ASSESSMENT OF CONCRETE QUALITY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS USING SCHMIDT HAMMER

ABSTRACT

The quality of concrete in reinforced concrete structures can be tested either by destructive or non-destructive technique. For structures under use, non-destructive technique is preferred simply because the method affords little or no destruction of the structural elements under investigation. Schmidt Rebound Hammer test was used to assess the reinforced concrete structural elements of two University Hostels labelled A and B. From the investigation of the concrete quality according to IS 13311-21992, it was discovered that for the selected elements considered in Hostel A, 89% of the ground floor columns are of fair hard concrete and 11% are of good concrete layer;67% are of very good layer while 33% are of good layer for slab and 3% of the beams are of fair quality concrete while the rest are of good qualities. However, for Hostel B, 8% of the ground columns are of good hard concrete, 78% are of fair hard layer and 14% are of poor concrete layer, while 56% are of good hard layer and 44% are of very good layer for slab and 51% are of good hard layer and 49% are of very good layer for beams. Rapt attention is therefore needed on the columns of Hostel B and to those elements that gave low rebound values so that the structural integrity of the buildings can be sustained to a high degree. Also, because of the variability of the quality of concrete of the assessed structural elements, more non-destructive tests like ultrasonic pulse velocity test should be conducted.