Development and application of computed tomography in the inspection of reinforced concrete

This paper describes the development and application of reinforced concrete tomography, a non-destructive technique based on the use of gamma radiation for achieving 3D reconstruction of reinforcing bars and detecting corrosion in rebars and honeycombing in concrete. This novel method has already found a wide range of practical applications in inspections of well over a thousand structural elements in buildings, bridges, under-water pillars, oil-filled ducts, statues, bank treasuries and tunnels. This paper describes the technique, including the recently developed real-time tomograph, and presents illustrative examples of results achieved with it.