Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract
This research aims to investigate the correlations between ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and physical (water
absorption, void ratio and density) and mechanical (tensile and compressive strength, static and dynamic modulus
of elasticity) properties of sawdust concrete in which sand was replaced by 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of Pinus
elliottii Engelm sawdust, in volume. Results show that mechanical properties of sawdust concretes decreased, the
higher the percentage of wood. Higher values of density and mechanical properties of sawdust concretes are
related to lower void ratio and water absorption. The use of UPV showed to be trustworthy to estimate
quantitatively physical and mechanical properties of sawdust concretes.
Keywords: ultrasonic pulse velocity, concrete, sawdust, Pinus elliottii
1. Introduction
The assessment of cementitious materials by using Non-destructive Testing (NDT), especially
ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), is one of the successful techniques for detection of changes in
chemical, physical and mechanical properties of cementitious materials [1], since provides
reliable results based on rapid measurements with relatively inexpensive equipment [2]. The
UPV method offers a unique opportunity for direct, reliable, quick, safe, inexpensive and non-
invasive measurement and has been used for different purposes over the years: setting and
hydration of cement, detection of defects in structures, assessment of damage after high-
temperature exposure, incorporation of different aggregates in concrete, among others [2].
Brazil, one of the five largest producers of industrial round wood, together with USA, Russian
Federation, China and Canada, produced, in 2013, 54% of total global production [3]. As
consequence, huge quantities of wood waste are produced annually by sawmills, whose
improper disposal can lead to environmental damage and economic concerns for wood
companies [4]. The use of wood wastes in form of fibers, particles or strands has demonstrated
that such material has potential to be applied as reinforcing agent or filler in cement-wood
composites [5-11]. Sawdust, in particular, may be used in concrete artefacts for low cost housing
construction, replacing usual fine aggregate in concrete[11,12], leading to a lightweight material
with satisfactory heat insulation and fire resistance, besides costs reduction[13].
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between UPV and physical
(water absorption, void ratio and density) and mechanical (flexural and compressive strength,
static and dynamic modulus of elasticity) properties of sawdust concretes in which sand was
replaced by 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of Pinus elliottii Engelm sawdust, in volume.
2.1 Materials
Pinus elliottii sawdust (un = 0,16g/cm3, maximum size of 2,36mm after sieving), was obtained
from a wood processing industry, located in Southern Brazil. Brazilian cement CPIV-32 [13]
similar to blended hydraulic cement type IP – Portland-Pozzolan Cement [14] was used as
binder. Figure 1 shows particle size distribution of sand, sawdust and coarse aggregate.
100
80
60
40
sand
20 sawdust
coarse aggregate
0
0 0.15 0.3 0.6 1.18 2.36 4.75 9.52 12.7 19.1
curing days, samples were demolded and conditioned in a laboratory room, protected from air
currents and direct insulation for 21 days.
2.3.2 Tensile and Compressive Strength, Static and Dynamic Modulus of Elasticity.
Tensile and compressive strength tests were carried in a universal testing machine, following
procedures recommended by Brazilian Technical Standards NBR 7222[16] and NBR 5739[17].
Dynamic modulus of elasticity, that corresponds to the tangent modulus [18,19], was determined
through the measurement of ultrasonic pulse velocity[20], based on Equation 1[21], where V is
the ultrasonic pulse velocity (mm/µs), ρ is the density (kg/m³) and is the concrete Poisson
ratio. Static modulus of elasticity (tangent modulus) of concrete T1 was estimated according to
Brazilian Technical Standards NBR 6118[22] and 12655[23], based on Equations 2 and 3, where
strength at 28 days (MPa), is the standard deviation (=4, according to NBR 12655[23]) and
fck is the characteristic compressive strength of concrete (MPa), fcj is the concrete compressive
E is a coefficient that varies from 0,7 and 1,2, depending on the coarse aggregate. Static
Equation 4, proposed by ACI 318 [24] for lightweight concretes, where is the concrete density
modulus of elasticity (tangent modulus) of concretes T2 to T5 were estimated based on
(kg/m³) and fcj is the concrete compressive strength at 28 days (MPa). Results are reported as
V 2 1 1 2
the average of five samples.
