Adapting Artificial Intelligence to Improve In Situ Concrete Compressive Strength Estimations in Rebound Hammer Tests

Abstract

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Compressive strength is probably one the most crucial properties of concrete material. For existing structures, core samples are drilled and tested to obtain the concrete compressive strength. Many times, taking core samples is not feasible, and as a result, nondestructive methods to examine the concrete are required. The rebound hammer test is one of the most popular methods to estimate concrete compressive strength without causing damage to the existing structure. The test is inexpensive and can be easily conducted compared to other nondestructive testing methods. Also, concrete compressive strength estimations can be obtained almost instantly. However, previous results have shown that concrete compressive strength estimations obtained from rebound hammer tests are not very accurate. As a result, this research attempts to apply artificial intelligence prediction models to estimate concrete compressive strength using data from in situ rebound hammer tests. The results show that artificial intelligence methods can effectively improve in situ concrete compressive strength estimations in rebound hammer tests.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• non-destructive test
• concrete strength
• rebound hammer test
• artificial neural networks
• support vector machines