Author

F. K. BIRJANDI
British Cement Association
and PROFESSOR M. C. FORDE
University of Edinburgh

Abstract

Experimental work has been undertaken on the relationships between ultrasonic pulse velocity and age, and pulse velocity and compressive strength for mortar cubes, mortar beams and of stone cubes. The sonic velocity of stone masonry piers has been obtained using a time delay technique. The ultrasonic pulse velocity on the mortar cubes and beams was undertaken using PUNDIT.
It was confirmed that a stronger mortar mix can be identified by a higher pulse velocity. Pulse velocity was shown to increase with compressive strength of cubes of stone. It was shown that the measured pulse velocity in mortar decreases when the path length is shorter than the wavelength of the pulse. Ultrasonic and sonic velocity can be used to rank mortar and masonry in terms of integrity and strength.