Ed
(1 )
(1)
Table 2 shows that mix proportions proposed in this experimental program resulted in a data set
that allowed an examination of apparent trends in the average physical and mechanical
properties of sawdust concretes. Considering that wood fibers are a biological material and
have inherent variability in fiber length and properties, trends in the average properties of
cement-wood composites are difficult to ascertain [6]. On the other hand, ultrasonic
measurements may be affected by several factors such as path length, moisture content,
temperature, shape and size of specimen. However, as a general trend, UPV measurements
showed a good agreement with mechanical and physical properties of the sawdust concretes.
There is an inverse correlation between cement:wood ratio and mechanical properties of
sawdust concretes. Results of Table 2 show that concretes with higher percentages of sawdust
(II to V) showed lower tensile and compressive strength when compared to the one without
sawdust (I), which also occurred with density. On the other hand, the higher the percentage of
sawdust the higher the water absorption and the void ratio of the sawdust concretes.
20,000
Eci = 7.8089x - 13251
10 1.50 10,000 R² = 0.9561 15,000
fct = 0.0008UPV - 0.9524
5 R² = 0.8517 1.00 Ed = 14.058UPV - 26334 10,000
5,000
R² = 0.9785
5,000
0 0.50 0 0
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000
UPV (m/s) (a) UPV (m/s) (b)
Figure 2. UPV measurements versus mechanical properties of sawdust concrete.
One can see in Figure 2(a) that there is a very good agreement between UPV and tensile
(85.17%) and compressive (93.55%) strength of sawdust concretes. Table 2 shows that
relations fct/fcj increased, the higher the percentage of sawdust: 0.13 (I), 0.12 (II), 0.14 (III),
0.16 (IV) and 0.19 (V). It happens due to the tough material behavior of the cement-wood
composites that shows the efficiency of load transfer between matrix and wood fiber [4]. On the
other hand, relations between fct of concretes II to V and I (0.76, 0.55, 0.54 and 0.35,
respectively) decreased, the higher the percentage of sawdust.
Modulus of elasticity is related to stiffness, deformability and cracking control of cement-wood
composites [25]. Results of static and dynamic modulus of elasticity (Figure 2 (b)) agree with
others reported by literature [4,7-10]. Figure 2 (b) shows that there is an excellent agreement
between UPV and static modulus of elasticity (95.61%). The modulus of elasticity of a cement
paste depends basically on its porosity and water:cement ratio. However, in a cement-wood
composite, the proportion between paste and aggregate, the wood specie and wood particle
treatments may also be relevant [4].
25 3.00
fcj
20 2.50
Compressive Strength (MPa)
= 0.0004UPV + 0.3586
15 2.00
R² = 0.9692
Density (g/cm3)
0 0.50
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000
UPV (m/s)
Figure 3. UPV measurements versus compressive strength and density of sawdust concrete.
The wood incorporation leads to concretes with lower density and, consequently, lower
compressive strength [12,26]. Cement-wood composites with higher densities also present higher
values of modulus of elasticity [27]. Results of density and compressive strength presented in
Table 2 and Figure 3 agree with others reported by literature [4,6,9,10,26,27]. There is a very good
agreement between UPV versus compressive strength (93.55%) and UPV versus density
(96.92%) data (Figure 3).
35 water absorption 50
void ratio
30
40
25
Absorption (%)
Vr = -0.0168UPV + 80.674
15
Wa = -0.0148UPV + 63.284 20
10 R² = 0.9684
5 10
2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
UPV (m/s)
Water absorption increased the higher the percentage of wood (Table 2). Figure 4 shows that
there is an excellent agreement between UPV, absorption (96.84%) and void ratio (97.56%).
