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Testing Methods for Determination of Water-to-Cement Ratio of Fresh

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・ 1576 ・ 硅 酸 盐 学 报 2012 年

第 40 卷第 11 期 硅 酸 盐 学 报 Vol. 40， No. 11

2012 年 11 月 JOURNAL OF THE CHINESE CERAMIC SOCIETY November，2012

新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法

肖江帆，史才军，王德辉，贾路风，黄 勇
(湖南大学土木工程学院，长沙 410082)

摘 要：水灰比是决定混凝土品质和耐久性的一个重要参数，因此准确测定新拌混凝土的水灰比对工程实际有着极其重大的意义。本文总结并讨论了
文献中报道的新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法。其中微波法是目前为止最简单实用的方法之一，然而其只能测定新拌物中的含水量，需结合其它测定水泥
含量的方法才能确定水灰比。电阻率法精度高，但需预先建立水灰比与电阻率之间的关系曲线。其它方法或精度不足，或缺乏现场操作性，从而没有
得到广泛的认可。本文对新拌混凝土中水泥含量的测定方法也进行了回顾及讨论。

关键词：新拌混凝土；水灰比；水泥含量；测定方法
中图分类号：TU502.4 文献标志码：A 文章编号：0454–5648(2012)11–1576–10
网络出版时间：2012–10–31 10:54:55 网络出版地址：http://www.cnki.net/kcms/detail/11.2310.TQ.20121031.1054.201211.1576_007.html

Testing Methods for Determination of Water-to-Cement Ratio of Fresh Concrete – A Short Review

XIAO Jiangfan，SHI Caijun，WANG Dehui，JIA Lufeng，HUANG Yong

(College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)

Abstract: Water-to-cement ratio is a critical factor determining the quality and durability of concrete. It is thus of great significance to
precisely determinate the water-to-cement ratio of fresh concrete during construction. This review summarized some published testing
methods for the determination of water-to-cement ratio as to provide a scientific base for the selection and further development of new
methods. Among all these methods, microwave method is the simplest and the most practical one. However, it determines only the
water content of fresh concrete, and cement content has to be determined in order to calculate water-to-cement ratio. Electrical resis-
tivity method has a high accuracy, but it has to establish relationship between water-to-cement ratio and electrical resistivity. Other
methods have lack of either accuracy or practicability at the construction site. None of those has gained widespread acceptance for use
in the field. Besides, the methods for the determination of cement content in concrete were also discussed.

Key words: fresh concrete; water-to-cement ratio; cement content; testing method

in particular strength and durability.[2] However, more

1 Introduction
In 1918, Abrams[1] found that a relation existed be-
tween water-to-cement (w/c) ratio and concrete strength,
which is expressed as:
k
f c = w1/ c (1)
k2
where w/c represents water-to-cement ratio of the con-
crete mixture and k1 and k2 are empirical constants.
Clearly, the compressive strength of concrete decreases
with the increase of w/c. Actually, the w/c ratio has a sig-
nificant influence on most properties of hardened concrete
water is often deliberately added to achieve a higher flow
ability at the construction site. It will severely affect the
strength and durability of concrete. Thus, there is a strong
need for a quick and easy determination of w/c at the
construction site to ensure the quality of concrete.
There are many methods for determining the water-to-
cement ratio of hardened concrete. Jakobsen et al.[3] used
the theory of optical fluorescence microscopy to correlate
the w/c to the fluorescence intensity, which developed
into the Nordtest method (NT Build 361-1999).[4] Sahu et
al.[5] along with Wong and Buenfled, [6] used scanning
electron microscopy in the backscattered electron mode

收稿日期：2012–05–16。 修订日期：2012–07–19。 Received date: 2012–05–16. Revised date: 2012–07–19.

