DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

SREE RAMA GOVT. POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE, THRIPRAYAR,

THRISSUR

CERTIFICATE

Certified that this is the bona-fide record of the Report of Seminar on

“DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNIQUE FOR INSITU STRESS ASSESSMENT
IN CONCRERTE STRUCTURES” submitted by JITTO VADUKKOOT, Reg.
No: 17011292 Sixth Semester Diploma in Civil Engineering at Sree Rama Govt.
Polytechnic College, Thriprayar in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the
award of Diploma in Civil Engineering under the Directorate of Technical Education,
Kerala State during the academic year 2017-2020.

Mrs. SRUTHY P.S. Mrs. M.U JAYANTHY

Seminar Guide Head of Department
Sree Rama Govt. Polytechnic College, Sree Rama Govt. Polytechnic College,
Thriprayar Thriprayar
 ABSTRACT
Reinforced and prestressed concrete are widely used for the construction
of major civil engineering structures . Concrete structures undergo
distress with time due to environmental and other unfavourable operating
conditions . Determination of in-situ stress on the concrete surface in one
way to assess the prestressing force available in the prestressed concrete
members . The in-situ stress determination is based on the measurement
of strain release due to local elastic stress relief, caused by core drilling
and creation of stress free boundaries .
Three techniques, namely concrete core-drilling technique, concrete
core trepanning technique and concrete core-drilling strain gauge
technique (CDSG) were developed to evaluate the in-situ stress under
uniaxial and biaxial stress conditions . The detailed methodology and
procedures of experimental and numerical studies are discussed below .
 ACKN
OWLEDGEMENT

The report in the blossom of an ardous endeavour coupled with a

compassionate blessing of god almighty .
I take this opportunity to adulate support of all who have assisted
me one the way . I express engineering ,my deep thanks to Mr. Titus
sir ,HOD of civil engineering department for his encouragement and
support in completing this seminar .
I express my deep thanks to Mr. Kunhimoosa sir for his sightful
suggestion and witty criticism . Finally I thank to all other staffs and my
friends for this selfless help .
 TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONCRETE CORE DRILLING TECHNIQUE
3. HOLE ANALYSIS
4. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
5. CONCRETE CORE TREPANNING
6. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
7. CONCRETE CORE DRILLING STRAIN GAGE TECHNIQUE
8. HOLE ANALYSIS
9. NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
10.CONCLUSION
 LIST OF FIGURES

 STRAIN GAGE ARRANGEMENT -1

 WHEATSTONE BRIDGE CIRCUIT
 INSTRUMENTAL SET UP
 STANDARD CORE DRILLING MACHINE
 STRAIN GAGE DATA LOGGER
 STRAIN GAGE ARRANGEMENT-2
 INSTRUMENTAL SETUP FOR CONCRETE CORE
TREPANNING TECHNIQUE
 STRAIN GAUGE ROSETTE CONFIGURATION
 VARIOUS GAGE CONFIGURATION
 CHAPTER 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Civil engineering structures are essential for economic health and

prosperity of any country . These civil engineering such as tall buildings,
bridges ,nuclear containments, pressure vessels etc, are constructed using
reinforced / prestressed concrete . Many of these were not built to last
longer 50 years . Thousands of existing bridges world wide are presently
in need of rehabilitation through major works of repairs . In the future,
the rehabilitation of existing structures will constitute an exceptionally
large field of operation that will extend for many years . Timely
retrofitting measures are important and this will help to reduce damage
and improve the service life of structures . To assess the safety and
serviceability of the distressed structures. It is necessary to reliably
estimate the existing level of strength /stress.
The existing stress in concrete structures can be evaluated by two
approaches. The first approach is to instrument the structure at the time
of construction and then monitor periodically. This method is called
structural health monitoring and will be useful for new constructions. For
old and distressed structures , stress/strength assessment has to be done
through appropriate in- situ testing and evaluation of techniques and their
results .
 CHAPTER 2

For finding or determining the in -situ stress on the pre-stressed or

reinforced concrete structure under uniaxial and biaxial stress state three
techniques are used . In this seminar, discussed mainly about the below
three techniques and its evaluation and analysis .

The three techniques are…….

 CONCRETE CORE DRILLING TECHNIQUE

 CONCRETE CORE TREPANNING TECHNIQUE
 CONCRETE CORE DRILLING STRAIN GAGE TECHNIQUE
2.1 : CONCRETE CORE DRILLING TECHNIQUE

An experimental method known as the concrete core -drilling

technique for the determination of in -situ stress in reinforced/pre-
stressed concrete structures under uni-axial stress condition is
developed .
It is formulated by special arrangement of four electrical resistance
strain gages suitably placed around the indented core and connected
through a Wheatstone bridge circuit in a full bridge configuration to
magnify the strain response . The efficiency of the method is evaluated
by carried out the Numerical analysis.

