Skip to main content
Log in

Experimental study of effects of water-cement ratio on the acoustic emission rate “a” values in concrete

  • Acoustic Methods
  • Published:
Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The critical microcracks make durability of the concrete seriously weakened, and the water-cement (w/c) ratio plays a key role in the durability of concrete, acoustic emission (AE) rate “a” value is an effective parameter to evaluate the amount of critical microcracks quantitatively, so the study on the influence factors and the distribution of w/c ratio on the value “a” can provide a promising reference value for the practical engineering. A total of 90 specimens in different w/c ratio are tested under axial compression in the experiment. The whole damage evolution processes are monitored by fulldigital AE acquisition system. The differences of the amount of critical microcracks in different w/c ratio are explored based on the AE rate process theory, and the rule of the effects of w/c ratio on the rate “a” value is revealed through the analysis of fracture energy and cumulative AE energy in the failure process. The results show that a linear relationship was observed between cumulative AE energy and rate “a” value, the amount of critical microcracks and the rate “a” value increase with the increase of w/c ratio, while the cumulative AE energy and cumulative AE hits are on the contrary.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Carpinteri, A., Lacidogna, G., and Pugno, N., Structural damage diagnosis and life-time assessment by acoustic emission monitoring, Eng. Fracture Mech., 2007, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 273–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Carpinteri, A., Lacidogna, G., and Niccolini, G., Damage analysis of reinforced concrete buildings by the acoustic emission technique, Struct. Control Health Monitor., 2011, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 660–673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ohtsu, M., Rate process analysis of acoustic emission activity in core test of concrete, Concrete Library, JSCE, 1992, vol. 20, pp. 143–153.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ohtsu, M. and Watanabe, H., Quantitative damage estimation of concrete by acoustic emission, Construct. Build. Mater., 2001, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 217–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Su, H.Z., Tong, J.J., Hu, J., et al., Experimental study on AE behavior of hydraulic concrete under compression, Meccanica, 2013, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 427–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Suzuki, T., Ogata, H., Takada, R., et al., Use of acoustic emission and X-ray computed tomography for damage evaluation of freeze-thawed concrete, Construct. Build. Mater., 2010, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 2347–2352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Suzuki, T., Ohtsu, M., and Shigeishi, M., Relative damage evaluation of concrete in a road bridge by AE rateprocess analysis, Mater. Struct., 2007, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 221–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Suzuki, T. and Ohtsu, M., Quantitative damage evaluation of structural concrete by a compression test based on AE rate process analysis, Construct. Build. Mater., 2004, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 197–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Watanabe, T., Hosomi, M., Yuno, K., et al., Quality evaluation of shotcrete by acoustic emission, Construct. Build. Mater., 2010, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 2358–2362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Suzuki, T. and Ohtsu, M., Damage estimation of concrete canal due to earthquake effects by acoustic emission method, Construct. Build. Mater., 2014, vol. 67, pp. 186–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Deng, Y., Liu, Y., and Feng, D., Monitoring damage evolution of steel strand using acoustic emission technique and rate process theory, J. Centr. South Univ., 2014, vol. 21, pp. 3692–3697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Hongping Zhu, Wensheng Xu, Xiaoqiang Chen, et al., Quantitative concrete-damage evaluation by acoustic emission information and rate-process theory, Eng. Mechan., 2008, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 186–191.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Zhang Liwei, Research on Concrete Damage Detection by Using Acoustic Emission Technology, Dalian Maritime University, 2012 (in Chinese).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kim, Y.Y., Lee, K.M., Bang, J.W., et al., Effect of W/C ratio on durability and porosity in cement mortar with constant cement amount, Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng., 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Santhosh Kumar, P.T., Combined influence of sand and water cement ratio on the compressive strength of concrete, Indian Concrete J., 2009, vol. 83, no. 9, pp. 9–14.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ohemeng, E.A. and Yalley, P.P.K., Models for predicting the density and compressive strength of rubberized concrete pavement blocks, Construct. Build. Mater., 2013, vol. 47, pp. 656–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Haach, V.G., Vasconcelos, G., Lourenço, P.B., Influence of aggregates grading and water/cement ratio in workability and hardened properties of mortars, Construct. Build. Mater., 2011, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 2980–2987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Toutanji, H.A. and El-Korchi, T., Tensile and compressive strength of silica fume-cement pastes and mortars, Cement, Concrete Aggregates, 1996, vol. 18, no. