If the drawings call out the bar size, a Profometer (Pachometer) can accurately establish the cover.
Contact your local WJE office, they have skilled personnel that know how to operate the equipment.
D. Matthew Stuart, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE, SECB
Structural Division Manager
Pennoni Associates Inc.
One Drexel Plaza
3001 Market Street, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office 215-222-3000 x7895 | Direct 215-254-7895
Fax 215-222-0789 | Mobile 908-309-8657
http://www.pennoni.com | mstuart@pennoni.com
From: Joseph Goldbronn [mailto:jgoldbronn@hscgi.com]
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 6:13 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Determining Existing Reinforcement Depth
I have a situation where I would like to determine the depth of existing reinforcement in a slab. The existing plans that I have do not clearly state the concrete coverage and I have talked to both the architect and owner and neither has more information other than what they gave to me as as-builts. The problem that I am having is that a new, more powerful MRI is being installed with more stringent requirement of how much steel is allowed in the floor at segmented depths. The contractor would prefer not to rip the floor including the RF shield on the floor and I was wondering if there was a way to determine the depth of steel in the floor. I have no experience with x-ray, GPR, etc. and do not know if they would work in determining depths or even how accurate the reading will be.
Joe G.