2.1.1:THROUGH - HOLE ANALYSIS

The introduction of a hole into a stressed body relaxes the stresses

at that location. This occurs because every perpendicular to a free
surface(in this case the hole surface) is necessarily a principal axis on
which the shear and normal stresses are zero. The elimination of these
stresses on the hole surface changes these stress in the immediately
surrounding region , causing the local strains on surface of the stressed
body to change correspondingly. Based on this principle the concrete
core - drilling technique Is developed.

In practical applications of the method, the drilled hole depth is

small compared to the thickness of the test structure. The hole drilled
completely through a plate in which the stress is uniformly distributed
through the plate in which the stress is uniformly distributed through the
plate thickness can be used with acceptable approximation.
 It was developed by considering the practical aspects of the strain
gage instrumentation using a special arrangement of the electrical
resistance strain gages suitably placed around the core assessment of in -
situ stress.

This consist of two radial gages (SG1&SG2)and two tangential

gages(SG3 &SG4)of 30mm gage length aligned around the intented
core . All four gages are connected through a Wheatstone bridge circuit
in full bridge configuration . This will magnify the response of measured
strain . The temperature effect during measurement is also minimized
/cancelled .
On during a circular core of 50mm diameter the strain gages measure the
change in strain due to core drilling.A standard concrete core cutting
machine ,with diamond tipped cutting tool is used .

Strain gage data logger was used to measure the strain response. Data
logger used was capable of accepting four types of inputs from
quarter,half - bridge strain gage circuits ,including strain gage based
transducers with a measurement resolution of 1 micro strain .

2.1.2: NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

Numerical analysis was carried out to check the efficiency and

suitability of the method and to evaluate the calibration constant (Cf) for
the chosen configuration.

The calibration constant is the ratio of the total released

(measured)strain from the four gages to the existing (applied)strain in the
structure due to the applied load .

For assessing the existing stress in distressed reinforced concrete/pre-

stressed concrete structure the concrete core -drilling technique can be
used.
WHEATSTONE BRIDGE CIRCUIT

EXPERIMENTAL SET UP
STANDARD CORE DRILLING MACHINE

STRAIN GAGE DATA LOGGER

2.2 : CONCRETE CORE TREPANNING TECHNIQUE

Assessment of in-situ stresses in concrete structures which are under

biaxial stress state is complex to handle . Concrete core trepanning
technique is developed to assess the in-situ stress under biaxial stress
state.

The proposed technique employs a three element strain gage rosette to

measure the strain release due to core -drilling.The reliability of the
proposed technique was evaluated through laboratory studies.Numerical
analysis was carried out for evaluating the efficiency of the method.

2.2.1:CONCRETE CORE TREPANNING TECHNIQUE

This technique was developed (Parivallal etc..(2001), Kesavan et..al.,

(2005))for in-situ stress evaluation in concrete structural elements in
uniaxial stress condition.This developed technique is furthered to
measure in - situ stresses in concrete under bi-axial load state.

In this proposed technique ,three electrical resistance strain gage

namely SG1,SG3 of 30mm gage length were fixed at the center of the
intended core.Here also 30mm length of gage with 50mm diameter core
was used.The gages used were of 3 element staked strain gages rosette of
0/45/90 degree orientation.

An annular hole of 50mm diameter with 50mm depth was formed by

diamond core drilling.On drilling the annular hole around the core,the
strain gage measures the change in strain due to core drilling.A standard
concrete core drilling machine ,with diamond tipped cutting tool of
50mm diameter ,we used in this method .Portable strain measuring
equipment with a resolution of 1 micro-strain was used to measure the
strain . The elastic strain relief due to core drilling was recorded till
cutting to a depth of 50mm , in the increments of 10mm.The in-situ
principal strains ,stresses and direction of principal stress were
determined from the measured strains and by using elastic modulus (Ec)
and poisson’s ratio(v)of concrete.

