Forensic Structural Engineering: A Comparison of Non-Destructive and Destructive Methods for Assessing Concrete Quality in Columns within the Peruvian High-Andean Zone

In the high-andean zone of Peru, the concrete structures are exposed to adverse conditions that can affect its durability and resistance, due to the fact that they tend to deteriorate over time; therefore, it is necessary to periodically perform a quality evaluation of the material with the purpose to guarantee the safety in the service requests. Nevertheless, to perform this characterization of the material continues to be a structural challenge because of the lack of clear correlation between destructive and non-destructive methods applied in diverse structural elements. Given this, this research has the objective to execute the comparison between the destructive and the most conventional non-destructive test as alternatives for the evaluation of concrete quality. For attaining this purpose, this study analyzed mainly the concrete column elements utilizing the rebound hammer test according to ASTM C805/C805M, the ultrasonic pulse velocity test according to ASTM C597, and concrete core extraction according to ASTM C42/C42M, followed by compressive strength testing according to ASTM C39/C39M, comparing the obtained results for analyzing its correlation degree and its applicability. The findings demonstrate that when employing the corresponding variable to the ultrasonic speed and the rebound index independently in the correlation with the diamond cores its provides a variation margin of around ± 2.95 % and ± 3.62 % respectively, for the prediction of the compressive strength of the material. However, to opt for these approaches involves an uncertainty rate higher than the SonReb model, this is the main reason why the implication of selecting a testing methodology was carried out, resulting the SonReb model the most outstanding for the estimation of the compressive strength in constructions with technical precedents.