• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.207-214
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• 2005

The reflected signals from the defects of a pile and the boundaries between the pile and soils are analyzed to evaluate the integrity of drilled shafts in the impact-echo test. Signals varied according to both of the stiffness ratio of the pile to defects and that of the pile to surrounding soils. Model tests using the small size pile in the laboratory and numerical analyses have limitations in finding the characteristics of the signals due to different stress wave characteristics and unreliable modelling for the interaction between the pile and soils respectively. Full scale testing piles which have artificial defects are installed by the actual construction method and they were used to investigate the characteristics of reflected signals according to defects and the stiffness ratios of the pile to soils around.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.37-46
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• 2024

This study investigates the evolution of concrete damage due to chloride-induced steel corrosion through Impact-echo (IE) testing. Three reinforced concrete specimens, each measuring 1500 mm in length, 400 mm in width, and 200 mm in thickness, were fabricated using three concrete mixture proportions of blended cement types: ordinary Portland cement, ground granulated blast-furnace slag and fly ash. Steel corrosion in the concrete was accelerated by impressing a 0.5 A current following a 35-day cycle of wet-and-dry saturation in a 3% NaCl solution. Initial IE data collected during the saturation phase showed no significant changes, indicating that moisture had a minimal impact on IE signals and highlighting the slow progress of corrosion under natural conditions. Post-application of current, however, there was a noticeable decline in both IE peak frequency and the P-wave velocity in the concrete as the duration of the impressed current increased. Remarkably, progressive monitoring of IE proves highly effective in capturing the critical features of steel-corrosion induced concrete deterioration, such as the onset of internal damages and the rate of damage propagation. These results demonstrate the potential of progressive IE data monitoring to enhance the reliability of diagnosing and prognosticating the evolution of concrete damage in marine environment.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.493-504
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• 2024

This paper presents the methodology and results for the investigation of the structural safety of 40 aged underground water tanks to support the weight of photovoltaic (PV) systems that were supposed to be placed on their roof reinforced concrete (RC) slabs. The investigation procedure included (1) review of available documents; (2) visual inspection of the roof RC slabs; (3) carrying out a series of nondestructive (ND) tests; and (4) analysis of results. Out of the 40 tanks, eleven failed the visual inspection phase and were discarded from further investigation. The roof RC slabs of the tanks that passed the visual inspection were subjected to a series of ND tests that included infrared thermography, impact echo, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), Schmidt hammer, concrete core compressive strength, and water-soluble chloride content. The NDT results proved that eight more tanks were not suitable to support the PV systems. Based on the results of the visual inspection and testing, a probabilistic decision-making criterion was established to reach a decision regarding the structural integrity of the roof slabs. The study concluded that the condition of the drainage filter was essential in protecting the tanks and its intact presence can be used as a strong indication of the structural integrity of the roof RC slabs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.98-106
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• 2003

Nondestructive test (NDT) provides much information on concrete without damage of structural functions. Of NDT methods, elastic wave propagation methods, such as ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method and impact-echo (IE) method, have been successfully used to estimate the strength, elastic modulus, and Poisson's ratio of concrete as well as to detect the internal microstructural change and defects. In this study, the concretes with water-binder ratio ranging from 0.27 to 0.50 and fly ash content of 20% were made and then their longitudinal wave velocities were measured by UPV and IE method, respectively. Test results showed that the UPV is greater than the longitudinal wave velocity measured by the If method, i.e., rod-wave velocity obtained from the same concrete cylinder. It was found that the difference between the two types of velocities decreased with increasing the ages of concrete and strength level. Moreover, for the empirical formula, the dynamic Poisson's ratio, static and dynamic moduli of elasticity, and velocity-strength relationship were determined. It was observed that the Poisson's ratio and the modulus of elasticity determined by the dynamic method are greater than those determined by the static test. Consequently, for the more accurate estimation of concrete properties using the elastic wave velocities, the characteristics of these velocities should be understood.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.629-634
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• 2001

This study is to characterize the material property of early age high performance concrete emphasizing compressive strength using nondestructive testing methods. Three high performance concrete slabs of 600, 850 and 1100kg/$cm^{2}$ compressive strengths were prepared together with cylinders from same batches. Cylinder tests were peformed at the ages of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after pouring. Using the impact echo method, the compression wave velocities were obtained based on different high performance concrete ages and compressive strengths. The equation to obtain the compressive strengths of high performance concrete has been developed using the obtained compression wave velocities. Using the SASW (spectral analysis of surface wave) method, the equation have also been developed to obtain the compressive strengths of high performance concrete based on the surface wave velocities.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.5-14
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• 2016

