When reinforced concrete is exposed to fire, both the concrete and reinforcement may be altered, which can result in structural and material damage. The repair strategy for fire-damaged structures depends on the severity of damage. While both can be characterized by laboratory testing of extracted samples (i.e., concrete cores and steel reinforcing), the scale of material sampling can often be very large, expensive, and time consuming.
In this article, Jacob Borgerson and Joshua White discuss how nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods can be used to better understand the extent of damage more efficiently than laboratory testing alone. Once the extent of damage is characterized by NDE, targeted laboratory testing can then be used to determine the depth of damage and approximate exposure temperatures in order to develop repair strategies.
This article was originally published in the July/August 2021 issue of the Concrete Repair Bulletin—a bi-monthly magazine of the International Concrete Institute (ICRI) featuring technical articles on the repair, protection, and restoration of concrete structures and surfaces. Learn more about ICRI and the Bulletin here.
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