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Destructive and non-destructive evaluation of concrete for optimum sand to aggregate volume ratio

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Abstract

Aggregates are the biggest contributor to concrete volume and are a crucial parameter in dictating its mechanical properties. As such, a detailed experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of sand-to-aggregate volume ratio (s/a) on the mechanical properties of concrete utilizing both destructive and non-destructive testing (employing UPV (ultrasonic pulse velocity) measurements). For investigation, standard cylindrical concrete samples were made with different s/a (0.36, 0.40, 0.44, 0.48, 0.52, and 0.56), cement content (340 and 450 kg/m3), water-to-cement ratio (0.45 and 0.50), and maximum aggregate size (12 and 19 mm). The effect of these design parameters on the 7, 14, and 28 d compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, and UPV of concrete were assessed. The careful analysis demonstrates that aggregate proportions and size need to be optimized for formulating mix designs; optimum ratios of s/a were found to be 0.40 and 0.44 for the maximum aggregate size of 12 and 19 mm, respectively, irrespective of the W/C (water-to-cement) and cement content.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Board Bazar, Gazipur, 1704, Bangladesh

    Tarek Uddin Mohammed, Mohammad Zunaied-Bin-Harun & Jamil Ahmed Joy

  2. Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Safety, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Aziz Hasan Mahmood

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, European University of Bangladesh, Mirpur, Dhaka, 1216, Bangladesh

    Md. Asif Ahmed

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  1. Tarek Uddin Mohammed
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  2. Aziz Hasan Mahmood
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  3. Mohammad Zunaied-Bin-Harun
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  4. Jamil Ahmed Joy
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  5. Md. Asif Ahmed
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Correspondence to Aziz Hasan Mahmood.

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Mohammed, T.U., Mahmood, A.H., Zunaied-Bin-Harun, M. et al. Destructive and non-destructive evaluation of concrete for optimum sand to aggregate volume ratio. Front. Struct. Civ. Eng. 15, 1400–1414 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-021-0779-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-021-0779-8

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