An analytic investigation on the relationship of non-linear ultrasonic testing, ultrasonic pulse velocity and acoustic emission versus load applied on concrete

• Main Authors: Bagon, Nicolo Carlo I., Lonzaga, Ron Oliver L., Penus, Nikka Denell M., San Pedro, Jeremiah A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Concrete > Testing; Strength of materials
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7090
• Institution: De La Salle University

Non-destructive testing on concrete structures is used in concrete testing to lessen the destruction of concrete during testing and to further analyze the strength of concrete and if it is suitable for a certain structure. Nonlinear ultrasonic testing was particularly used in this study in order to assess the concrete. The data that was used in the study was gathered from previous experiments conducted in Tokyo Institute of Technology and De La Salle University. There were a total of 141 samples of cubes and beams of different concrete types such as, ordinary reinforced concrete, high strength concrete and fiber reinforced concrete. The samples were subjected to different loading patterns such as loading and loading-unloading. With these samples, the parameters of non-linear ultrasonic testing, such as time domain, frequency domain, higher harmonics, harmonic ratio, peak to peak amplitude, ultrasonic pulse velocity and acoustic emissions were determined. Based from these acquired results, significant observations and trends were produced. Considering the energy, fatigue and strength of concrete, the fundamental amplitude and the peak to peak amplitude showed a decreasing behavior with respect to the increase in load. As for the ultrasonic pulse velocity, the different types of concrete produce varying pulse velocity in the concrete which also determines the strength of the concrete. Ordinary reinforced concrete shows a higher pulse velocity comparing to fiber reinforced concrete. For acoustic emissions, the production of acoustic emission counts depends on the water content of the concrete specimen. These findings can be helpful in determining the structural integrity and properties of concrete using nondestructive testing.