Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology 3(6): 499-504, 2011

ISSN: 2040-7467
Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2011
Received: February 10, 2011
Accepted: May 13, 2011

Published: June 25, 2011

Non-Destructive Evaluation of Concrete using Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity

I. Lawson, K.A. Danso, H.C. Odoi, C.A. Adjei, F.K. Quashie,
I.I. Mumuni and I.S. Ibrahim
Nuclear Applications Centre (NAC), National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI),
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), P.O. Box LG 80, Legon-Accra, Ghana
Abstract: Ultrasonic pulse velocity is one of the most popular non-destructive techniques used in the
assessment of concrete properties. This article investigates the relationship between Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity
(UPV) and the compressive strength of concrete. The specimens used in the studies were made of concrete with
a paste content of 18% and the constituents of the specimens varied in different water-cement ratios (w/c). The
UPV measurement and compressive strength tests were carried out at the concrete age of 2, 7, 15 and 28 days.
The UPV and the compressive strength of concrete increase with age, but the growth rate varies with mixture
proportion. A relationship curve is drawn between UPV and compressive strength for concrete having different
w/c from 0.35 to 0.7.
Key words:Compressive strength, concrete properties, non-destructive evaluation, testing concrete,
ultrasonics, water cement ratios
the surface concrete is not representative of the overall
volume. The structure of the cement hydrate to a large
extent determines the durability of the concrete. There are
inherent pores of a few nm, and pores 50 to 100 times
larger as a result of the presence of excess water above
that required to complete hydration. Additionally there
may be air pockets or volumes of lower density due to
inadequate compaction. It is also likely that all concrete
has an extensive crack system induced by shrinkage,
thermal movements, loading and a number of other
causes. Concrete in service is exposed to a wide variety of
environments and, because of its physical and chemical
nature, may deteriorate as a result (Perkins, 1997). The
pores and the crack system provide passage ways by
which acidic moisture and gases that attack the alkaline
concrete can penetrate. Once deterioration is apparent, its
classification and extent need to be appraised so that
appropriate remedial action can be specified. Routine
testing of concrete is primarily concerned with assessing
current adequacy and future performance (Bungey and
Millard, 1996). An initial visual inspection of the site can
prove valuable in locating deterioration and aid the choice
of an appropriate method of test. Although standard
control cubes and cylinders are used to determine the
strength of concrete produced on site, they cannot be truly
representative of the insitu concrete strength of a
structure. However, extraction of cores is expensive and
might weaken the structure. Various NDE methods which

INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a complex composite material, which
begins its life as a mixture of graded stone aggregate
particles suspended in a fluid of cement and water and
admixtures. Nominally, aggregate occupies 75% of the
volume, cement about 15% and water content 10%. The
priority when choosing a mix design is strength, which
along with permeability of the concrete is governed by the
water-cement ratio. For high strength and low
permeability the water-cement ratio should be low. The
that describes the ease of placing and compaction, for a
fixed water-cement ratio, is adjusted by choice of
aggregate quantity, grading and shape, and also by the
assistance of chemical plasticizers. Larger, rounded
aggregate tends towards greater workability. It is usual for
the coarse aggregate used in structural concrete to have a
nominal maximum size of 20mm. Concrete reaches half
its strength after about 3 days and 90% after 28 days.
Concrete is a very versatile, potentially durable composite
material, which is strong in compression but about 90%
weaker in tension such that structural members subject to
tensile stress are reinforced with steel bars. The setting of
concrete is not a drying out process but a chemical
reaction called hydration, where the calcium silicates in
the cement react with the water to form hydrates and is
accompanied by the evolution of heat. In the early stages
of hydration, water rises and aggregate settles, such that

Corresponding Author: I. Lawson, Nuclear Applications Centre (NAC), National Nuclear Research Institute (NNRI), Ghana
Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), P.O. Box LG 80, Legon-Accra, Ghana

499

Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 3(6): 499-504, 2011

Fig. 1: Ultrasonic pulse velocity testing

Fig. 2: The PUNDIT plus set

types of elastic wave propagation. The fastest of these

waves has particle displacements in the direction of travel
of the disturbance and is called the longitudinal,
compression or P-wave. The compression wave velocity
Vp is a function of the dynamic Youngs modulus E, the
Poissons ratio L, and the mass density D, (Krautkramer
and Krautkramer, 1969; Marsh, 2000), and is given by:

enable certain properties of concrete to be measured insitu, from which concrete strength is estimated, have been
devised. Of the non-destructive techniques, the ultrasonic
pulse velocity technique offers the lowest cost of use and
is convenient as well as rapid to employ.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ultrasonic pulse velocity: When the surface of a semiinfinite solid is excited by a time varying mechanical
force, energy is radiated from the source as three distinct

