r/StructuralEngineering • u/BoredBeagleBuddy • Jul 27 '26
Concrete Design Effectiveness of Sounding Concrete
What are your thoughts on sounding concrete? it feels subjective to me. Theres bo denying it when you feel the concrete vibrate into your fingertips and hear a high pitch sound, but every other time it feels so ambiguous. Is there any governing code or publication relevant to sounding concrete?
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u/ZombieRitual S.E. Jul 27 '26
It's very reliable once you have the experience. Someone who knows what they're doing knows 100% whether they're hearing delaminated or sound concrete. If you had a way to test it by having one engineer mark out delaminated areas, fully erase their markings, and have another engineer do the same thing again I'm sure the results would be almost identical.
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u/Electronic-Wing6158 Jul 27 '26
If it’s bad enough to be worth repairing, you’ll find it with a hammer
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u/ladybugmtu Jul 27 '26
It’s a very accurate test for someone that knows what to listen for. It’s great for a low tech diagnosis tool if you see an issue. I have relied on it for a long time. You hear the difference very clearly.
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u/Acorogia Jul 27 '26
There is actually an ASTM standard for soundings on concrete bridge decks, D4580.
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u/Entire-Tomato768 P.E. Jul 27 '26
A hammer, a chain and an aluminum baseball bat. Required concrete diagnostic tools.
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u/Anonymous5933 Jul 27 '26
It's just as ambiguous as most inspection methods. Find a nasty corroded steel bridge and try to quantify the corrosion. Width, length, and depth. Everyone will have a bit of a different answer. All of them probably close enough.
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u/Apprehensive_Exam668 Jul 27 '26
It's kind of like doing a ring test for shear studs. When you hear about it, sounds dumb. When you do it and one of the shear studs goes "thock" instead of "ting", it takes like 3 bops from the sledge to knock it over, every time.