Assessment of Concrete Compressive Strength by Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Test

Abstract

This paper has carried out an experimental program to establish a relatively accurate relation between the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and the concrete compressive strength. The program involved testing concrete cubes of (100) mm and prisms of (100×100×300) cast with specified test variables. The samples are tested by using ultrasonic test equipment with two methods, direct ultrasonic pulse (DUPV) and surface (indirect) ultrasonic pulse (SUPV) for each sample. The obtained results were used as input data in the statistical program (SPSS) to predict the best equation representing the relation between the compressive strength and the ultrasonic pulse velocity. In this research 383 specimens were tested, and an exponential equation is proposed for this purpose. The statistical program has been used to prove which type of UPV is more suitable, the (SUPV) test or the (DUPV) test, to represent the relation between the ultrasonic pulse velocity and the concrete compressive strength. In this paper, the effect of salt content on the connection between the ultrasonic pulse velocity and the concrete compressive strength has also been studied.

Keywords

• assessment
• evaluation
• concrete structures
• compressive strength
• non-destructive test
• ultrasonic pulse velocity method