Studying the mechanisms affecting the very early age hydration as well as the microstructure of
cementitious materials is essential to improve concrete performance. Consequently, it is necessary to monitor and
onderstand the early age hydration process.
In this work, continuous acoustic emission (AE), ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and capillary pressure
monitoring has been applied on Consolidated and non-consolidated cement paste to study the process of hydration
mechanism as well as the formation of the microstructure.
Preliminary experiments have presented a large rate of AE activities in the fresh state. Ultrasonic tests exhibited
an increase of pulse velocity during hydration while capillary pressure and heat evolution were also monitored.
The purpose of this study is to verify the sensitivity of AE to follow the ongoing processes in fresh cementitious
material and the possibility to contribute to a better monitoring of the process as an additional tooi