DETERMINATION OF ELASTIC-CONSTANTS OF A CONCRETE SPECIMEN USING TRANSIENT ELASTIC-WAVES

This paper presents the results of measuring the Rayleigh wave as well as longitudinal wave velocities in a concrete specimen using transien t elastic waves. The Rayleigh surface wave generated by a steel ball i mpact on a concrete material is studied in detail and then a method fo r the determination of Rayleigh surface wave velocity based on the cro ss-correlation method is proposed. The longitudinal wave velocity of a concrete specimen is determined by measuring the wavefront arrival of a longitudinal wave. A special triggering device for the accurate det ermination of the impact time origin is utilized. The measured velocit ies of both the Rayleigh wave and the longitudinal wave in the concret e specimen are in good agreement with those measured by utilizing the conventional ultrasonic method. It is noted that with the Rayleigh wav e and the longitudinal wave velocities measured, the Young's modulus a s well as the shear modulus of a concrete specimen can be obtained in a straightforward way. (C) 1995 Acoustical Society of America.