longer meets the required reliability criteria under its given loading are compared with real values. A very good agreement between the simulated results and real characteristics of the structure after the fire was observed.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.242-252
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• 2024

To date, methods used to assess the interfacial transition zone (ITZ), which represents the boundary between the aggregate and paste inside concretes, have primarily relied on destructive tests, and non-destructive tests has received little attention until recently. This study assessed the interfaces of concretes with lightweight aggregates based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for high-strength concretes and examined the possibility of estimating the compressive strength of concretes through non-destructive testing using EIS. The experimental results revealed that the impedance of the hardened cement increased with increasing compressive strength and aggregate density. In particular, when the results of impedance measurement were displayed as a Nyquist plot, the intercept of the x-axis depicting the effective conductivity was proportional to the compressive strength. Furthermore, an equivalent circuit was selected to interpret the correlation between cement aggregates and impedance. Consequently, the compressive strength was found to increase with the value of the resistances of the electrolyte filled in continuous pores in the cement aggregate. And, the pores formed in the ITZ affect this value. The resistance at the ITZ for different aggregates was also obtained, and it was found that the resistance was consistent with the results predicted by SEM images of the ITZ and correlated with the strength of the concretes. The proposed method can be used as a way to easily determine the strength of cement according to differences in aggregate.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.89-105
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• 2016

The post - fire investigation is conducted on a fire-affected reinforced concrete shear wall building to ascertain the level of its strength degradation due to the fire incident. Fire incident took place in a three-storey building made of reinforced concrete shear wall and roof with operating floors made of steel beams and chequered plates. The usage of the building is to handle explosives. Elevated temperature during the fire is estimated to be $350^{\circ}C$ based on visual inspection. Destructive (core extraction) and non-destructive (rebound hammer and ultrasonic pulse velocity) tests are conducted to evaluate the concrete strength. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) are used for analyzing micro structural changes of the concrete due to fire. Tests are conducted for concrete walls and roof slab on both burnt and unburnt locations. The analysis of test results reveals no significant degradation of the building after the fire which signifies that the structure can be used with full expectancy of performance for the remaining service life. This document can be used as a reference for future forensic investigations of similar fire affected concrete structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2017

This study aims to develop a signal processing scheme to accurately predict the thickness of concrete slab using air-coupled impact-echo. Air-coupled impact-echo has been applied to concrete non-destructive tests (NDT); however, it is often difficult to obtain thickness mode frequency due to noise components. Furthermore, apparent velocity in concrete is a usually unknown parameter in the field and the thickness of the concrete slab often cannot be accurately measured. This study proposes a signal processing scheme using guided wave analysis, wherein dispersion curves are drawn in both frequency-wave number (f-k) and phase velocity-frequency ($V_{cp}-f$) domains. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that thickness mode frequency and apparent velocity in concrete are clearly obtained from the f-k and $V_{cp}-f$ domains, respectively. The proposed method has great potential with regard to the application of air-coupled impact-echo in the field.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.163-169
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• 1999

The object of this study is to compare properties of massive fly-ash concrete with plain concrete. Two concrete mixtures comprising two batch each $1.0m^3$ in volume, were made from ready mixed concrete batch plant. The water-to-cementitious materials ratio was kept constant at 51.4%. Therefore, massive concrete specimen($W800{\times}D800{\times}H800mm$) was cast from ready mixed concrete to analyze history of temperature and core strength properties. Bleeding, time of slump loss and time of setting of the fresh concrete were measured. In order to estimate the properties of massive fly-ash concrete in hardened concrete, non-destructive tests such as rebound hardness, ultrasonic pulse velocity and maturity were performed and analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.03b
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• pp.159-166
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• 2000