Vp =
500

E (1 v )
(1 + v )(1 2v )

Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 3(6): 499-504, 2011

Table 1: Quality of concrete given by IS code (BS, 1881, 1983) as a
function of UPV
UPV(m/s)
Concrete quality
Above 4500
Excellent
3500 to 4500
Good
3000 to 3500
Medium
Below 3000
Doubtful

4700

Av. Velocity (m/s)

4500

It is clear from the above equation that velocity is

independent of geometry of material and depends only on
elastic properties of the material through which it passes.
Hence the principle of assessing quality of concrete is that
comparatively higher velocities are obtained when the
quality of concrete in terms of density, homogeneity and
uniformity is good. In case of poorer quality, lower
velocities are obtained (Table 1).
In the test described in BS (1881): Part 203 (BS,
1881, 1986), the time the pulses take to travel through
concrete is recorded. Then, the velocity is calculated as:
V= L/T

4300
4100
0.35
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.75

3900
3700
3500
0

10

15
Age (days)

20

25

30

Fig. 3: UPV of concrete cubes against age

concrete, receiving and amplifying the pulse and

measuring and displaying the time taken.
Materials used for making specimen include ordinary
Portland Limestone type 2.5N, standard sand, Coarse
Aggregate (CA) of 10 mm grain size and water.
The water-cement ratio (w/c) used in this study
ranges from 0.35 to 0.75. The cement paste occupies
approximately 18% of the total concrete volume.
Five concrete specimens were produced for each
mixture proportion. All the specimens were cast in steel
moulds and kept in their moulds for approximately 24 h
in the laboratory. After removing the moulds, three
concrete cubes were tested at an age of 2 days and all
other concrete cubes were cured in water at 20oC (68oF)
and tested at ages 7, 15 and 28 days, respectively. At each
age, the pulse velocity and compressive strength of the
five specimens were measured according to the
specification of the British standard (Qasrawi, 2003). Five
simulation curves of the relationship between UPV and
compressive strength of hardened concrete are proposed
for concrete with w/c of 0.35, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 and 0.75.
These curves were verified to be suitable for prediction of
hardened concrete strength with a measured UPV value.

(2)

where V = pulse velocity (m/s), L = length (m), and T =

effective time (s), which is the measured time minus the
zero time correction. The zero time correction is equal to
the travel time between the transmitting and receiving
transducers when they are pressed firmly together.
The UPV results can be used:
C To check the uniformity of concrete
C To detect cracking and voids in concrete
C To control the quality of concrete and concrete
products by comparing results to a similar made
concrete
C To detect the condition and deterioration of concrete
C To detect the depth of a surface crack
C To determine the strength if previous data are
available
Since strength is the major property in structural concrete,
measured velocity was related to strength, and plots of
velocity vs. strength were obtained.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figures 3 and 4 shows the UPV and strength
development, respectively, with the age of concrete
having different w/c. Both the UPV and strength of
concrete increase with the advancement of age. At the
same age, both UPV and strength of concrete with low
w/c are higher than those with high w/c as shown in
Fig. 3 and 4 mainly because of the denser structure of
concrete with lower w/c.
Figure 3 indicates that concrete with high w/c (w/c =
0.75) at the age of 2 days has a UPV of about 89% of that
of 28 days, but the strength is only about 60%. Figure 3

Experiments: The experimental set-up is shown

schematically in Fig. 1. The apparatus (Fig. 2) which is
manufactured by CNS Farnell, London, derives its name
from the initial letters of the full title of Portable
Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Digital Indicating Tester
(PUNDIT). The dimensions of the unit are 185 mm 130
mm 185 mm, and it weighs in at 3 kg. The ambient
temperature range to which the equipment may be
operated is 0 to 45C. The test equipment provides a
means of generating a pulse, transmitting this to the
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Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 3(6): 499-504, 2011

25.00
Av. Compressive strength (Mpa)

Compressive strength (Mpa)

40.00
35.00
30.00
25.00
20.00
0.35
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.75

15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0

10

15
Age (days)

20

25

20.00
15.00
10.00

30

5.00
0.00
3900.00

4000.00

4100.00 4200.00 4300.00

Av. Velocity (m/s)

4400.00 4500.00

Fig. 7: Comparison of Av. Velocity and compressive strength

with 0.50 w/c

35.00
30.00

25

25.00

Compressive strength (Mpa)

Av. Comprassive strength (MPa)

Fig. 4: Compressive strength of concrete cubes against age

20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
4350.00

4400.00

4450.00
4500.00
Av. Velocity (m/s)

4550.00

Fig. 5: Comparison of Av. Velocity and compressive strength

with 0.35 w/c

20

15

10
5

0
3600.00

3800.00

4000.00
4200.00
Av. Velocity (m/s)

