Correlation between ultrasonic velocity and strength in the early ages of concrete from a metrological approach

Abstract

Abstract The correlation between ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and the quality of concrete parts is a resource that has been explored for decades. However, the significant variability of production of these constructive materials tends to require more robust techniques for better reliability of results. This work adopts a metrological approach in the correlation of the ultrasonic pulse velocity and the respective compressive strength values through destructive tests, evaluated in the first ages (7, 14, 30, and 90 days). For this analysis, three different concrete mixes were moulded into cylindrical shapes, using different proportions of the inputs that make up this material. After undergoing statistical and metrological treatment, the results obtained allowed to identify a similar behaviour of UPV growth with the strengths of the concrete samples, especially when analysing the measurement uncertainty bars. However, it is noteworthy that it is necessary to expand the tests in a more significant number of concrete mixtures. It is expected that the improvement of these tests can help reduce costs and execution times of concrete structures where stripping depends on the strength achieved.