Visual Inspection and Non-Destructive Evaluation of Concrete Dam
The Problem
FPrimeC was retained by customer for the inspection and testing of a 100 year old concrete dam in the Township of Brock, ON. The dam appeared to have cracks and concrete degradation in the wing walls, and apparent erosion over the spillway, and the concrete basin.
Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation of Concrete Dam
Following communication with the client, a comprehensive test plan was designed and proposed to verify the quality and integrity of the concrete dam. A two stage inspection was proposed and conducted on the dam structure. In the first phase, a comprehensive visual inspection was conducted on the wing walls to record all the existing defects and integrity issues. The extent of cracking pointed to further investigations using non-destructive testing and extracting concrete core samples for further laboratory inspection and testing.
Concrete cores were visually inspected to verify the homogeneity of concrete, apparent integrity issues, and were later tested to evaluate the compressive strength of concrete. To expand the testing to a larger area, non-destructive testing was used to assess the strength, homogeneity, and integrity of concrete. Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity and rebound hammer testing were used to assess the wing walls.
Read More:
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity – Applications in Structure Inspection and Monitoring
Rebound Hammer – In-Place Methods to Evaluate Concrete Strength