基金项目：国家自然科学基金(50978093；51072050)和国家“973”计划 First author: XIAO Jiangfan (1988–), female, Master candidate.
(2009CB6231001)项目资助。 E-mail: olivia.914@hotmail.com
第一作者：肖江帆(1988—)，女，硕士研究生。 Correspondent author: SHI Caijun (1963–), male, Ph.D., Professor.
通信作者：史才军(1963—)，男，博士，教授。 E-mail: caijunshi@yahoo.com
 第 40 卷第 11 期 肖江帆 等：新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法
and image analysis to quantify the composition of hard-
ened cement paste or concrete. Besides, some nonde-
structive procedures for the evaluation of water-to-cement
ratio in harden concrete are presented as well.[7–9]
In order to control the quality of concrete timely,
methods for measurement of w/c of fresh concrete are
much preferable, which can be classified into two cate-
gories. One is based on the measurement of water and
cement contents, respectively. The other one is based on
the measurement of a specific physical property, which
can be correlated to w/c and to calculate it. The former
includes microwave method,[10–11] nuclear gauge,[12]
chemical titration method,[13] and flotation method.[14]
The latter involves electrical resistivity method,[15] Kan-
sas Water-Cement Ratio Meter,[16] reflectometer appara-
tus,[17] buoyancy method[18] and ultrasonic method,[19]
however, the results of this research were not promising.
In this paper, all these methods are briefly described
and discussed. The purpose is to compare their advan-
tages and disadvantages of those previously proposed
methods so to provide a scientific base for the selection
and further development of new methods. Besides,
methods for determination of cement content in concrete
are also discussed.
2 Methods for determination of w/c ratio
2.1 Microwave method
In the microwave method, a fresh concrete sample is
weighed and then heated in a microwave oven to evapo-
rate the water. The mass difference between the dry and
wet samples yields the water percentage. Then w/c can be
calculated when cement content in the concrete is known.
Some major concerns associated with this method in-
clude:[20]
1) Difficulty of obtaining a representative sample;
2) Accounting for the absorbed water in aggregate;
3) Decomposition of aggregate particles during heat-
ing, and
4) Popping of aggregate particles during heating re-
sulting in loss of sample.
In order to obtain a representative result, multiple
samples from different batches should be taken and tested.
Besides, a correction factor was recommended by the
National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA)
to address the errors during sampling. The correction
factor (fc) was based on the amount of coarse aggregate in
the sample and described as follow:
1 − w(CA) batch
fc = (2)
1 − w(CA)sample
where w(CA)batch is the percentage of coarse aggregate in
the batch; w(CA)sample is the percentage of coarse aggre-
gate in the sample.[21] However, the results from Dowell
and Cramer showed that the correction factor did not
・ 1577 ・
consistently improve the predicted w/c ratios of micro-
wave method and the corresponding standard errors in-
creased in most cases.[22] As for the other concern, the
control of aggregate type and water content in aggregates
may be helpful.
On the premise of known proportion of cement and
aggregates in the concrete design, Bescher et al.[23] de-
duced the equation to calculate w/c ratio of freshly mixed
rapid-setting calcium sulfoaluminate concrete using a
microwave oven. The accuracy of the test is within 0.03
in the field and 0.01 in the lab.
Considering the existence of water in the gypsum
added to the cement, which is about 2% of the mass of
cement and in the admixtures, which is approximately
80%, the water loss caused by these two reasons must be
subtracted. Therefore, the calculated w/c ratio was:
w m − 100 − 0.02c − 0.8 Pa c
= (3)
c c0
0.98cm
c= ⋅ cd (4)
0.98cm + a
where m is the water loss during the heating process; 100
is the mass of added water and citric acid, which blocks
the hydration; Pa is the percentage of chemical admixture;
c is the mass of cement in the dry concrete, cm; and a is
the mass of cement and aggregates in the mix design,
respectively; cd is the mass of dry concrete; c0 is the ac-
tual mass of the cement, which is equal to 1.02c.
2.2 Nuclear Gauge
The Troxler Model 4430 Water Cement Gauge intro-
duced by Troxler Electronic Laboratory uses nuclear
technology to indirectly measure the amount of water and
cement in concrete. The device mainly consists of two
probes (one for cement content measurement and the
other one for water content measurement), computerized
control unit and a sample bucket, as shown in Fig. 1.
The water probe contains a sealed source of califor-
nium-252. The neutrons emitted by the probe are ther-
malized, or slowed, by hydrogen in the concrete sample.
A detector in the water probe counts the thermalized neu-
trons. Since most hydrogen present in concrete is in water,
the amount of water can be measured by counting the
number of thermalized neutrons.
The cement probe contains a sealed source of ameri-
cium-241. Photons emitted by this probe are likely to be
absorbed by elements with atomic numbers higher than
14. Most elements present in concrete have atomic num-
bers less than 14 with the exception of calcium present in
cement. Calcium has an atomic number of 20 and is
much more likely to absorb protons from the americium
source. Because the amount of calcium is directly related
to cement content, calibration curves that show cement
content versus absorbed radiation can be used to determine
the amount of cement. Nevertheless, other components of
・ 1578 ・ 硅 酸 盐 学 报 2012 年