2.2.2: NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

By numerical analysis five models of 45mm diameter with depths of

10mm,20mm,30mm,40mm and 50mm were created and analysed.For the
analysis ,assuming that the existing stress state corresponds to various
stresses.The same stress state was considered in the analysis.The stress
distribution across the depth was assumed to be uniform.Concrete of
M40 grade with modulus of elasticity of 31623 N/mm2 and Poisson’s
ratio (v) of 0.17 was used in the analysis. The introduction of a hole into
a stressed body relaxes the stresses over the region.This occurs because
every perpendicular to a free surface (hole surface in this case ) is
necessarily a principal axis on which the shear and normal stresses are
zero.The elimination of these stresses on the hole surface changes the
stress in the immediately surrounding region,causing the local strains on
the surface of the test specimen to change correspondingly.The released
stress was applied as pressure load on the elements using laying on the
surface of the core.The relieved radial stress variation was
calculated.This numerical analysis is indicated that the proposed
technique is efficient in assessing the existing stresses.
 The comparison of experimental and numerical studies was carried
out.The numerical studies have clearly indicated that the proposed
technique is efficient in assessing the existing stresses.Hence the
concrete core trepanning technique can be used for in-situ stress
evaluation under bi-axial stress conditions.
STRAIN GAGE INSTRUMENTED SPECIMEN FOR TESTING
2.3: CONCRETE CORE DRILLING STRAIN GAGE
TECHNIQUE

It is a technique that can be used to evaluate the in-situ stresses on

concrete structural members. This technique for measurement of in-situ
stress on concrete structures subjected to bi-axial stress condition.

A special strain gage rosette configuration consisting of six

electrical resistance strain gages aligned radial and tangential direction
around the core is used to evaluate the in-situ stress.

2.3.1: THROUGH HOLE ANALYSIS

The introduction of hole in a stressed body relaxes at that

location.This occurs because every perpendicular to a free surface in
necessarily a principal axis on which the shear and normal stresses are
zero.The elimination of these stresses on the surface of the hole changes
the stresses in the immediately surrounding region ,causing the local
strains on the surface of the test object to change correspondingly.This is
the basis of the hole drilling strain gage technique of existing stress
measurement.
STRAIN GAGE ROSETTE CONFIGURATION
INSTRUMENTAL DETAILES ON SPECIMEN
VARIOUS GAGE CONFIGURATIONS
2.3.2:THE TECHNIQUE CARRIED OUT BY

Residual stress evaluation for homogenous material like metal can

be evaluated by using blind hole drilling technique ,an ASTM method
(2002).This concept was extended to evaluate the in-situ stress in
concrete structural elements using concrete core-drilling strain gage
technique.This technique was developed by suitable placement of
electrical resistance strain gages around the core for assessment of in-situ
stress.Six strain gage of 30mm gage length were used where three strain
gages placed radially and the remaining three placed tangentially to the
intended core.Each of the radial gages R1,R2 &R3 were of 30mm gage
length with orientation along 0,225&90 degree respectively.Each of the
tangential gage T1,T2&T3 were 30mm gage length and placed opposite
to the radial gages.In order to increase the response a half bridge
configuration in the Wheatstone bridge circuit was adopted by suitably
combining radial and tangential gages.This will magnify the strain
response.On drilling an annular core of 50mm diameter.A standard
concrete core cutting machine , with diamond tipped cutting tool,was
used in this method.

Combining the radial gage R1 and tangential gage T1 in Wheatstone

bridge circuit was denoted as gage SG1.Similarly others are form as
SG2,SG3 and SG4 respectively.Then the existing stress can be
calculated.
2.3.3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

Numerical analysis was carried out to study the influence of released

strain around the hole and to get the calibration constants for the chosen
configuration. A plate with a central hole under compressive stress was
analyzed.

During experimental, a maximum depth of 50 mm was cut with the

incremental of 10 mm. Hence 5 models with depth of
10mm,20mm,30mm,40mm,and 50mm were used for the study. Apart
from this a model of dimension 500x500x100mm was created.

Then we can evaluate the efficiency of the technique by the

calibration constant calculation.

The applied stress and existing stress obtained from core drilling
strain gage technique using the calibration constants are matching
closely.
 CONCLUSION

From the developed techniques, concrete core drilling technique

can be used for the uniaxial stress condition in the structure. Also the
temperature effect during measurement is cancelled, due to the use of full
bridge configuration. For the evaluation of biaxial stress condition,
concrete core trepanning technique and concrete core drilling strain gage
technique can be used. Also the temperature effect can be cancelled .

The developed technique are simple to handle and quite useful for
applied to the in service structures. More over these technique can be
almost classified as a non-destructive technique. Since the structure can
continue to be in service even after testing.
 REFERENCES
 International journal for emerging science and engineering.
 Anna university project