Letters

Non-destructive-testing Methods for

Concrete Structures
Hiroshi Irie, Yasukatsu Yoshida, Yousuke Sakurada†,
and Takao Ito
Abstract
This article describes non-destructive-testing technology using ultrasound being developed at NTT
Access Network Service Systems Laboratories for reinforced-concrete structures. Existing techniques
can inspect cracking, voids, and other defects in such structures. Our new techniques can estimate the
amount of corrosion of steel-reinforcing bars in concrete and the compression strength of the concrete.

1. Importance of non-destructive testing degradation condition of that structure.

The ideal situation and the actual state of the main-
In present-day Japan, the maintenance and renewal tenance of steel-reinforced concrete structures are
of aging infrastructure—built during the economic shown schematically in Fig. 2 using the analogy
boom years—is becoming a major issue. Operating between the degradation process of steel-reinforced
such aged facilities efficiently and safely requires the concrete and the progress of a disease in humans. In
following maintenance cycle: design, inspection, the case of a human disease, if the disease can be
diagnosis, evaluation, and implementation of coun- detected in its latent phase (i.e., its premorbid phase)
termeasures (Fig. 1). To assure the safety of facilities, by regular health checks, it can be prevented from
it is necessary to ascertain their state to a high degree reaching an acute state, so major surgery is unneces-
of accuracy and detail. Moreover, among the steps in sary. Likewise, in the case of concrete structures, it is
the maintenance cycle, the inspection and diagnosis important to take effective action at the stage before
processes are extremely important. visible degradation of the concrete occurs. If high-
At present, the usual way to inspect and diagnose precision facility evaluation by non-destructive test-
facilities with high precision is to perform strength ing were available, it would be possible to continue
testing and material analysis on samples removed operating and maintaining existing facilities for a
from an existing facility. This method, by definition, long time.
consumes part of an existing facility, so it is difficult
to apply it to the entire structure of an aged existing 2. Direction of R&D on non-destructive testing
facility. Furthermore, in large-scale facilities like tun-
nels, the conditions often vary with the measurement The development of non-destructive-testing tech-
position, so it is difficult to evaluate the condition of nologies at NTT Access Network Service Systems
the whole facility from local measurements. Laboratories is focusing on the concrete structures in
On the other hand, non-destructive testing evaluates NTT’s platform facilities (such as existing tunnels
the condition of a structure without damaging it, so it and manholes). The methods are mainly based on
has two advantages: it can be applied to the whole of ultrasound and electromagnetic waves.
a large-scale structure and can efficiently evaluate the Ultrasound methods generate sound (elastic) waves
in a transmitter placed on the surface of a concrete
† NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories structure, measure those waves in a receiver also on
Tsukuba-shi, 305-0805 Japan the concrete surface, and determines the dimensions
Email: yousuke_sakurada@ansl.ntt.co.jp and position of any internal defects that are detected.

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Safe and efficient maintenance of facilities

Design
Main targets:
• Improved safety of aged facilities Database Countermeasures
• Lower maintenance costs
Inspection
• High-accuracy and efficient inspection/diagnosis
methods are becoming strongly demanded.
Evaluation

Diagnosis

Fig. 1. Maintenance cycle for reinforced-concrete structures.

Present state and ideal situation of maintenance

Transition of degradation phenomenon
Incubation phase Development phase Acceleration phase Degradation phase
Degradation phenomenon and main degradation factors

Rust generation

Generation of cracking

Generation of flaking

Generation of flaking
In comparison with Generation of arterial Occurrence of Growth of blood Blood-swelling
disease. For example, sclerosis. Disease blood swelling swelling bursting/bleeding
a brain hemorrhage symptoms: none Slight numbness Reduction in Impairment of motion
physical
performance
High blood pressure,
high cholesterol level Ideal situation Maintenance coverage for current tunnels

Degradation factors of checking Range of control of periodic inspection

• Neutralization depth • Salt content Object of maintenance
Lack of reinforcing bars (during construction) Ideal situation of and repairs
maintenance and repairs Range of precision inspection

Similarities with medical care

Reduction of burden on patients (cf. old structures) and medical costs (cf. maintenance costs)
requires highly accurate internal diagnosis (non-destructive testing)

Fig. 2. Present state and ideal situation of reinforced-concrete structure maintenance.

These methods search for defects by measuring varia- determined.

tions in parameters such as signal arrival time, wave- The main types of degradation that occur in con-
form, frequency, and phase. crete structures and the corresponding non-destruc-
On the other hand, electromagnetic-wave methods tive-testing methods for detecting them are listed in
exploit the feature that electromagnetic waves (emit- Table 1. At present, there are several non-destructive-
ted from a transmitting antenna into the interior of testing methods appropriate for each item in concrete
concrete) are reflected at the boundary between the structures for inspection. Consequently, an inspection
concrete and other materials (e.g., steel reinforcing that covers all of these items requires multiple mea-
bar, voids, and underground pipes) that have different suring instruments.
electromagnetic properties (e.g., relative permittivity To improve upon this situation, at NTT Access Net-
and specific electric conductivity). The distance to work Service Systems Laboratories, we are develop-
the reflecting object is calculated from the propaga- ing an inspection method that simultaneously uses
tion time, which enables the object’s location to be ultrasound and electromagnetic waves—which cover

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Table 1. Main degradation phenomena of RC structures and application range of non-destructive testing.
Example
Inspection items for RC structures and Black text: commercially available technology
non-destructive testing methods Red text: developed technologies

Main inspection items for concrete structures Applicable non-destructive testing

Hammering test Infrared method Elastic-wave method Ultrasound method
Flaking/voids
Electromagnetic-wave method Macroscopic ultrasound method
Elastic-wave method Ultrasound method
Cracks
Macroscopic ultrasound method
Degradation
Ultrasound method
status, etc. Compression strength
Macroscopic ultrasound method
Self-potential method Polarization-resistance method
Steel-reinforcement corrosion
Macroscopic ultrasound method
Neutralization and salt damage Electromagnetic-wave method (under development)
Electromagnetic-induction method
Reinforcing-bar position
Electromagnetic-wave method Macroscopic ultrasound method
Electromagnetic-induction method
Dimensions of Reinforcing-bar protective covering
Electromagnetic-wave method Macroscopic ultrasound method
structural
members, etc. Electromagnetic-induction method
Reinforcing-bar diameter
Electromagnetic-wave method
Elastic-wave method Ultrasound method
Concrete thickness
Macroscopic ultrasound method

a comparatively wide application range—so that less along a structure in a given time period, and by using
inspection equipment has to be carried to the inspec- a frequency filter*1 to detect arbitrary-component
tion site. Moreover, we are introducing an acoustic waves and an averaging procedure*2 that averages
method—called macroscopic ultrasound—that is dif- several thousand pulses. As a result, the reflected
ferent from conventional ultrasound methods. waves of interest can be isolated after a few seconds
(Fig. 3).
3. Macroscopic ultrasonic method An example of the received waveform when this
ultrasonic method is used for measuring concrete
Although the macroscopic ultrasonic method is a thickness is shown in Fig. 3. Here, the reflected
commonly used ultrasound method, it has a different waves from the underside of the concrete are clearly
measurement principle. Most ultrasound methods for isolated by means of a 3000-repetition averaging pro-
inspecting structures irradiate ultrasonic waves (puls- cedure and a frequency filter. This result clearly
es or bursts) into comparatively uniform materials shows that it is possible to precisely capture reflected
like steel structures and diagnose the internal condi- ultrasonic waves from a target within concrete that
tion of the structure from the sound waves reflected contains composite materials.
from matter with different elastic properties and from This result illustrates why we chose to call this
transmitted waves that propagate through the struc- method a macroscopic ultrasonic method: all of the
ture. When concrete is irradiated with ultrasound reflected waves (including noise and scattered waves)
waves, however, the waves are scattered by water, are received, but the noise is suppressed to reveal the
voids, gravel, and other things in the concrete, so the desired reflected waves.
received ultrasound waves contain a lot of noise. As a
result, it is difficult to identify the desired reflected
waves from places like the underside of a concrete *1 Frequency filter: A filter that selectively extracts high- and low-
structure or from embedded steel-reinforcing bars. frequency waves from ultrasound waves propagating through
Thus, high-precision measurement has not been pos- concrete with a large bandwidth according to a search target.
sible. *2 Averaging procedure: A special feature of the macroscopic ultra-
sonic method. It sequentially irradiates and averages a pulsed
Our macroscopic ultrasonic method, on the other wave over a specific time while a search unit is moved. As a result,
hand, suppresses noise by sequentially irradiating constant waves remain temporarily, but arbitrary ones are elimi-
pulses from an ultrasound search unit as it is moved nated.

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Search unit

Concrete
(composite material)

Reflected wave Thickness

Reflected waves from

concrete basal aspet
⇒

Averaging procedure Averaging procedure Averaging procedure repeated

repeated several times repeated 1000 times 3000 times (with frequency filter)

All reflected waves Averaging-procedure Measurement wave

(scattered waves) are received. frequency filter is clearly isolated.

Fig. 3. O
 verview of macroscopic ultrasound method and example of
waveform obtained during concrete thickness measurement.

