A Comparative Evaluation of the Neutron/Gamma and Kelly-Vail Techniques for Determining Water and Cement Content of Fresh Concrete.

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to comparatively evaluate a nuclear (neutron/gamma) technique and a chemical (Kelly-Vail) technique determining water and cement content of fresh concrete. The nuclear technique relies on the characteristic energy emissions of various elements during neutron interactions for determining water and cement content. The chemical technique relies on chloride ion titration to determine water content and flame photometry to determine cement content. Tests results indicate that the neutron/gamma method can estimate water contents to + or - 6 percent, and cement contents to + or - 9 to 22 percent, depending on the type of aggregate used. This compared to cement and water content accuracies of 7.1 and 5.2 percent, respectively, for the chemical technique.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1977
Accession Number
ADA040061

Entities

People

  • P. A. Howdyshell

Organizations

  • Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accelerated Testing
  • Alpha Decay
  • Chemical Analysis
  • Chemistry
  • Construction
  • Data Analysis
  • Databases
  • Detectors
  • Engineering
  • Fast Neutrons
  • Gamma Rays
  • Inelastic Scattering
  • Information Science
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Portland Cement
  • Regression Analysis
  • Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

  • Agricultural and Food sciences

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Trauma Surgery or Emergency Medicine.