Concrete Inspection

Concrete Inspection Using Concrete Imaging Instruments

Concrete inspection is done every day in the worlds of construction, engineering, hydrology, mining, and archaeology. Ground penetrating radar is used for site assessments, pre-construction surveys, highway and road inspections, bridge deck condition inspections, and other engineering applications. It is often necessary to determine the state of a structure below the surface without disturbing the structure or the surface that it sits on.

Therefore, specialized instruments for non-destructive concrete testing have been created to do just this. The quality, durability, and safety of bridges, buildings, and highways is ensured by employing GPR systems. The safety of the public often depends on the accuracy of the data found by these radar systems, which is why newer ways of doing concrete inspection have emerged.

How Does Concrete Imaging Work?

Concrete imaging usually encompasses a few different specialized tools that work together as a system. By using these tools, rebar, conduit, cables and voids in concrete can be accurately detected and located. The antenna, when passed across inspection areas, emits radio impulses that are reflected by embedded structures.

From a series of scans, target depth and spacing can be accurately determined and laid out directly on the surface for trouble-free coring, cutting, and structural analysis. In areas where complex or crowded target patterns exist, scanned data may be downloaded into a laptop which generates plan view images with 1" depth slices up to 12" deep. In most cases, embedded structures can be located and marked out directly from the system screen to depths of up to 2 feet.