Damage assessment of reinforced concrete buildings after seismic events using sonic and ultrasonic measurements

The paper assesses the possibility of using sonic and ultrasonic Non-Destructive Tests (NDT) to evaluate the damage caused to concrete after a seismic event in a reinforce concrete (RC) frame. To this end, a real 3D RC frame was subjected to shaking table tests at the Seismic Hall of ENEA Casaccia research center. The seismic input for shaking table tests was based on the recording of the event that destroyed Amatrice on August 24, 2016, with scaling factors up to 100 % in acceleration. The sonic and ultrasonic NDTs were performed before and after the application of the seismic action to assess the capability of measuring the eventual damage. The measurements were performed at different locations where different levels of damage were expected. The results show the capability of the sonic tests in assessing the concrete damage as well as the necessity of carefully choosing the application point of ultrasonic tests.