Porosity estimation of aged mortar using a micromechanical model.
Degradation of concrete structures located in high humidity atmospheres or under flowing water is a very important problem. In this study, a method for ultrasonic non-destructive characterization in aged mortar is presented. The proposed method makes a prediction of the behaviour of aged mortar accomplished with a three phase micromechanical model using ultrasonic measurements. Aging mortar was accelerated by immersing the probes in ammonium nitrate solution. Both destructive and non-destructive characterization of mortar was performed. Destructive tests of porosity were performed using a vacuum saturation method and non-destructive characterization was carried out using ultrasonic velocities. Aging experiments show that mortar degradation not only involves a porosity increase, but also microstructural changes in the cement matrix. Experimental results show that the estimated porosity using the proposed non-destructive methodology had a comparable performance to classical destructive techniques.
Hernández
M G
MG
Instituto de Automática Industrial, (CSIC) La Poveda, 28500 Arganda del Rey, Madrid, Spain. marga@iai.csic.es <marga@iai.csic.es>
Anaya
J J
JJ
Sanchez
T
T
Segura
I
I