Estimation Of Rebar Diameter Using Ground Penetrating Radar

Abstract

Ground penetrating radar is a non-destructive method for detecting steel bars in reinforced concrete structures. The objective of this study is to locate the rebar and estimate its diameter in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Radar-gram image is collected from two different slab specimens, with different diameter and cover depth, by using Ground penetrating radar (GPR) antenna (2.6 GHz), and converted into ASCII files which contain the amplitude values of reflected signals at every interface. The analog signals are converted into digital signals to get the amplitude values of reflected signals. The required values are obtained using MATLAB modules. Energy equation model reported in literature is being used in estimating the rebar diameter. The estimated diameter is close to the actual and is within ±3.6%.