Investigating Concrete Properties Using Dielectric Constant from Ground Penetrating Radar Scans

Determining the material properties and existing capacity of concrete infrastructure using nondestructive techniques is challenging due to evolving design requirements, unknown as-built conditions, and ongoing maintenance and deterioration. Concrete’s material properties, including density, porosity, and compressive strength, are usually determined by mechanical testing, but being able to measure these properties noninvasively could aid engineers in maintaining and designing concrete infrastructure. Research into nondestructive methods for determining material properties of concrete has shown relationships between mechanical properties and ground penetrating radar (GPR) properties such as dielectric constant, attenuation, and instantaneous amplitude. We investigated direct relationships between dielectric constant and the density, porosity, and compressive strength of 23 mature concrete samples with varying mix designs using a commercial 1 GHz GPR. In normal-weight concrete, weak trends were seen between a dielectric for compressive strength (R2=0.76) and one for density (R2=0.64), whereas no significant trend was found with porosity (R2=0.52). The GPR unit used provides acceptable data but has limited resolution for analyses and utility. The dielectrics showed distinct clustering by mix type—particularly the inclusion of materials such as blast furnace slag. While demonstrating that the dielectric constant is a candidate for rapid concrete comparisons, there is also a demonstrated need for further investigation of the complex relationships between mechanical and electromagnetic properties in concrete.