4400.00

Fig. 8: Comparison of Av. Velocity and compressive strength

with 0.60 w/c

35
30

Av. Compressive strength (Mpa)

Compressive strength (Mpa)

40

25
20
15
10
5

44
Velocity (m/s)

.0
0

00

.0
00

47

43

.0
00

.0

46
00

42

.0
00

00
.0

00

45

41

.
00

18.00
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
3600.00 3700.00

3800.00 3900.00 4000.00

Av. Velocity (m/s)

4100.00

4200.00

Fig. 9: Comparison of Av. Velocity and compressive strength

with 0.75 w/c

Fig. 6: Comparison of Av. Velocity and compressive strength

with 0.40 w/c

concrete becomes unclear when age and mixture

proportion is taken into consideration simultaneously.
This observation suggests that it is be better to separately
consider the effect of age and mixture proportion on UPV
and strength relationship. For the given mixture
proportion, Figure 5 to 9 are used to acquire the UPV and
strength values of hardened concrete having w/c of 0.35,
0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.75.

also indicates that at the age of 2 days, concrete with low

w/c (w/c = 0.35) has a UPV that is approximately 97% of
that at 28 days and the strength is about 30%. To sum up,
the UPV and strength growth rates of high and low w/c
concrete are significantly different at an early age. As a
result, the relationship between UPV and strength of
502

Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 3(6): 499-504, 2011

Table 2:Concrete mix proportion for verification of UPV-strength
relationship curves
w/c
Cement/kg
Sand/kg
C.A (10 mm)/kg Water/L
0.35
15.4
30.9
61.7
4.6
0.40
15.4
30.9
61.7
6.2
0.50
15.4
30.9
61.7
7.7
0.60
15.4
30.9
61.7
9.2
0.75
15.4
30.9
61.7
11.6

recommended 10% deviation from the true value. This

verifies the suitability of the proposed relationship curves
for prediction of hardened concrete strength with a
measured UPV value.

Table 3: Comparison results of UPV-strength relationship

Theoretical
Experimental
w/c
Av.velocity/ms
C.S/MPa
C.S/MPa
0.35
4755.00
33.15
32.25
0.40
7505.60
40.30
41.00
0.50
6305.00
29.00
30.40
0.60
5446.60
22.50
21.40
0.75
4529.20
19.00
20.65

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the

relationship between the Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV)
and compressive strength of concrete as well as to
understand the influence of the mixture proportion and the
age of concrete on the relationship between UPV and
compressive strength. Specific conclusions are as follows:

CONCLUSION

In this study, five curves of the relationship between

UPV and compressive strength are drawn for concrete
with the given w/c.
The equations for the curves of these five w/c are as
follows:
F (0.35) = 1E-15 e0.008v
F (0.40) = 0.022 e0.001v
F (0.50) = 0.053 e0.001v
F (0.60) = 0.097 e0.001v
F (0.70) = 0.205 e0.001v

(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)

The UPV and strength growth rates of high and low

w/c concrete have a significant difference at an early
age. As a result, to clearly define the relationship
between UPV and the strength of concrete with
different mixture proportions, it is necessary to
eliminate the interference caused by the different
UPV and strength growth rates of concrete at early
ages.
The equations obtained from the simulation curves
can be used to determine the concrete strengths of the
concrete mix proportions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

where F and v represent the compressive strength (MPa)

and the ultrasonic pulse velocity (m/s), respectively. For
the five w/c (0.35, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60 and 0.75) the
relationship between UPV and strength of concrete is
pretty good for this particular mixture proportion with a
very high coefficient of determination, R2 of 0.866, 0.981,
0.888, 0.994 and 0.989, respectively. This indicates
relevance between data points and the regression curves.

We offer our sincere gratitude to W. Nimako and

F. Mudey of the Engineering department of the Ghana
Standards Board for their help, input and commitment.
We extend our thanks to all our colleagues at the Nuclear
Applications Centre, National Nuclear Research Institute,
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.
REFERENCES

Verification of proposed UPV - strength relationship

curves: To verify the validity of the proposed UPV strength relationship, additional specimen were
constructed with different concrete having a different
mixture proportion of w/c 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, as listed in
Table 2. The cement paste also occupies 18% of the total
concrete volume. The specimen were prepared and cured
in water and then tested at the age of 28 days. The
measured pulse velocity, v of each specimen was used to
predict its compressive strength by using the suitable
UPV - strength equation that is representative of the w/c
of the specimen.
The predicted strength was compared with the
compressive strength obtained from the destructive tests
on the specimen. The comparison results are shown in
Table 3. Almost all the comparison results are within the

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Marsh, B., 2000. The European Classification of
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Res. J. Appl. Sci. Eng. Technol., 3(6): 499-504, 2011

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