the gauge, which must be controlled within ± 1% of the

target air content during calibration and ± 5% during
field-use. Measured cement content in fresh concrete
containing limestone or siliceous aggregates obviously
deviated from the actual values as shown in Table 1.[24]

Fig. 1 Troxler 4430 water cement gauge[24]

concrete, such as fly ash and limestone aggregate may

also contain calcium or other high atomic number ele-
ments, which can affect the measurement. Therefore, a
calibration curve must be developed for the materials Fig. 2 Water probe calibration of base series[24]
used for a particular project. The two probes are inserted
into the sample bucket during the measurement. Water
and cement content measurements both take approxi-
mately four minutes. However, operators must have pro-
fessional training and license based on radiation safety
regulations, which strongly restricts the wide application
of the gauge.
Figures 2 and 3 show the calibration plots of base se-
ries in HITEC Report (Count ratio for each batch was
obtained when water and cement counts were divided by
the standard counts). It is seen that there are excellent
relationships between count ratio and water or cement.
However, calibration curve must be re-established once
the raw materials even have a slight change. In addition,
air content of a concrete mixture is also an important
factor influencing both the calibration and performance of Fig. 3 Cement probe calibration of base series[24]

Table 1 Effect of aggregate type on predicted cement and water content[24]

Cement content/(lb·yd–3) Water content/(lb·yd–3)
Material
Actual Predicted Difference Actual Predicted Difference
Limestone 616.1 1 050.1 434.0 308.0 314.1 6.1
Fine aggregate 617.8 1 072.1 454.3 308.8 307.6 –1.2
Basalt 627.5 1 133.5 506.0 313.7 314.4 0.7
Aggregate 627.5 1 129.5 502.0 313.7 315.9 2.2

