Papworths Construction Testing Equipment

Concrete compression testing is performed to determine the compressive strength of concrete. It is probably the most performed and most widely used and known concrete testing methods . The test involves crushing a test cylinder in a compression testing machines and recording the ultimate strength at failure. AS1012.8.1 Chapter 7 gives guidance on the moulding of lab specimens. Rodding or tamping cannot be used on samples with slump less than 40mm. In those circumstances vibration must be used.  Care must be taken with specimens of concrete with slump greater than 100mm to ensure segregation does not occur. The procedure for the compaction by vibration of specimens shall be as follows: (a) Fill the moulds in two approximately equal layers. (b) Vibrate each layer until the surface becomes relatively smooth in appearance. Vibration should not be prolonged beyond the point at which mortar commences to collect on the surface. (c) Place sufficient concrete in the top layer, to overfi

Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) testing of concrete elements is useful to evaluate quality and consistency of concrete, along with locate regions of bad consolidation, honeycombing or delamination due to corrosion. It is also possible to measure the depth of perpendicular cracks in the concrete. UPV testing measures the time of transit of an ultrasonic pulse between two test points. The pulse velocity is calculated upon the direct distance between the two test points. This velocity value is related to a number of material properties of concrete including the density and elastic modulus. There will also be a reduction in pulse velocity if there is damage to the concrete being tested or regions of bad consolidation. Conventionally UPV testing uses P wave transducers, that is it sends and receives compression waves. Shear wave transducers are also available, S waves are more slowly transmitted. Where P&S wave testing on lab samples is combined with measuring the density of a