Reinforced concrete NDT research and practice in Turkey: A gap analysis

Use of Nondestructive Testing (NDT) techniques for the assessment of in-situ strength of concrete is an area with high impact potential in condition assessment of existing structures. Such a capability is especially important for Turkey where the majority of the existing building stock is located in high seismicity areas and has questionable quality of materials and workmanship. The Urban Transformation Law recently enacted in Turkey requires identification of all high-risk buildings and their strengthening or renewal within the next couple of decades. Considering that one third of the 20 million occupancy units in Turkey are estimated to be high-risk, their identification is a giant task on its own which requires rapid and reliable condition assessment of existing buildings. Use of NDT, a potentially indispensable tool in this respect, is receiving wider research interest in recent years. This paper makes a review of the current state-of-the-art in NDT research and applications in Turkey and highlights the areas where more intensive and focused research is needed to help develop the urgently needed rapid and reliable condition assessment methodology for existing buildings.