2.3 Chemical titration method
Chemical titration method is based on chloride and
calcium titration to determine the water and cement con-
tents of fresh concrete, respectively, which was first pro-
posed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In the later
1970s, a device named USA-CERL Concrete Quality
Monitor (CQM) applying the principle of this method
was developed.[25]
The water content measurement is based on the foun-
dation of the premise that water in fresh concrete is
available for intermixing with aqueous solutions. Thus, if
an aqueous solution with a known concentration of chlo-
rides and a known volume is added to a concrete sample,
the volume of water in the sample can be determined by
the measurement of the concentration of chlorides in the
intermixed solution without the consideration of solution
 第 40 卷第 11 期 肖江帆 等：新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法
absorbed by aggregates or cement. The testing proce-
dures include, mixing a sample of fresh concrete with a
known mass, generally 2 kg, with sodium chloride solu-
tion of a prescribed concentration and volume. Then a
sample of the intermixed salt solution is centrifuged and
the chloride concentration of the resultant supernatant
liquid is determined. The water content of the sample
tested is found from the following relationship:
B × S1 = ( A + B ) S2 (5)
where B is the volume of salt solution added to the sam-
ple; S1 is the chloride concentration of salt solution ini-
tially added; A is the volume of water in the sample; S2 is
the chloride concentration of the intermixed solution.
When the concrete sample contains chloride compounds
from other sources, the procedure requires calibrations on
both regular sample and a blank sample consisting of
only distilled water.
The cement content determination is based on the re-
lationship curves of calcium content of the cement. The
Table 2 Summary of cement and water content test results for CQM[13]
Non-air entrained
Material Mean percent
Numbel of samples n
recovery X
Cement 39 97.3
Water 39 101.9
* Water content results based on free water content.
Similay of cemenrly to the nuclear gauge, any factors
influencing the calcium content of the concrete have an
effect on the accuract content measurement. The calibra-
tion curve of calcium content needs to be re-built when
cementitious materials are changed.
2.4 Flotation method
The flotation method is primarily applied to ore indus-
try. Nägele and Hilsdorf[14] modified it and first used it to
cement content determination of fresh concrete.
In a flotation procedure, the mixture of solid particles
has to be suspended in liquid. Then, surface-active sub-
stances are added as “collectors”. They react selectively
with a particular component of the mixture and make it
hydrophobic. When air is blown into the suspension, the
hydrophobic particles attach themselves to the air bub-
bles and rise to the surface. The non-hydrophobic parti-
cles remain in suspension. On the surface of the suspen-
sion, a froth containing the hydrophobic components is
formed and can be removed easily. Thus, a particular
component may be separated from other solid particles.
For the stabilization of the air bubbles in the suspension
and in the froth, a so-called “frother” is used. These are
surface active substances, which are absorbed on the wa-
ter-air surface. If several minerals of different surface
properties are present in the suspension, the addition of
“regulator” may be required in order to achieve a suffi-
・ 1579 ・
testing procedure involves separating a sample of known
mass of freshly mixed concrete over a nest of sieves with
a constant volume of water circulated. Agitation serves to
suspend the cement washed from the aggregate in the
circulating water. A representative sample of known
volume of the cement-water mixture is obtained and
mixed with a known volume of dilute nitric acid. The
mixture of cement, water and nitric acid is then agitated
without heat to dissolve the calcium in the cement. The
concentration of the dissolved calcium in the solution is
determined and related to the cement content of the sam-
ple with the aid of a previously developed calibration
curve. Table 2 gives a summary of the results of a series
of testing by Howdyshell.[13] The results indicated that
the standard deviation for cement is around 5%, but
slightly higher for water. For cement measurement, the
standard deviation for non-air entrained concrete is
slightly higher than that for air-trained concrete. The
trend is opposite for water measurement.
Air entrained
Mean percent
Standard deviation S Numbel of samples n Standard deviation S
recovery X
5.4 24 98.5 4.8
5.9 24 112.9 7.6
cient separation.
Nägele and Hilsdorf[14] chose dodecyl-sulfonic acid
(DSS) as a collector and heptanol as a frother. In order to
maintain a high pH value to prevent cement solving, al-
