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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
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.
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.
Ohtsu, M., Rate process analysis of acoustic emission activity in core test of concrete, Concrete Library, JSCE, 1992, vol. 20, pp. 143–153.
Ohtsu, M. and Watanabe, H., Quantitative damage estimation of concrete by acoustic emission, Construct. Build. Mater., 2001, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 217–224.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Zhang Liwei, Research on Concrete Damage Detection by Using Acoustic Emission Technology, Dalian Maritime University, 2012 (in Chinese).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Parrott, L.J., Effects of changes in UK cements upon strength and recommended curing times, Concrete, 1985, vol. 19, no. 9, pp. 22–24.
Neville, A., Properties of Concrete, 4th ed., Longman, 1996.
Price, W.H., Factors influencing concrete strength, ACI J. Proc., 1951, vol. 47, no. 2.
Metha, K. and Monteiro, P.J.M., Concrete: Structure, Properties, and Materials, New Jersey, USA: Prentice-Hall, 1933.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The article is published in the original.
Rights and permissions
About this article
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
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1061830917090091