StructuralQ I have a 24 in. (610 mm) thick shotcrete wall that needs to be scanned for voids. The project has been struggling to locate a local expert who has the capability to scan this thick of a wall. In addition, this new 24 in. thick shotcrete wall was dowelled and made an “as-one-unit” together with an existing 24 in. form-and-pour wall. Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Shotcrete is a placement method for concrete. Thus, all nondestructive testing (NDT) applicable to concrete walls would be usable on your wall. However, it is difficult to get good results with a scanning system for heavily reinforced concrete walls of your thickness. Impact echo and impulse response are two one-sided techniques that can provide good results for a portion of the 24 in. thickness, although they would likely not be able to scan the entire depth. Ultrasonic pulse velocity is a potential if you can access both sides of the wall. For one-sided investigation at greater depth, you may be able to use a MIRA system. It is a sophisticated tomographic system that says it can test from 50 to 800 mm (32 in.) thickness. There are national consulting firms that provide these investigation systems. Each requires a highly trained, experienced operator—so be sure to verify the firm can document successful experience using the method.
