How closely can we determine the water-cement ratio of hardened concrete?

Title: How closely can we determine the water-cement ratio of hardened concrete?
Author(s): A. Neville
Paper category : journal
Serial title: Materials and Structures
Abreviated Serial title: Mater. Struct.
ISSN: 1359-5997
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Volume: 36
Issue: 259
Issue date: 2003-06-01
Publication year: 2003
Pages: 311 - 318
Total Pages: 8
Nb references: 14
Language: English

Abstract: Generally, a determination of the water-cement ratio (w/c) of hardened concrete is not very useful, but there exist indirect methods for that purpose.
A direct method, utilizing optical fluorescence microscopy, has been standardized by a Nordic organization; it requires the use of reference standards of a range of mixes with specific ingredients and a known curing history.
The method is useful for quality control in repetitive production of concrete elements.
A recent paper claims that the w/c of unknown concrete can be determined with a precision of ±0.
02.
A review of that paper, utilizing simple statistical tests, shows that the claim is unfounded, so that caution in the use of optical fluorescence microscopy is required.

Online publication: 2003-04-27
Classification: Scientific Reports
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00
doi: 10.1617/13928