Strength correlation and prediction of engineered cementitious composites with microwave properties

This paper presents the results of microwave and mechanical measurements of engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) using a nondestructive microwave near-field detecting technique. The objective of this research is to investigate the correlations between effective conductance and compressive strength of ECCs at various curing ages under the influence of different initial water contents. Parallel measurements and regression analysis on compressive strength and microwave conductance were undertaken. It is shown that the strength evolution of ECCs can be accurately modeled and predicted by using microwave conductance at the early ages using bi-exponential functions. Compressive strength grows as a function of decreasing effective conductance, whereas the regression coefficients of the correlation models have a linear variation with water-to-binder ratios. These findings have highlighted the effectiveness of the microwave technique in detecting the variation of liquid phase morphology and pore structure.