Advanced Diagnostic & Advisory Service Centre For Concrete structures
ABOUT US
Dr. Fixit Institute of Structural Protection & Rehabilitation (DFI-SPR) is a not for-profit company registered under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956 with a vision to become a premier national knowledge and skill development centre in waterproofing, repair and other areas of renewal engineering. The Institute is promoted by the well known industrial group Pidilite Industries Ltd.
One of the primary missions of the Institute is to offer advisory services in structural repair, restoration, waterpoofing and distress assessment of concrete structures with the state of art Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory (ADL) facilities.
Dr. Fixit Institute of Structural Protection & Rehabilitation
Aims & Objective
The Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory has been created with a blend of conventional and advanced in- situ testing facilities in such a manner that there is wide option for the choice of test methods, the extent and location of the tests and the way in which the results are interpreted. The prime objective is to ensure that the test results are precise and accurate, which are often not so in non-destructive or semi-destructive testing carried out by various agencies.
The ADL has been set up to help the construction industries in the following three aspects
- Control testing: Generally required by the contractor or concrete producer to indicate adjustments required at sites.
- Compliance testing: Generally required by the site engineer to judge compliance with the specification.
- Assessment of in-situ quality and integrity: Required when there is doubt about the reliability of control or when there is damage and deterioration of concrete, or when there is a proposal for change of usage or extension of structure.
Advisory Services
We provide for the following advisory services:
- The current condition of concrete
- The causes of distress in concrete
- Whether the deterioration will continue
- In continuing deterioration the amount of damage to be expected
- Repair and waterproofing
Additionally, we do quality evaluations of fine and coarse aggregate, mineral admixture, cement pastes, cement paste aggregate bonding, air voids in concrete, and corrosion of reinforcing steel, nature of crack & extent of carbonation etc.
On-site investigation is an important aspect of condition assessment of the structure
Non-destructive testing facilities
Non-destructive testing can be required for many different reasons
- Full quality control testing at site.
- Specialized checks on particular operations such as cladding or waterproofing elements.
- Condition assessments on both buildings and civil structures for health monitoring and residual service life determination.
We have facilities to conduct NDT testing like, Schmidt rebound hammer test, Ultrasonic pulse velocity test, Crack monitoring with digital crack microscope, Half-cell potential test and Electromagnetic testing of rebar and Infra red Thermography.
In-situ compressive strength of concrete carried out by extracting core samples to correlate with NDT results.
Measuring the rate of corrosion in steel reinforcement by Galvanostatic Pulse measurement |
IR Thermography to detect delamination and voids of concrete as well to find out the source of water leakage and location of water pipe |
Laboratory testing
The need for testing frequently arises as an essential component of a wider exercise which can involve product development, product selection, quality control, condition appraisal or failure analysis.
Physical, mechanical and chemical testing of concrete.
Services include performance test on waterproofing membrane such as water permeability and hydrostatic pressure resistance test.
Other specific tests
Various types of chemical analysis required for the studies of cement and concrete are undertaken by us. Particularly, we use precison analytical techniques for the determination of the following:
- Water Soluble Chloride Content
- Acid Soluble Sulphates Content
- Carbonation
- Determination of pH
Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT) of concrete is carried out to find out the diffusion of chloride ions.
Classical chemistry continues to play an important part in the analysis of construction materials |
Measuring Chloride diffusion of concrete samples by RCPT |
Petrographic examination
The highly experienced team with the help of modern microscopic facilities conducts detailed examinations of concrete, stone and other building materials in order to predict their behaviour and where necessary to investigate defects and causes of failure.
Petrographic examinations of concrete are typically performed when problems arise during construction phase or premature failure of an existing concrete structure occurs. Petrographic examinations are also performed as part of a condition study to determine if a concrete structure needs to be replaced or if it can be rehabilitated.
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Some Views of microscopic facilities
Problems & Diagnosis
We have extensive experience in diagnosing and solving concrete related problems during construction or at some subsequent time, these services include:
| Problems | Diagnosis method |
| 1. Defecticiencies in Concrete Quality | |
| a. Quality of cover concrete |
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| b. Non-uniformity of Concrete, Honey combs Voids &,Cracks etc |
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| 2. Rebar Corrosion |
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| 3. Failure of Waterproofing system |
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| 4. Fire damages of concrete |
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| 5. Chemical Attack on Concrete | |
| a. Carbonation |
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| b. Alkali Silica Reaction |
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| c. Chloride concentration |
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| d. Sulphate attack |
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Approach Strategy
The services are rendered broadly in three stages as depicted below
Construction Segments to Utilise the Services
Industries
Industrial buildings encounter special types of problems, some emanating from the manufacturing processes being undertaken which may use chemicals or yield products severely harmful to structures. We have been involved in specifying materials or material treatments for specialist applications to enhance the design and provide improved performance. Refineries, fertilizer plants, chemical plants and other industrial structures deteriorate due to severe exposure conditions. We specialize in NDT testing and provide guidance for repair and rehabilitation of those structures.
Infrastructure
We carry out the condition assessment of structures for bridges, flyovers, culverts, roadways & pavements etc.
Port and Marine structures
Due to offshore locations deterioration of these structures are very fast. We do NDT and consultancy services for repair, rehabilitation and protection measures for durability.
Community Buildings
Public buildings, whilst incorporating high levels of safety and durability, are often designed and constructed to very tight budget constraints. Our post-construction activities have included functions as varied as appraisal of failures and repair solutions as well as the resolution of numerous water leakage problems.
Real Estate
The developers of large scale projects normally have high expectations in respect of speed and cost effectiveness - a scenario that can lead to in-built deficiencies if sufficient relevant expertise is not injected at the right stages. Once the project is completed, we can provide assistance to the owner in maintaining his property through planned preventative maintenance. These services are provided to developers, architects, engineers, project managers and contractors; the role may vary but the aim for quality & value continues.
Housing Societies
Large numbers of buildings in housing societies deteriorate due to poor maintenance. We do condition assessment of those building and guide the society for repair and maintenance of their structures.
Dr. Fixit Institute of Structural Protection and Rehabilitation activities
