Title:
Investigation of Pulse Velocity-Strength Relationship of Hardened Concrete
Author(s):
Yiching Lin, Shih-Fang Kuo, Chiamen Hsiao, and Chao-Peng Lai
Publication:
Materials Journal
Volume:
104
Issue:
4
Appears on pages(s):
344-350
Keywords:
concrete strength; mixture proportions; nondestructive evaluation; ultrasonic pulse velocity
DOI:
10.14359/18823
Date:
7/1/2007
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and the compressive strength of concrete. The specimens used in the studies were made of concrete with a paste content of 36% and the constituents of the specimens varied in different water-cement ratios (w/c) and coarse aggregate contents by weight. The UPV measurement and compressive strength tests were carried out at the concrete age of 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days. The experimental results show that the relationship between UPV and the compressive strength of concrete is significantly influenced by age and coarse aggregate content. The UPV and the compressive strength of concrete grow with age, but the growth rate varies with mixture proportion. To simplify the analysis task, this study chose hardened concrete (at an age of 28 days) as the subject for analysis. It is found that with the same content of coarse aggregate, a clear relationship curve can be drawn to describe the UPV and compressive strength of hardened concrete. This paper proposes the UPV and strength relationship curves for concrete having different contents of coarse aggregate. These curves were verified to be suitable for prediction of hardened concrete strength with a measured UPV value.