Graduation Year

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.C.E.

Degree Granting Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Major Professor

A. Gray Mullins, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Rajan Sen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Michael Stokes, Ph.D.

Keywords

Concrete Temperature, Drilled Shaft, Infrared, Thermocouple, Cross-Hole Sonic Logging, Gamma Gamma Testing, Concrete Heat of Hydration, Geotechnical Testing, Structural Failure

Abstract

This thesis has shown that the development of the instrumentation necessary to provide in-situ thermal imaging for the determination of homogeneity of concrete is theoretically sound.

Drilled shafts are large diameter underground cast-in-place columns that necessarily rely on sound integrity to properly withstand imposed loadings. As a by-product of the most common construction techniques, the entire process is often completely blind whereby the excavation and concreting processes are conducted beneath the surface of the water table (or slurry level). This results in an inability to inspect the final product and in many cases allows anomalous inclusions (soil cave-ins, slurry pockets, etc) to go undetected especially when they are formed outside the steel reinforcing cage.

In an effort to gain verification of the as-built, below ground structure, numerous non-destructive test methods have been devised. Each of these methods have merits and drawbacks with regards to the full extent of the tested concrete volume. To further this cause, a new methodology was developed that uses the energy from hydrating concrete to assess the presence or absence of an intact concrete. Therein, the temperature generated by the curing concrete can be measured and correlated to the probable dimensions of the drilled shaft.

This thesis outlines the development of the instrumentation capable of making in-situ temperature measurement of drilled shafts to assure the homogeneity of concrete is acceptable. To that end, several configurations of instrumentation approach were tested on varying scales from small lab specimens to full-size field constructed drilled shafts. The bulk of this work was conducted several years before the completion of the thesis and has the benefit of noting later developments. For instance, this study was used to seed future research and led to subsequent FDOT and WSDOT (Washington State DOT) funded research for the express purpose of identifying capabilities of thermal testing in those states. Likewise, present day practice and use of the approach has also been documented.

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