Monitoring the hydration of cementitious material by acoustic emission

Abstract

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