The leakage of water under sewer pipelines is one of main sources of sinkholes in urban areas. We performed laboratory model tests to investigate the presence of cavities using impact-echo method, which is a nondestructive test method. To simulate a concrete sewer pipe, a thin concrete plate was built and placed over container filled with sand. The cavity was modeled as an extruded polystyrene foam box. Two sets of tests were performed, one over sand and the other on cavity. A new impact device was developed to apply a consistent high frequency impact load on the concrete plate, thereby increasing the reliability of the test procedure. The frequency and transient characteristics of the measured reflected waveforms were analyzed via fast Fourier transform and short time Fourier spectrum. It was shown that the shapes of Fourier spectra are very similar to one another, and therefore cannot be used to predict the presence of cavity. A new index, termed resonance duration, is defined to record the time of vibration exceeding a prescribed intensity. The results showed that the resonance duration is a more effective parameter for predicting the presence of a cavity. A value of the resonance period was proposed to estimate the presence of cavity. Further studies using various soil types and field tests are warranted to validate the proposed approach.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2015

One of the main causes of a limited use of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies in bridge deck assessment is the speed of data collection and analysis. The paper describes development and implementation of the RABIT (Robotics Assisted Bridge Inspection Tool) for data collection using multiple NDE technologies. The system is designed to characterize three most common deterioration types in concrete bridge decks: rebar corrosion, delamination, and concrete degradation. It implements four NDE technologies: electrical resistivity (ER), impact echo (IE), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and ultrasonic surface waves (USW) method. The technologies are used in a complementary way to enhance the interpretation. In addition, the system utilizes advanced vision to complement traditional visual inspection. Finally, the RABIT collects data at a significantly higher speed than it is done using traditional NDE equipment. The robotic system is complemented by an advanced data interpretation. The associated platform for the enhanced interpretation of condition assessment in concrete bridge decks utilizes data integration, fusion, and deterioration and defect visualization. This paper concentrates on the validation and field implementation of two NDE technologies. The first one is IE used in the delamination detection and characterization, while the second one is the USW method used in the assessment of concrete quality. The validation of performance of the two methods was conducted on a 9 m long and 3.6 m wide fabricated bridge structure with numerous artificial defects embedded in the deck.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.479-493
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• 2023

The need for safety management has arisen due to the increasing number of years of operated underground structures, such as tunnels and utility tunnels, and accidents caused by those aging infrastructures. However, in the case of privately managed underground utility ducts, there is a lack of detailed guidelines for facility safety and maintenance, resulting in inadequate safety management. Furthermore, the absence of basic design information and the limited space for safety assessments make applying currently used non-destructive testing methods challenging. Therefore, this study suggests non-destructive inspection methods using ultrasonic and impact-echo techniques to assess the quality of underground structures. Thickness, presence of rebars, depth of rebars, and the presence and depth of internal defects are assessed to provide fundamental data for the safety assessment of box-type general underground structures. To validate the proposed methodology, different conditions of concrete specimens are designed and cured to simulate actual field conditions. Applying ultrasonic and impact signals and collecting data through multi-channel accelerometers determine the thickness of the simulated specimens, the depth of embedded rebar, and the extent of defects. The predicted results are well agreed upon compared with actual measurements. The proposed methodology is expected to contribute to developing safety diagnostic methods applicable to general underground structures in practical field conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.271-283
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• 2002

P-wave velocity of concrete is a crucial parameter in determining the thickness of concrete lining, the location of cracks or other defects in Impact-Echo(IE) method. This study introduces an IE-SASW method that may determine the P-wave velocity on a surface of each testing area using the Spectral Analysis of Surface Wave (SASW) method. In numerical studies(Part I), it was verified that P-wave velocities could be obtained from SASW. In this paper(Part II), experimental studies were made in slab type concrete model specimens in which voids and waterproof sheet were included at the known locations. Accordingly, the feasibility of the proposed method was evaluated. The IE-SASW method was also performed in the precast model tunnel on ground and open-cut tunnel in ground. SASW tests were performed to determine the P-wave velocity of the concrete and then IE tests were carried at regularly spaced points along the testing lines to determine the thickness of structures. The nondestructive testing method which combined SASW and IE tests showed the great potential in the field applications.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.5-17
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• 2010

Coarse granular material is used as important fill material in most of large embankments such as railway, road, dam and so on. Therefore, the accurate design parameters of the coarse granular material are necessarily required in design and construction. The behavior of the coarse granular material was not well understood because of the lack of large testing equipment capable of coarse granular material. A large triaxial testing system was developed in this research, capable of large specimens of 500 mm, 300 mm and 150 mm in diameter. In the new large triaxial testing system, the load cell is installed inside the triaxial cell and axial displacement is measured locally on a specimen in order to improve control and measurement in small strain level. Urethane specimens of 300 mm and 50 mm in diameter were prepared. The large triaxial tests were performed on the 300 mm diameter urethane specimens while RC/TS and impact echo tests on the 50 mm diameter urethane specimens to verify this testing system. In this verification test results, we could ascertain the reasonable test results of the KRRI large triaxial testing system.