Non-destructive out-hole tests, impact-echo and impact-response are widely applied to evaluate integrity of drilled shafts. In these tests, vibratory motions of drilled shafts are interpreted, which induced by impacts on the shaft head. In applying the tests to evaluating integrity of shaft, it has been attended whether the tests have resolutions enough to distinguish existence of slime at between the shaft end and a bearing soil deposit. To distinguish existence of slime by tests, modes of shaft vibrations need to be reasonably interpreted, which generally vary according to a shaft boundary condition such as, a free-free or a free-fixed condition. The boundary condition of a shaft is, however, found to be significantly affected by stiffness of soil deposits around shaft as well as penetration depths of shaft into a bearing soil deposit. Thus, these effects on the boundary condition of a shaft should be considered reasonably in interpreting test results to decide the existence of slime. To investigate the effects, in this study, vibratory motions of shafts constructed in various soil conditions and end penetration depths are examined analytically. Based on the studies, variations of boundary condition are characterized in terms of soil stiffness contrast between a shaft perimeter and a shaft end, and also the ratio of a penetration depth to a shaft length. The results can be applied to verify the applicability of tests to identify the slime.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.111-119
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• 2018

The air-void is known to be one of the influencing factors for estimating long-term performance of asphalt concrete. Most of all, confirming air void or density of pavement layer is important for quality control of field compaction level of asphalt concrete pavement. In this study, a non-nuclear type non-destructive density gage (NDDG) was used to estimate compacted air-voids of asphalt pavement as a non-destructive test method. Asphalt concrete slab specimens were prepared using 6 types of asphalt mixes in laboratory (lab) for lab NDDG test. Four different base structure materials were used to find out if there were any differences due to the type of base structure materials. The actual air-voids and NDDG air-voids were measured from 6 asphalt concrete slabs. Four sections of field asphalt pavements were tested using the NDDG, and actual air voids were also measured from field cores taken from the site where the NDDG air-void was measured. From lab and field experimental tests, it was found that the air-voids obtained by NDDG were not the same as the actual air-voids measured from the asphalt concrete specimen. However, it was possible to estimate air voids based on the relationship obtained from regression analysis between actual and NDDG air voids. The predicted air-voids based on the NDDG air-voids obtained from 50mm depth were found to be reliable levels with $R^2{\fallingdotseq}0.9$. Therefore, it was concluded that the air-voids obtained from NDDG could be used to estimate actual air-voids in the field asphalt pavement with a relatively high coefficient of determination.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.313-323
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• 2020

Non-destructive tests are commonly used in construction industry to access the quality and strength of concrete. However, till date there is no non-destructive testing method that can be adopted to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beams. In this regard, the presented research work details the use of ultra-sonic pulse velocity test method to evaluate the bond condition of reinforced concrete beam. A detailed experimental research was conducted by testing four identical reinforced concrete beam samples. The samples were loaded in equal increments till failure and ultra-sonic pulse velocity readings were recorded along the length of the beam element. It was observed from experimentation that as the cracks developed in the sample, the ultra-sonic wave velocity reduced for the same path length. This reduction in wave velocity was used to identify the initiation, development and propagation of internal micro-cracks along the length of reinforcement. Using the developed experimental methodology, researchers were able to identify weak spots in bond along the length of the specimen. The proposed method can be adopted by engineers to access the quality of bond for steel reinforcement in beam members. This allows engineers to carryout localized repairs thereby resulting in reduction of time, cost and labor needed for strengthening. Furthermore, the methodology to apply the proposed technique in real-world along with various challenges associated with its application have also been highlighted.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.426-434
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• 2011

Recently, the use of mineral admixtures in concrete has been studied in many laboratories, and been applied in the field. But the non-destructive testing equation proposed in Japan for normal strength concrete has been used to determine compressive strength, because there has been a lack of systematic research on the compressive strength of concrete using mineral admixtures. For this reason, it is essential to suggest a non-destructive testing equation to estimate the compressive strength of concrete using mineral admixtures. Therefore, this study made a cylindrical specimen and core tube specimen of concrete using a mineral admixture, and suggested a strength estimation of long-term age (4 years) through non-destructive and destructive tests. The results of the research are as follows. Comparing error rates between conventional suggested equations and this estimated equation shows some differences by age, but the error rate of this study was reduced to 0.3 %~115.0 % compared to conventional equations by re-bound hammering, 0.2 %~22.8 % by the ultrasound velocity method and 0.5 %~102.3 % by complex method. Accordingly, it is judged to be suitable for assessing the compressive strength of concretes using mineral admixtures.