Performance of 90-year-old concrete in a historical structure

Surface and subsurface defects, such as the scaling of a concrete surface, corrosion of the reinforcement, carbonation of concrete, cracks in concrete, etc., are often observed in historical structures. In order to assess the performance of the aged concrete in a historical structure, a combination of impact echo and ultrasonic surface wave techniques as well as ground penetrating radar (GPR) are believed to be the most effective approaches to determine not only the overall quality of the concrete in the structural components, but also the extent of any internal deterioration that may be present in the structure. In this study, the field evaluation of the old concrete in a historical reinforced concrete structure (a stadium) has been conducted using destructive and nondestructive methods. The extent of the damage and unseen patterns of concrete deterioration were determined successfully based on the results obtained using GPR and a seismic property analyzer. In addition, the material properties of the old concrete were compared to laboratory test results.