The increase in porosity/permeability can be represented by UPV results since any material
imperfections, cracks or voids will cause an increase in the time of wave propagation through
the length of the cylinder, resulting in lower ultrasonic pulse velocities [1]. The increase in the
water absorption, when the percentage of sawdust is high, happens due to the hygroscopic
behavior of wood and due to the high porosity that allows voids filling by water [11].
Additionally, high values of density are related to low void ratios and water absorption, as well
as low tensile and compressive strength [2], which can be confirmed by the results of Table 2.
Figure 5 shows results of dynamic modulus of elasticity of sawdust concretes correlated to
compressive strength and static modulus of elasticity. Interfacial bond strength between fiber
and cement matrix is greatly influenced by the moisture content. Wet fibers present a lower
bending strength, which makes it more flexible and less likely to inhibit cracking in the cement
matrix [28]. Then, it is expected that the modulus of elasticity of a cement-wood composite
decreases, the higher the percentage of wood (Figure 5). The excellent agreement between
dynamic and static modulus of elasticity (96.99%) indicates that the dynamic modulus of
elasticity may be used as an indicator of stiffness in sawdust concretes.
25 30,000
fcj Eci
Static modulus of elasticity (MPa)
Compressive Strength (MPa)
25,000
20
20,000
15
fcj = 0.0005Ed + 1.7438
R² = 0.9403 15,000
10
10,000
Eci = 0.5534Ed + 1411
5 R² = 0.9699
5,000
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Dynamic Modulus of Elasticity (MPa)
Figure 5. Dynamic modulus of elasticity versus compressive strength and static modulus of elasticity of
sawdust concrete.
Modulus of elasticity of normal strength concrete are higher than the ones of lightweight
concretes [29]. Relations between modulus of sawdust concretes (II to V) and the reference
concrete (I), showed in Figure 5, are 0.75 (I), 0.5(II), 0.4(III) and 0.23(V) for static modulus of
elasticity and 0.71 (I), 0.48(II), 0.32(III) and 0.18(V) for dynamic modulus of elasticity.
In general the relation between Ed and Eci appears to be linear or nearly linear. Ed is known to
be higher than Eci for concrete, due to the composite nature of concrete and the non-linear
behavior of concrete exposed by varying strain levels [30]. The dynamic modulus of elasticity
may be 20, 30 and 40% higher than the static modulus of elasticity for high, medium and small
strength concretes, respectively [31]. However, it may be different in the case of lightweight
concretes, since the influence of the aggregate in the modulus of elasticity sometimes may be
more relevant than strength or even age and it is still more complex in composites with
different types of aggregate [4]. Relations Ed/Eci for sawdust concretes which data are presented
in Figure 5 are 1.68 (I), 1.59 (II), 1.62 (III), 1.34 (IV) and 1.31 (V).
Variations of UPV and, consequently, of dynamic modulus of elasticity may be also useful to
assess homogeneity and porosity of concrete [18], making possible to detect heterogeneous
regions, leading to a total control of the structure [1].
Despite the heterogeneity of sawdust concrete and the fact that ultrasonic measurements may
be affected by several factors such as path length, moisture content and temperature, shape and
size of specimen, results presented in this paper show that the use of UPV is trustworthy to
estimate quantitatively physical and mechanical properties of sawdust concrete.
4. Conclusions
In general, excellent correlations were found between UPV measurements and physical and
mechanical properties of sawdust concretes which means that this non;destructive technique
maz be used to estimate quantitatively physical and mechanical properties of sawdust
concretes.
Density is directly correlated to mechanical properties of sawdust concretes and inversely
correlated to absorption, void ratio and wood:cement ratio. High values of density are related to
low values of void ratio and water absorption and high values of tensile and compressive
strength and static and dynamic modulus of elasticity.
References