Concrete curing construction site non-destructive test wave propagation
Concrete is one of the most commonly used materials in the construction industry for structural members such as slabs, beams, columns and foundations due to its low cost, high durability and long service life. When concrete is freshly mixed it is in a paste form, which eventually develops into a hard solid once it has cured over time. Concrete typically takes 28 days for full-strength development. In bottom-up concrete construction, it is important to monitor the strength development of concrete under curing to ensure the concrete members are strong enough before casting additional structural elements above. In this study, an attempt is made at a construction site to monitor the strength development of concrete under curing with the non-destructive piezoelectric-based wave propagation (WP) technique. The WP technique employs two piezoelectric sensors and offers the capability of real-time monitoring on the strength development of concrete. The pressure wave (P-wave) velocity can be acquired after applying voltage to the sensor. The P-wave velocity can then be related to the strength of concrete at different curing durations. Based on the on-site experimental study, the P-wave velocities correlate well with the compressive strength of concrete from destructive compressive tests. This on-site experimental study shows the applicability of the WP technique for predicting the strength of concrete in a practical application.
Details
Title
Monitoring strength development of concrete using the wave propagation technique: A practical study
Creators
Z S Tang - Southern Cross University
Y Y Lim - Southern Cross University
S T Smith - University of Adelaide
M M H Choi - Southern Cross University
A Mostafa - Southern Cross University
Publication Details
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol.1229(1), pp.1-7
Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.
Number of pages
7
Identifiers
991013004390202368
Copyright
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Academic Unit
Science; Faculty of Science and Engineering; Engineering