4. Method for estimating amount of sured while the units are moved parallel to the bar’s
steel-reinforcement corrosion orientation.
Examples of spectral waveforms that have been
The amount of corrosion of steel-reinforcing bars Fourier transformed from the reflected ultrasound
in a concrete structure must be examined in order to waves obtained by the measurement method are
understand their corrosion state and assess the load- shown in Fig. 5. This graph indicates that as the
bearing performance and durability retained by the amount of corrosion of the reinforcing bars increases,
concrete. When reinforcing bars in concrete become the waves reflected from the structure being exam-
corroded (i.e., rusted), rust is generated on the surface ined become weaker across a specific frequency
of the bars, and fine cracks begin to grow as the rust- band.
ing expands. Ultrasound waves are reflected differ- The relationship between the strength of the reflect-
ently depending on a material’s shape and quality. ed-wave spectrum and the amount of corrosion was
Therefore, we are using this characteristic to develop investigated in the following manner. The reflected-
a method for estimating the amount of corrosion of wave-spectrum strength is expressed as the area
steel-reinforcing bars in steel-reinforced concrete. under a spectrum in a certain frequency range, and
An overview of the measurement method is given the amount of corrosion of a steel-reinforcing bar is
in Fig. 4. Two wide-bandwidth piezoelectric-element expressed as the ratio of the bar’s weight before and
sensors are used to provide separate units for trans- after corrosion. The relationship between them is
mitting and receiving signals. During a measurement, shown as a bar graph in Fig. 6. This graph indicates
to capture reflected waves from a certain region of a that if the area under the reflected-wave spectrum
reinforcing bar, the separation between the search obtained from the non-corroded bar is taken as a
units is kept constant, and reflected waves are mea- baseline, the area under the reflected-wave-spectrum

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D16 Steel reinforcing bar

Dimension: mm Measurement while moving search unit

100
d
d

200

0
20
Steel reinforcing bar
300
200

Fig. 4. Configuration of test specimen and overview of ultrasound measurement method.

Corrosion amount: amount of corrosion generating cracking directly

above reinforcing bar (caused by expansion of
reinforcing bar accompanying corrosion)
Medium amount of corrosion: 1/2 of large amount

Reflected wave from sound

(i.e., healthy) bar
Reflected wave from bar with
medium amount of corrosion
Power spectrum

Reflected wave from bar with

a lot of corrosion

Bandwidth in which there are variations

Frequency between the power spectra

Fig. 5. Ultrasound spectra of sound waves reflected off reinforcing bars.

decreases as the amount of steel-reinforcing-bar cor- 5. Method of estimating the compression

rosion increases. Two factors are responsible for this strength of concrete
trend. First, the outer diameter of a steel-reinforcing
bar is increased by corrosion (because steel expands Concrete structures are designed on the basis of the
by two to four times when it turns to rust), which strength of the concrete, in particular, its compression
exerts pressure on the surrounding concrete and strength. A change in the physical properties of the
causes microscopic cracking. Second, rust bonds to concrete due to degradation of a concrete structure
the surface of the steel bar, giving it an irregular affects the concrete’s compression strength. Conse-
shape. These factors cause scattering and attenuation quently, when diagnosing the condition of concrete, it
of ultrasound waves, which reduce the spectral is especially important to understand the compression
strength. Furthermore, this phenomenon is prominent strength. We are developing technology that utilizes
in a certain frequency band (see Fig. 5). the special characteristic of ultrasound waves—
namely, the direct relationship between their velocity

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100 Ultrasound-wave
Area of reflected-wave spectra input direction
90
Area of reflected-wave spectrum

for healthy reinforcing bar Search unit

80 Area of reflected-wave spectrum
for reinforcing bar with medium
70
amount of corrosion
60 Area of reflected-wave spectrum
for reinforcing bar with a lot of Surface-propagating Surface-propagating
50 wave wave
corrosion
40
30
Interior-propagating wave
20 Concrete
10
0

Fig. 6. V
 ariation in the area of reflected-wave spectrum Fig. 7. Ultrasound waves generated within the material.
accompanying an increase in steel-reinforcing-bar
corrosion amount.

80
Correlation coefficient (r)=0.82 80
Compression strength (kN)

Compression strength (kN)

60 correlation coefficient (r)=0.33
60

40
40

20 20

0 0
3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000 3 500 4 000 4 500 5 000
Acoustic velocity (m/s) Acoustic velocity (m/s)

Fig. 8. Relationship between acoustic velocity of interior- Fig. 9. R

 elationship between acoustic velocity of surface-
propagating wave and concrete compression propagating wave and concrete compression
strength (correlation coefficient (r)=0.82). strength (correlation coefficient (r)=0.33).

