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.
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.

Advisory Services
—— We provide for the following advisory
services:
—— The current condition of concrete
Measuring the rate of corrosion in steel reinforcement by
—— The causes of distress in concrete Galvanostatic Pulse measurement
—— 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.

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 prod-
uct 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.
On-site investigation is an important aspect of
condition assessment of the structure
 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.
Hydrostatic Pressure Resistance test facility

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.

Classical chemistry continues to play an important part

in the analysis of construction materials

Some Views of microscopic facilities Measuring Chloride diffusion of concrete samples

by RCPT
Problems & Diagnosis
We have extensive experience in diagnosing and solving concrete related problems during construction or at some
subsequent time, these services include:
Problems
1. Defecticiencies in Concrete Quality
a. Quality of cover concrete
b. Non-uniformity of Concrete, Honey combs,
Voids &,Cracks etc
2. Rebar Corrosion
3. Failure of Waterproofing system
4. Fire damages of concrete
5. Chemical Attack on Concrete
a. Carbonation
b. Alkali Silica Reaction
c. Chloride concentration
d. Sulphate attack
Diagnosis method
• Surface Hardness Measurement by Rebound Hammer test
• Measurement of cover depth by Cover Meter
• Crack mapping by Crack Microscope
• Measuring Ultrasonic Pulse velocity of the concrete by UPV meter
• Probability of corrosion by Half cell potentional meter
• Rate of corrosion by Galvo static pulse measurement.
• Scanning of diameter of the Reinforcement by electromagnetic
rebar locator
• Diagnosis of water ingress
• Scanning of surface moisture by moisture analyzer
• Sources of leakages can be detected by Infrared Thermography
• Measuring the water penetration resistance of concrete by Water
permeability test
• Measuring hydrostatic pressure resistance of water proofing mem-
brane
• Extraction of core and deterioration of strength parameters
• Determination of temperature profile with the help of phases identi-
fied under the Microscope
• Depth of carbonation measured by extracting core sample and
spraying Phenolphthalein solutions
• Microscopical analysis
• Determination of constituents that may be susceptible to alkali silica
reaction in concrete
• Assessment of damaged in concrete caused by the Alkali-Silica
Reaction
• Water soluble chloride ions by Specific Ion Electrode
• Chloride profiling from extracted core samples
• Measuring the resistance of concrete for chloride penetration by
Rapid Chloride Permeability Test
• Extraction of core sample and determination of strength parameters
• Peterographic analysis of core samples
• The chemical determination of sulphate content.
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 number 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
STRUCTURAL PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION ACTIVITIES