Structural Engineering Report No, 198 ASSESSMENT OF CONCRETE STRENGTH IN EXISTING STRUCTURES by F. Michael Bartlett and James G. MacGregor Department of Civil Engineering University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta May, 1994Abstract A simple method is presented for the determination of an equivalent specified strength of concrete, using a small number of core tests, which can be substituted directly for the specified strength, f., in conventional design equations to assess the safety of an existing structure, The method is developed from investigations concerning the interpretation of core strength data and the strength of conerete in structures. Various aspects of the testing procedure which affect the compressive strength of concrete cores are quantified, using weighted linear and nonlinear regression analyses of core test data from conventional concretes investigated by others and new data from high performance concretes investigated in this study. Strength correction factors which depend on the length to diameter ratio, test moisture condition, and diameter of the core are obtained. The factors for length to diameter ratio are only slightly different from those recommended in Canadian and American published standards, These standards currently recommend short periods of drying or soaking before the specimen is tested which create a moisture gradient between the surface and the interior of the specimen that artificially biases the test result. Damage to the cut surface of the core causes cores with small diameters to fail at lower apparent strengths than cores with larger diameters obtained from the same element, A statistical description of the strength of concrete in structures is developed using standard cylinder data from 108 concrete mixes produced in Alberta between 1988 and 1993, and using core and standard cylinder data reported by others. The average in situ compressive strength of 28 day old conventional concretes in columns is 1.3 f,, with a coefficient of variation of 18.6%. Ifthe effects of within-member, between-member, and batch-to-batch strength variation are accounted for, there is roughly a 13.5% probability that the concrete strength in a 28 day old structure will be less than f”.. It is probable that recalibration of load and resistance factors using this statistical description of concrete will yield greater factored concrete strengths than are used in current design practice.Acknowledgements The core testing programme was carried out in the I. F. Morrison Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Alberta, and was financed by the Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence of High Performance Concrete. In the lab, helpful and prompt assistance was received from N. Alca, 8. D. B. Alexander, C. Jordan, and L. Burden. The photographs which appear in Chapter 2 and Appendix 2A of this thesis were taken by L. Burden. The standard cylinder test data for this study was gathered with the assistance of Mr. J. Dutton, Alberta Conerete Products Limited, Mr. R. Kennedy, Consolidated Concrete Limited, Mr. R. Lorenz, Stel-Marr Concrete Limited, Mr. D. Robson, EBA Engineering Consultants Limited, all from Edmonton, Alberta, and Mr. R. Ramsay and Mr. T. Morrison of the Bridge Branch of Alberta Transportation and Utilities. The kind iduals, both in making data available and providing insight into cooperation of these ini the current state-of-practice, is gratefully acknowledged. ‘The following individuals either provided previously unpublished in situ strength data or elaborated on their published investigations: Dr. M. M. Attard, University of New South Wales (Australia); Mr. J. A. Bickley, J. A. Bickley and Associates, Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario); Mr. R. G. Burg, Construction Technology Laboratories Ltd. (Skokie, Illinois); Mr. D. Dixon, McCormick Rankin Consulting Engineers Ltd. (Mississauga, Ontario); Mr. R. C, Elstner, Elstner Pacific Ltd. (Honolulu, Hawaii); Mr. J. S. Grossman, Rosenwasser/Grossman Consultants (New York, New York); Mr. V. M. Malhotra, CANMET (Ottawa, Ontario); Dr. S. L. Mak, Division of Building, Construction and Engineering, CSIRO (Victoria, Australia); Mr. R. C. Meininger, National Aggregate Association/National Ready Mixed Conerete Association (Silver Spring, Maryland); Dr. D. Mitchell, McGill University (Montreal, Quebec); and Mr. P. Read, KST (Don Mills, Ontario). Their cooperation and assistance is gratefully acknowledged. Scholarship support from the Killam Trust, the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, ENCON Insurance Managers Inc., the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers, and the University of Alberta Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research is gratefully acknowledged.