An Experimental Study on Evaluation of Compressive Strength in Cement Mortar Using Averaged Electromagnetic Properties

A non-destructive testing (NDT) method for evaluating physical properties of concrete including the compressive strength is highly desirable. This paper presents such an NDT method based on measurement of electromagnetic (EM) properties of the material. Experiments are carried out on cement mortar with different water/cement (W/C) ratios. Their EM properties including the conductivity and the dielectric constant are measured at different exposure conditions and curing periods over a wide frequency range of the EM wave. The compressive strength of these specimens is also tested. It is found that both the conductivity and the dielectric constant increase as the W/C ratio decreases and the curing period increases, which lead strength development in the specimens. A linear correlation is observed between the averaged EM properties over the 5 to 20 GHz frequency range and the measured compressive strength, demonstrating the effectiveness of the EM property-based NDT method in evaluating strength of OPC mortar.