kali hydroxides like NaOH was chosen as a regulator.
Furthermore, NaOH can increase the positive surface
charge of the cement particles, resulting in a better ad-
sorption of the collector and thus in a higher efficiency.
During flotation, the air supply has to be controlled. Too
much air would result in the reduction of the efficiency of
the collector. To ensure the thoroughness of collection of
cement, the collector can be added in two stages and the
froth forming on the surface should be removed in time.
When the froth turns white, it indicates the end of test or
the collector. Since this method separates the cement
from aggregates, the water content of the original fresh
sample can also be determined by substracting the ce-
ment and aggregate content from the sample.
The flotation method is insensitive to particle shape
and size distribution. It is not affected by cement type and
temperature. However, there are still some deficiencies.
Different aggregates have different flotation properties,
which may result in a slight overestimation of the ce-
ment content. Adjustments in the choice of chemical
agents are needed for both cement and fly ash floated in
the test.[14]
・ 1580 ・ 硅 酸
2.5 Electrical resistivity method
MacDonald and Northwood[26] attempted to establish a
relationship between the w/c and electrical resistivity of
fresh concrete, but did not get promising results. Later,
Mancio et al.[15] came up the method and instrument to
determine the w/c of fresh concrete. The instrument in-
cludes a power supply driving an AC current with a 1.5 V,
1 kHz sinusoidal wave, a resistor with known resistance
Fig. 4 Schematic illustration of electric circuit and resistivity probe[15]
The current I0 through the circuit is given by V0/R0.
The electrical resistance of the concrete sample Rc equals
to Vc/I0. The electrical resistivity of concrete ρc is a mate-
rial property independent of sample geometry, which is
given by ρc = kRc, where k is a geometric factor depend-
ing on the geometry of the probe. If the spacing between
electrodes is a, then k = 4πa. The experimental results
indicated that the standard deviation between the calcu-
lated and measured geometric factors was less than 2.5%.
The electrical resistivity of concrete sample is calculated
as follows
V
ρ c = 4πaR0 c (6)
V0
Concrete mixtures with different w/c ratios are placed
into a 15 cm × 30 cm plastic cylinder molds immediately
after mixing. Then the resistance probe is vertically im-
mersed into concrete and centrally located within the
molds. The measurements are recorded at 10-minute in-
tervals for approximately 2 h. The relationship between
the w/c and the electrical resistivity of fresh concrete is
obtained. Figure 5 illustrates the calibration curves of
fresh concrete with 0 and 25% fly ash, respectively. It
shows that the correlation coefficients of regression equa-
tions of the two types of concrete were very close to 1.
The difference between actual and estimated values of
w/c was less than 0.01. The results demonstrated that this
method could be used to accurately determine the w/c
ratio of fresh concrete. However, a calibration of the rela-
tionship between w/c ratio and electrical resistivity of
concrete has to be established before field measurement.
The estimated w/c ratio is valid only between the upper
and lower bounds of the fitted equation. Besides, the
mixtures containing chemical admixtures and high volumes
盐 学 报 2012 年
(R0 = 160 Ω), and resistivity probe connected in series
(see Fig. 4). The two outer electrodes of the probe are
connected to the circuit, and the two inner electrodes are
connected in parallel with a voltmeter. The corresponding
voltage drops across R0 can be displayed on the voltmeter
connected in parallel. The electrical probe consists of four
stainless-steel electrodes using a Wenner array separated at
a distance of 2.5 cm by a nonconductive plastic body.
Fig. 5 Relationship between electrical resistivity and w/c of
fresh concrete[15]
of mineral admixtures need a further study.
2.6 Kansas Water-Cement Ratio Meter
In 1994, the Kansas Department of Transportation
continued Bavelja’s work[27] in pressure-sieving fresh
concrete by using a turbidimeter to correlate the turbidity
of the remained solution to the w/c ratio. Then a Kansas
Water-Cement Ratio Meter was developed.
The Kansas Water-Cement Ratio Meter is an electro-
mechanical system consisting mainly of a turbidimeter, a
nest of 305 mm diameter with 4.75 mm, 2.00 mm, 300 μm
and 150 μm brass sieves, a water-distribution system to
wash the concrete sample, a splitter to prevent whirl-
pooling, a pump and flexible tubing for fluid passage and
associated control valves as shown in Fig. 6.
The measurement of water-to-cement ratio with this de-
vice is based on the principle of measurement of turbidity
 第 40 卷第 11 期 肖江帆 等：新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法 ・ 1581 ・

