SpringerLink
Log in

Ultrasonic velocity and density measurement for mortar characterization: Investigation of correlations with mortar porosity and sand grain size

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Building Pathology and Rehabilitation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Non-destructive evaluation of mortar properties is critically important. This study explores the ultrasonic velocity in mortar samples with varied sand particle sizes using 1 MHz transducers immersed in water through the ultrasonic transmission technique. Measurements of density and porosity comply with ASTM C642-97 standards. Relationships between ultrasonic velocity and density across different sand grain sizes are established, and the impact of grain size and porosity is analyzed through ultrasonic velocity data. In accordance with ASTM C642-97, the water absorption capacity of mortar samples varying in sand sizes is examined, emphasizing the influence of density related to grain size and porosity. The relationship between porosity and sand grain size is delineated and depicted in a contour plot, facilitating the assessment of mortar quality based on porosity variations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
Fig 8

References

  1. Yu Z, Wu L, Zhang C, Bangi T (2023) Influence of eco-friendly fine aggregate on macroscopic properties, microstructure and durability of ultra-high performance concrete: A review. J Build Eng 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105783

  2. Haddad LD de O., Neves RR, Oliveira PV de, Santos WJ dos, Carvalho Junior AN de (2020) Influence of particle shape and size distribution on coating mortar properties. J Mater Res Technol 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.06.068

  3. Vandhiyan R, Vijay TJ, Manoj Kumar M (2020) Effect of fine aggregate properties on cement mortar strength. Mater. Today Proc 37(Part 2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.498

  4. Guades EJ (2019) Effect of coarse aggregate size on the compressive behaviour of geopolymer concrete. Eur J Environ Civ Eng 23(6). https://doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2017.1304276

  5. Lotfi H, Izbaim D, Bita H, Mesbah H, Banouni H (2021) Assessment of ultrasonic data of signals backscattered by mortar using the principal component analysis. Data in Brief 34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2021.106741

  6. Bilir T, Gencel O, Topcu IB (2015) Properties of mortars with fly ash as fine aggregate. Constr Build Mater 93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.05.095

  7. Rmdan Amer AA, Mustafa Al Bakri Abdullah M, Yun Ming L, Faheem Mohd Tahir M, Wazien Ahmad Zailani W, Ahmad Faris M (2020) Low Density, High Compressive Strength: Experimental Investigation with Various Particle Sizes of Sand for Different Mix Designs of Cement Mortar Manufacturing. IOP Conf Ser Mater Sci Eng 864(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/864/1/012010

  8. Martínez-García R, Sánchez de Rojas MI, Jagadesh P, López-Gayarre F, Morán-del-Pozo JM, Juan-Valdes A (2022) Effect of pores on the mechanical and durability properties on high strength recycled fine aggregate mortar. Case Stud Constr Mater 16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2022.e01050

  9. Atapour H, Mortazavi A (2018) The effect of grain size and cement content on index properties of weakly solidified artificial sandstones. J Geophys Eng 15(2). https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-2140/aaa14a

  10. Lin WT (2020) Effects of sand/aggregate ratio on strength, durability, and microstructure of self-compacting concrete. Constr Build Mater 242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.118046

  11. Ren Q, Tao Y, Jiao D, Jiang Z, Ye G, de Schutter G (2021) Plastic viscosity of cement mortar with manufactured sand as influenced by geometric features and particle size. Cement and Concrete Composites, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2021.104163

  12. Güçlüer K (2020) Investigation of the effects of aggregate textural properties on compressive strength (CS) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) of concrete. J Build Eng 27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100949

  13. Daghistani F, Abuel-Naga H (2023) Evaluating the Influence of Sand Particle Morphology on Shear Strength: A Comparison of Experimental and Machine Learning Approaches. Appl Sci (Switzerland) 13(14). https://doi.org/10.3390/app13148160

  14. Khan MI, Fares G, Mourad S, Abbass W (2016) Optimized Fresh and Hardened Properties of Strain-Hardening Cementitious Composites: Effect of Sand Size and Workability. J Mater Civ Eng 28(12). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)mt.1943-5533.0001665

  15. Hasannejad M, Berenjian J, Pouraminian M, Sadeghi Larijani A (2022) Studying of microstructure, interface transition zone and ultrasonic wave velocity of high strength concrete by different aggregates. J Build Pathol Rehabil 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-021-00146-x

  16. Treiber M, Kim JY, Qu J, Jacobs LJ (2010) Effects of sand aggregate on ultrasonic attenuation in cement-based materials. Mater Struct/Mater Constr 43(Suppl. 1). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-010-9587-7

  17. Gupta M, Khan MA, Butola R, Singari RM (2022) Advances in applications of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT): A review. Adv Mater Process Technol 8(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/2374068X.2021.1909332

