IJSTE - International Journal of Science Technology & Engineering | Volume 2 | Issue 06 | December 2015

ISSN (online): 2349-784X

Correlation Between Actual and Estimated W/C

Ratio of Fresh Concrete
Yadav Neha
M.E. Scholar(Structure Engineering)
Department of Civil Engineering
Jabalpur Engineering College, Jabalpur

Chandak Rajeev
Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Jabalpur Engineering College, Jabalpur

Dubey A.K.
Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Jabalpur Engineering College, Jabalpur

Abstract
The quality of cement-based material is most important parameter in construction industries. To decide whether the quality of
concrete is good enough or not, it is the first most priority to determine the water cement ratio of concrete. To determine the
water cement ratio of fresh concrete in less time, a new method named as Electrical Resistivity by wenners array and the same
method is adopted in this work. A total number of three mixtures were designed and prepared with varying water cement ratio
(0.4,0.5 &0.6) with replacement of 25% of fly ash according to IS 456-2000 code recommendations and experiments were
conducted on these mixtures for determination of actual and accurate water cement ratio instantaneously. The fresh mixtures
with different w/c ratio may have very similar (porosities) or overall water content.
Keywords: Water-cement ratios, electrical resistivity, fresh concrete, fly ash, resistivity probe & quality control
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
Due to the lack of practical knowledge and practice, it is not possible to accurately mix the ingredients of concrete together at
site. As a result of that, many practical problems occur due to improper w/c ratio. The actual w/c ratio and estimated w/c ratio
has been determined and found same with an accuracy of 0.01 by archies law.
A. Electrical Resistivity and W/C Ratio of Wet Mixtures:
In the present wenner array probe setup, cement concrete was prepared in a cubical shaped non-conductive container. The
distance between wenner probes are constant i.e., 3.5cm and also get separated by using a non-conductive material. As shown in
figure given below, the current flows and get the bulk electrical resistivity of fresh concrete which has a direct correlation with
water content (w/c ratio)

Fig. 1: Schematic Diagram of Electrical Resistivity Probe

All rights reserved by www.ijste.org

87

Correlation Between Actual and Estimated W/C Ratio of Fresh Concrete

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 06 / 019)

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Ozkan Sengul and Odd E. Gjrv[1] Electrical Resistivity Measurements for Quality Control During Concrete Construction
investigated the relationship between chloride diffusivity and electrical resistivity of the given concrete based on the NernstEinstein equation. Then the chloride diffusivity can indirectly be controlled by routine-based measurements of the electrical
resistivity during concrete construction. The test program was mainly based on the four-electrode (Wenner) testing of the
electrical resistivity and included different probe spacing and different geometry of the test specimens. M. Mancio, J. R. Moore,
Z. Brooks, P. J. M. Monteiro, and S. D. Glase[2] Instantaneous In-Situ Determination of Water-Cement Ratio of Fresh
Concrete described the importance of w/c ratio of fresh concrete for quality control for the construction industries and a new
technique to determine the same. Experiments were conducted on eight concrete mixtures designed according to the ACI 211.1
procedure, with varying w/c (0.30, 0.40, 0.50, and 0.60) and fly ash percentages (0 and 25%). They also validated their estimated
w/c ratio(by Archies law) results with the actual w/c ratio.

III. OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

1)
2)
3)
4)

To prepare a correlation between estimated w/c ratio with actual w/c ratio.
To establish a relationship between actual w/c ratio & bulk electrical resistivity.
To develop a new method of determining w/c ratio for quality control.
To investigate the instantaneous w/c ratio of fresh concrete.

IV. METHODOLOGY
The experiment were conducted on three concrete mixtures with varying w/c ratio (0.4, 0.5 & 0.6) with fly ash (25% with the
replacement of cement) according to IS concrete mixture design procedure and guidelines. The resistivity for all ingredients are
determined separately. In this wenners array ( four probe) setup, the spacing between probes are constant i.e., 3.5cm. Based on
the IS procedure, a non-air entrained concrete with a maximum aggregate size 20mm and slump(25-50mm), as used in this
research, will have a mixing water content of approximately 186 Kg/m3.
The initial resistivity of the mixing water was measured and kept constant at 64 -m. Immediately after mixing, a portion of
each concrete was poured into a non-conducting chamber (25x 25 cm) to hold the sample as resistivity measurements were
conducted over time. Standard for all measurements, the probe was vertically immersed in concrete and centrally located within
the glass chamber. Before initial setting of the cement, resistivity was measured at 10-minute intervals for approximately 2
hours.
The electrical resistivity of the concrete , a material property independent of sample geometry, is given by = kR, where k is
the geometric factor (a parameter determined by the geometry of the probe used).the probe geometry factor k determined
analytically(k = 4a), and experimently determine the value of this constant, the probe was submerged in aqueous solutions of
known resistivities (s 0.1-0.4 -m, 1-4 -m, and 10-40 -m), and the expression k = s /Rs as well. Rs is given by Vs/Io,
that is,the potential measured across the two inner electrodes divided by the current driven through the circuit. The purpose of
this work is to correlate the estimated and actual w/c ratio through Archies law According to Archies law, the bulk electrical
resistivity of porous media is a function of two parameters: 1) resistivity of the pore fluid; and 2) porosity

where b is bulk electrical resistivity, f is the resistivity of the pore fluid, is the porosity (by volume), and a and m are
empirical constants.

V. RESULT AND GRAPHS

A. Concrete Mixing Proportions:
Table 1
Concrete Mixing Proportions
UNIT PROPORTIONS
MIXTURE
NO.

W/C
RATIO

CEMENT

FLY
ASH

FINE
AGG

COARSE
AGG

CEMENT
(KG)

4
5
6

0.40
0.50
0.60

1.00
1.00
1.00

0.25
0.25
0.25

1.257
1.759
2.304

2.410
3.096
3.73

348.75
279
232.5

AMOUNT KG/M3
FLY
FINE
ASH
AGG
(KG)
(KG)
116.25
619.01
93
690.55
77.5
740.482

COARSE
AGG
(KG)
1186.81
1214.32
1198.37

Note: specific gravity of material: cement =3.15, fine aggregate =2.60, Fly ash = 2.77, coarse aggregate=2.804.

All rights reserved by www.ijste.org

88

Correlation Between Actual and Estimated W/C Ratio of Fresh Concrete

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 06 / 019)

B. Probes average geometric factor (K)

2(A) . Empirical determination of probes average geometric factor (K)
Table 2
Probe S Average Geometric Factors
SOLUTION TYPE
Low
=0.1-0.4 (-m)

Medium
=1 - 4 (-m)

High
=10 -40
(-m)

NO.

(-M)

R ()

K1

K2

0.2380

0.50503

0.471

0.471

0.2387

0.5065

0.472

0.472

0.23951

0.50805

0.471

0.471

2.427

5.148

0.472

0.472

2.42736

5.1487

0.4714

0.4714

2.42394

5.1478

0.4712

0.4712

24.53

52.0514

0.4723

0.4723

24.65

52.2880

0.4715

0.4715

24.6462

52.2801

0.4721

0.4721

Average geometric factor

0.471

Standard deviation

0.022

Probe geometrical factor was based on 18 measurements conducted with aqueous solution of low-medium and high electrical
resistivity (refer table 2). The average measured value for K was 0.471
2(B). ANALYTICAL DETERMINATION OF PROBE S AVERAGE GEOMETRIC FACTOR (K)
k = 4 ; k =0.439;
Geometrical factor for resistivity probe immersed in solution has been analytical determined as given above where a is spacing
between electrode i.e., 3.5cm.
error = 0.471-0.439 =0.032
The error between empirical & analytical geometrical factor for resistivity probe is 0.032.
C. Resistivity (-m) for different mixtures (25% fly ash):
Table 3
Resistivity (-M) For Different Mixtures
RESISTIVITY(-M) FOR DIFFERENT MIXTURES
TIME (MINUTES)
0.40
0.50
0.60
0
29.649
35.312
38.65
10
31.469
37.702
41.6574
20
29.42
36.2184
38.8465
30
32.082
38.4221
39.817
40
34.815
37.640
42.347
50
33.7826
35.139
38.145
60
39.337
40.979
43.587
70
36.785
39.665
42.5291
80
37.554
38.890
39.241
90
46.5474
42.652
42.648
100
41.2211
43.102
45.689
110
43.6599
44.385
46.2741
120
45.453
47.559
48.392

Resistivity measurements were made at 10-minute intervals for each of the three different samples during the first 2 hours after
mixing. Two measurements were made at each time interval, and average values for each mixture were calculated including all
readings made during the testing period. All measurements were made using the probe apparatus described previously.