and the elastic modulus*3 of the material through units (i.e., the transmission method), internal-propa-
which they are propagating—to estimate the com- gation waves can better characterize the elastic prop-
pression strength of concrete from the acoustic veloc- erties of the concrete (Fig. 8). In the case of rein-
ity of ultrasound waves propagating in the concrete. forced-concrete (RC) structures laid in the ground
Acoustic velocity is calculated from the propaga- such as manholes and tunnels, however, this trans-
tion time of an ultrasound wave within a material. mission measurement method is inapplicable.
Ultrasound waves propagating through a material are Accordingly, concrete-compression-strength estima-
categorized into two types (as shown schematically in tion utilizing the acoustic velocity of surface-propa-
Fig. 7): waves propagating within the material (here- gation waves (from an ultrasound search unit placed
after, internal-propagation waves) and waves propa- on one surface of the material under examination) has
gating on the surface of the material (surface-propa- been tried. However, the surface layers of concrete
gation waves). Internal-propagation waves have and the interior of construction materials contain
higher pulsation energy when ultrasound is irradiated large variations. As a result, the variation in acoustic
directly towards the material interior than surface- velocity is also large, so it has been difficult to esti-
propagation waves. mate the compression strength of an entire concrete
Research performed up until now has shown that structure (Fig. 9).
when concrete is placed between ultrasound search Given these drawbacks, we applied the special
characteristic of our macroscopic ultrasonic method
*3 Elastic modulus: A parameter that expresses the elastic properties (namely, high-accuracy measurement of reflected
of a material.
waves from a measurement target) to devise an ultra-

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Transmitting search unit Receiving search unit 6. Future plans

By establishing the two methods described above,

for estimating steel-reinforcing-bar corrosion amount
and compression strength, we have made it possible
to check the required items (namely, compression
strength) for facility-strength assessment with a sin-
gle ultrasound inspection device (i.e., RC diagnostic
Interior-propagating
Concrete reflected wave unit). From now on, we will try to make these meth-
ods easier to use while accumulating measurement
data from actual structures under various environ-
Fig. 10. Measurement method using concrete-interior-
propagating reflected wave. ments and verifying measurement accuracy. More-
over, to evaluate the life-cycle cost of RC structures,
we will continue this research in parallel with efforts
sonic measurement method that uses reflected waves to understand degradation factors (e.g., neutraliza-
propagating through a material (Fig. 10). Since this tion, salinity and concentration) by using electromag-
measurement method can perform estimations from netic waves. Establishing these non-destructive test-
ultrasound waves propagating through concrete, it ing methods using ultrasound and electromagnetic
can estimate the compression strength of concrete in waves has made it possible to expand non-destructive
a similar manner to the above-mentioned transmis- testing to cover not only NTT’s basic infrastructure
sion method, making it applicable to the evaluation of but also the huge stock of social capital*4 and archi-
RC structures buried in the ground. tectural RC structures. By doing so, we believe that
we can achieve more efficient maintenance and
operation of such structures and, thus, contribute to
the creation of a safer and more secure society.

*4 Stock of social capital: Social capital includes public facilities

necessary for life and business activities (roads, harbors, sewage
systems, parks, etc.). The amount of this social capital provided is
referred to as the stock of social capital.

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Hiroshi Irie Yousuke Sakurada

Senior Research Engineer Supervisor, Civil Research Engineer, Civil Engineering Project,
Engineering Project, NTT Access Network NTT Access Network Service Systems
Service Systems Laboratories. Laboratories.
He received the B.E. degree in civil engineering He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in
from Saga University, Saga, in 1988 and the mechanical engineering from Nagaoka University
M.E. degree in civil engineering from Kyushu of Technology, Niigata, in 2002 and 2004,
University, Fukuoka, in 1990. He joined NTT in respectively. He joined NTT East in 2004 and
1990. He is currently engaged in R&D of non- was transferred to the Laboratories in 2006. He is
d e s t r u c t ive i n s p e c t i o n t e c h n o l o g y a n d currently engaged in R&D of non-destructive
maintenance management technology for inspection technology and maintenance
communication infrastructure facilities. He is a management technology for communication
member of Japan Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure facilities. He is a member of
(JSCE). JSCE.
.
.

Yasukatsu Yoshida Takao Ito

Senior Research Engineer, Civil Engineering Manager, Nippon Comsys Corporation.
Project, NTT Access Network Service Systems He received the B.E. in civil engineering from
Laboratories. Hosei University, Tokyo, in 1995. He joined
He received the B.E. in civil engineering from Nippon Comsys Corporation in 1995. He has
Tohoku Gakuin University, Miyagi, in 1989. He been on temporary transfer to NTT Access
joined NTT in 1989. He is currently engaged in Network Service Systems Laboratories since
R&D of non-destructive inspection technology 2005. He is currently engaged in R&D of non-
and maintenance management technology for d e s t r u c t ive i n s p e c t i o n t e c h n o l o g y a n d
communication infrastructure facilities. He is a maintenance management technology for
member of JSCE. communication infrastructure facilities.

Vol. 6 No. 5 May 2008