Penetration testing has been used to measure material properties for over fifty years. Currently, it is under-utilised as a contemporary scientific and engineering tool for investigating the condition of pipes whose inner surface has been exposed to chemical attack. We describe the design, development and calibration of a portable probe which uses a penetrative strain gauge load cell to measure where the semi-solid surface starts and stops within a pipe. We also describe the results of field tests of the probe in concrete sewers, affected by internal corrosion, where the probe proved to be a fast and reliable method for collecting pipe profile information. The results indicate significant benefit in the use of penetrometers to perform concrete sewer condition assessment.
Keywords: concrete inspection; concrete probing; condition assessment; penetration testing; remote sensing.