  18. Goueygou M, Lafhaj Z, Soltani F (2009) Assessment of porosity of mortar using ultrasonic Rayleigh waves. NDT and E Int 42(5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2009.01.002

  19. Banouni, H., Khatib, N., Ouacha, E. H., Faiz, B., Aboudaoud, I., Mesbah, H. (2022). Ultrasound Non-Destructive Characterization of Early Hydration of Cement Pastes: The Effects of Water-Cement Ratio and Curing Temperature. Ann Chim-Sci Mat 46(6). https://doi.org/10.18280/acsm.460604

  20. Lotfi H, Faiz B, Mesbah H, Banouni H (2022) Spectral analysis of ultrasonic signals backscartted by mortar: Effect of sand size and temperatures. Mater Lett: X 15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mlblux.2022.100158

  21. Ravi Kumar NSM, Barkavi T, Natarajan C (2018) Structural health monitoring: detection of concrete flaws using ultrasonic pulse velocity. J Build Pathol Rehabil 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-018-0036-2

  22. Wons M, Camara L, Esteves I, Trentin PO, Medeiros-Junior RA (2021) Evaluation of concrete self-healing with different fly ash contents and cracking ages by means of ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength tests. J Build Pathol Rehabil 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-021-00104-7

  23. Mesbah H, Lotfi H, Banouni H, Tafkirte M, Faiz B, Ettahiri M (2023) Studing the early age of the mortar using ultrasonic control to assess attenuation and velocity. AIP Publishing

  24. Tafkirte M, Hamine A, Mesbah H, Ettahiri M, Mehdi Akhatar E (2024) Ultrasonic signal modeling for submerged aluminum plate health monitoring in civil engineering. AIP Publishing

  25. Tafkirte M, Hamine A, Mesbah H, Ettahiri M, Mehdi Akhatar E (2023) Time-frequency simulation of ultrasonic longitudinal wave propagation in rocks. Mater Today Proc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.03.646

  26. Franco EE, Meza JM, Buiochi F (2011) Measurement of elastic properties of materials by the ultrasonic through-transmission technique. DYNA (Colombia) 78(168)

  27. Mesbah H, Lotfi H, Banouni H, Tafkirte M, Faiz B, Ettahiri M (2023) An Ultrasonic Device for Investigating the Impacts of Water Content on Cement Durability by Measuring Dispersion Curves. Acoust Phys 69(4). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063771022600413

  28. Tafkirte M, Hamine A, Mesbah H, Aboudaoud I, Décultot D (2023) A novel approach for modeling of the ultrasonic signal backscattered in immersed multilayer structures at normal incidence: Time, Frequency, and Velocity dispersion representation. Mech Syst Signal Process 198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.110415

  29. Umchid S (2014) Measurements of the ultrasound propagation velocity in different materials. Proceedings - 2014 International Conference on Information Science, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, ISEEE 2014, p 3. https://doi.org/10.1109/InfoSEEE.2014.6946203

  30. American Society for Testing and Materials (1997) Standard Test Method for Density, Absorption, and Voids in Hardened Concrete C642-97. ASTM International

Download references

Funding

This research received no external funding

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Metrology and Information Processing, Ibn Zohr University, 80000, Agadir, Morocco

    Hicham Mesbah, Hicham Lotfi, Mounir Tafkirte, Hicham Banouni, Mohamed Ettahiri & Bouazza Faiz

  2. Higher School of Technology, Ibn Zohr University, 70000, Laayoune, Morocco

    Hicham Lotfi

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, 641014, Tamil Nadu, India

    Jagadesh P

Authors
  1. Hicham Mesbah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hicham Lotfi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mounir Tafkirte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hicham Banouni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Mohamed Ettahiri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jagadesh P
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Bouazza Faiz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors played a role in the conception and design of the study. Hicham Mesbah was responsible for the literature review, preparation of materials, data collection, and analysis. The methodology was designed and validated, and the results were interpreted by both Hicham Mesbah and Mounir Tafkirte. Hicham Mesbah drafted the initial manuscript, and all authors provided feedback on earlier drafts. Finally, all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hicham Mesbah.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

We have read and understood your journal's ethics, and we believe that neither the manuscript nor the study violates any of these.

Consent for publication

We have read and understood the publishing policy, and submit this manuscript in accordance with this policy. The results/data/figures in this manuscript have not been published elsewhere, nor are they under consideration by another publisher.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mesbah, H., Lotfi, H., Tafkirte, M. et al. Ultrasonic velocity and density measurement for mortar characterization: Investigation of correlations with mortar porosity and sand grain size. J Build Rehabil 9, 117 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-024-00473-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41024-024-00473-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation