Kansas Water-Cement Ratio Meter: Preliminary Results

The water-cement ratio of fresh concrete is recognized as the one factor that affects the strength and durability of an adequately compacted concrete mix. Although water-cement ratio is the predominant factor affecting strength of hardened concrete, currently no widely used, reliable method is available for measuring water-cement ratio in the field. A prototype device has been developed to measure the water-cement ratio of a plastic concrete mix. The method is based on the measurement of turbidity of water-cement slurry separated out of a concrete mixture by pressure sieving. Consistent results were obtained for air-entrained and non-air-entrained concrete. Statistical analyses of the test results have shown that this meter can measure the water-cement ratio of fresh concrete with an accuracy of ±0.01 on the water-cement ratio scale for a single test at a 90 percent confidence interval. The equipment will cost less than $10,000. If the method works as well in the field as it does in the laboratory, accura...