COMPUTERIZED-TOMOGRAPHY ANALYSIS OF REINFORCED-CONCRETE

Gamma-ray computerized tomography (CT) has the potential of being a po werful nondestructive method to assess the degree of distress existing in reinforced concrete members. This paper presents a feasibility stu dy of using CT to inspect reinforced concrete specimens. One of the ma in objectives was to verify the CT resolution in determining the size and location of voids and reinforcing bars. To assess the efficiency o f CT in determining large voids, a concrete cylinder was cast with a c onical hole centered along its longitudinal axis. The hole was posteri orly filled with a material of similar density but higher atomic numbe r, and the specimen was reanalyzed to determine CT's capacity in disti nguishing changes in material composition. To evaluate the efficiency of CT in establishing the location of reinforcing bars, a concrete cyl inder with a reinforcing bar embedded in its center and a cube with re inforcing bars distributed along its diagonal were used. The results i ndicate that CT was able to resolve the many different phases in reinf orced concrete (reinforced bars, concrete, and voids) with great accur acy.