All rights reserved by www.ijste.org

89

Correlation Between Actual and Estimated W/C Ratio of Fresh Concrete

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 06 / 019)

Fig. 2: Graph between & Time (Minutes) for W/C Ratio 0.4

Fig. 3: Graph between & Time (Minutes) for W/C Ratio 0.5

Fig. 4: Graph between & Time (Minutes) for W/C Ratio 0.6

Relationship between electrical resistivity and w/c ratio for fresh concrete (25% fly ash)
S.NO.
1
2
3

W/C
0.40
0.50
0.60

Table 4
Electrical Resistivity and W/C Ratio for Fresh Concrete
AVERAGE (-M) STANDARD DEVIATION COEFFICIENT OF VARIATION, %
37.059
5.52
0.304
39.820
3.80
0.144
42.140
3.167
0.101

All rights reserved by www.ijste.org

90

Correlation Between Actual and Estimated W/C Ratio of Fresh Concrete

(IJSTE/ Volume 2 / Issue 06 / 019)

Fig. 5: Graph between & W/C Ratio

Table 5
Comparison between Actual and Estimated Value of W/C

w/c actual value

0.40
0.50
0.60

w/c estimate
0.40
0.50
0.61

Standard deviation
0.008
0.0081
0.011

Average error %
2.01
1.60
1.83

Comparison between actual and estimated value of w/c (25 % fly ash)

VI. CONCLUSION
A relationship between resistivity and the w/c was established and tested, and two equations were developed to correlate the
electrical resistivity of fresh concrete with its w/c.
The most significant findings are as follows:
1) The average w/c estimates based on the electrical resistivity of fresh concrete were virtually identical to the actual w/c
values for all mixtures tested.
2) The use of fly ash tends to increase the electrical resistivity of fresh concrete.
3) Time did not have a statistically significant effect on the electrical resistivity of fresh concrete before initial setting.
4) There is a strong direct relationship between the w/c of fresh concrete and the materials electrical resistivity.

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]

Ozkan Sengul and Odd E. Gjrv Electrical Resistivity Measurements for Quality Control During Concrete Construction ACI Material journal, vol. 105,
issue 6, pp. 541 -547 (2008)
M. Mancio, J. R. Moore, Z. Brooks, P. J. M. Monteiro, and S. D. Glase Instantaneous In-Situ Determination of Water-CementRatio of Fresh Concrete
ACI Material journal, vol. 107 issue 6, pp .586 -592 (2010)
Monteiro, P. J. M., and Helene, P. R. L., Designing Concrete Mixtures for Desired Mechanical Properties and Durability, Concrete Technology: Past,
Present, and Future, SP-144, P. K. Mehta, ed., American Concrete Institute, Farmington, Hills, MI, 1994, pp. 519-543.
ACI Committee 211, Standard Practice for Selecting Proportions for Normal, Heavyweight, and Mass Concrete (ACI 211.1-91) (Reapproved 2009),
American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI, 1991, 38 pp.
Lyse, I., Tests on Consistency and Strength of Concrete Having Constant Water Content, ASTM International, Proceedings, V. 32, Part 2, Dec. 1932, pp.
629-636.
IS 383-1970 (reapproved in 1997), Specifications for coarse and fine aggregates from natural sources for concrete, Bureau of Indian Standards, New
Delhi, India.
IS 8112-1989 (re-affirmed in 2000), Specifications for 43 grade Portland cement, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.
IS 456-2000 (fourth revision), code of practice for plain and reinforced concrete (with amendment No. 2), Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.
IS 383-1970 (re-affirmed in 1999), Recommended Guidelines for Concrete Mix Design, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

All rights reserved by www.ijste.org

91