Quality Control and Evaluation Methods of Concrete Engineering and Its Reliability Analysis

Abstract

Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and rebound hammer (RH) tests are often used for assessing the quality of concrete and estimation of its compressive strength. Several parameters influence the property of concrete, such as the type and size of aggregates, cement content and the implementation of concrete. To account for these factors, both of the two tests are combined and their measurements are calibrated with the results of mechanical tests on cylindrical specimens cast on site. In this study, the two tests cited above have been used to determine the concrete quality by applying regression analysis models between compressive strength of in situ concrete on existing structure and the nondestructive tests values. With the combined method, equations are derived using statistical analysis (simple and multiple regression) to estimate compressive strength of concrete on site. Besides, this paper presents the reliability analysis to nonlinear reinforced concrete beams. A First Order Reliability Method (FORM) is used, and the results are compared to the ones given by Monte Carlo simulation.