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Landis, E.N. and Baillon, L., Experiments to relate acoustic emission energy to fracture energy of concrete, J. Eng. Mech., 2002, vol. 128, no. 6, pp. 698–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Raghu Prasad, B.K. and Vidya Sagar, R., Relationship between AE energy and fracture energy of plain concrete beams: Experimental study, J. Mater. Civil Eng., 2008, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 212–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sagar, R.V. and Prasad, B.K.R., AE energy release during the fracture of HSC beams, Magazine Concrete Res., 2009, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 419–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Watanabe, T., Hosomi, M., Yuno, K., et al., Quality evaluation of shotcrete by acoustic emission, Construct. Build. Mater., 2010, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 2358–2362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Parrott, L.J., Effects of changes in UK cements upon strength and recommended curing times, Concrete, 1985, vol. 19, no. 9, pp. 22–24.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Neville, A., Properties of Concrete, 4th ed., Longman, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Price, W.H., Factors influencing concrete strength, ACI J. Proc., 1951, vol. 47, no. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Metha, K. and Monteiro, P.J.M., Concrete: Structure, Properties, and Materials, New Jersey, USA: Prentice-Hall, 1933.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Kumar, R. and Bhattacharjee, B., Porosity, pore size distribution and in situ strength of concrete, Cement Concrete Res., 2003, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 155–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Lian, C., Zhuge, Y., and Beecham, S., The relationship between porosity and strength for porous concrete, Construct. Build. Mater., 2011, vol. 25, no. 11, pp. 4294–4298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Odler, I. and Robler, M., Investigation on the relationship between porosity, structure and strength of hydrated Portland cement paste, II. Effect of pore structure and of degree of hydration, Cement Concrete Res., 1985, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 401–410.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Balshin, M.Y., Relation of mechanical properties of powder metals and their porosity and the ultimate properties of porous metal-ceramic materials, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1949, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 831–834.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Yilmaz, E., Belem, T., Bussière, B., et al., Relationships between microstructural properties and compressive strength of consolidated and unconsolidated cemented paste backfills, Cement Concrete Composites, 2011, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 702–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Weng, C.C., Tam, M.T., and Lin, G.C., Acoustic emission characteristics of mortar under compression, Cement Concrete Res., 1992, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 641–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Yilmaz, E., Belem, T., Bussière, B., et al., Relationships between microstructural properties and compressive strength of consolidated and unconsolidated cemented paste backfills, Cement Concrete Composites, 2011, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 702–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Chen, J. and Zhang, L., Experimental study of effects of water-cement ratio and curing time on nonlinear resonance of concrete, Mater. Struct., 2014, vol. 48, no. 1–2, pp. 423–433.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Zhang Le, Ma Yiping, et al., Constitutive equation of plastic shrinkage cracking related to water-cement ratio and evaporation rate of water for cement mortar, J. Build. Mater., 2012, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 75–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Recommendation, R.D., Determination of the fracture energy of mortar and concrete by means of three-point bend tests on notched beames, Mater. Struct., 1985, vol. 18, no. 106, pp. 285–290.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Beygi, M.H.A., Kazemi, M.T., Nikbin, I.M., et al., The influence of coarse aggregate size and volume on the fracture behavior and brittleness of self-compacting concrete, Cement Concrete Res., 2014, vol. 66, pp. 75–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Beygi, M.H.A., Kazemi, M.T., Nikbin, I.M., et al., The effect of water to cement ratio on fracture parameters and brittleness of self-compacting concrete, Mater. Design, 2013, vol. 50, pp. 267–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Wu, K.R., Chen, B., Yao, W., et al., Effect of coarse aggregate type on mechanical properties of high-performance concrete, Cement Concrete Res., 2001, vol. 31, no. 10, pp. 1421–1425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Chen Bing, Zhang Lixin, et al., Study on the acoustic emission characteristics of the concrete beams under three point bending load, Nondestr. Test., 2000, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 109–112.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Wang.

Additional information

The article is published in the original.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, Y., Hu, H.X., Wang, N. et al. Experimental study of effects of water-cement ratio on the acoustic emission rate “a” values in concrete. Russ J Nondestruct Test 53, 620–635 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1061830917090091

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1061830917090091

Keywords

Navigation