and dilution rates recommended in the research report

resulted in actual turbidity values far beyond the device's
measurable upper range. There is no suggestion or warn-
ing for over-range conditions.
2.7 Reflectometer Apparatus
Microwave reflection properties were used to design
and implement a practical, durable and mobile Reflecto-
meter Apparatus (see Fig. 8) for the determination of the
w/c ratio of a freshly mixed cement paste. The device has
been developed for real time and on-site measurements
using a monopole antenna probe.[17] Figure 9 shows the
Fig. 6 Schematic of Kansas Water-Cement Ratio Meter[16] strong relationship between the detector voltage and the
w/c ratio.
and pressure sieving of concrete to separate the cement
paste from the aggregates. Although turbidity is not a
direct quantitative measurement of suspended particles,
turbidity changes when there are more suspended parti-
cles in water. Therefore, the w/c ratio of the concrete mix
can be correlated to the turbidimeter reading of cement
slurry separated out of the mix.
In a usual operation, 454 g of fresh concrete is intro-
duced onto the top of the sieves and about 9.08 liters of
water is added. The pump is turned on and water begins
to circulate through the whole system. After two minutes,
the valve controlling the flow through the turbidimeter
cuvette is turned on and turbidimeter readings are taken
at specific time intervals.
Researchers at the Kansas State University claimed
that the equipment was promising for measuring the w/c Fig. 8 Schematic diagram of w/c ratio measurement setup[17]
ratio of fresh concrete with an accuracy of ± 0.01 for a
single test at a 90% confidence interval.[16] However, Fox
et al.[28] found that the meter was very sensitive to cement
content and very insensitive to water content, which
makes it only a good indicator of the mass of cement in
the mixture rather than the w/c ratio. Figure 7 shows the
relative sensitivity of the device to the primary constituent
materials in concrete. Furthermore, the meter itself has
some design deficiencies. For instance, the sample size

Fig. 9 Apparatus output voltage as function of w/c ratio[17]

2.8 Buoyancy method

Fig. 7 Sensitivity of Kansas Water-Cement Ratio Meter to
concrete constituent materials[28]
The basic buoyancy method allows a rapid determina-
tion of the water-cement ratio of fresh concrete by using
the buoyancy principle of Archimedes: “A body wholly
or partly immersed in a fluid is buoyed up with a force
equal to the mass of the fluid displaced by the body.” The
specific gravity of the cement γct, and aggregates γa, as
well as the ratio of aggregate-to-cement by mass B, must
be known to determine the water-cement Ratio.
The buoyancy method is based on the Thaulow paper
from the 1930s.[29] The underwater mass of an air-free
・ 1582 ・ 硅 酸 盐 学 报 2012 年

fresh concrete sample w′c, must equal the sum of the un- section reviews some methods to determine the cement
derwater mass of the individual components of the fresh content, which include the Willis-Hime method, specific
concrete. The underwater mass of water is zero. There- gravity method, Rapid Analysis Machine, constant neu-
fore, the underwater mass of a normal air-free fresh con- tralization method, hydrometer analysis method, and
crete sample is equal to the sum of the mass of aggre- Dunagan buoyancy method.[25,30–34]
gates underwater w′a and the mass of cement underwater
w′ct The underwater mass of the aggregates and the ce- 3 Methods for determination of cement
ment can be found by using the specific gravities of the content
materials, the mass of aggregates in air wa, and the mass
of cement in air wct. 3.1 Willis-Hime method
γ a −1 γ −1 This method was originated by Willis, which em-
wc′ = wa′ + wct′ = ⋅ wa + ct ⋅ wct (7) ployed a heavy liquid to separate cement from aggregates.
γa γ ct
Application of this concept to a practical test was later
The ratio of aggregate-to-cement by mass is defined made by Hime. That is why the test is now known as the
by the following equation, Willis-Hime method.
wa A concrete sample of known mass, approximately
B= (8)
wct 2 000 g, is washed through a No.30 mesh wire basket.
The oversize sand and rock are discarded. The fine sand
Dividing Eq. 7 by wct, we could obtain
and cement passing through the basket are transferred to
wc′ γ a − 1 wa γ ct − 1 wct γ a − 1 γ −1 a pan for drying. The thoroughly dried material is then
= ⋅ + ⋅ = ⋅ B + ct (9)
wct γ a wct γ ct wct γa γ ct carefully weighed. A sample of 25 g is selected from this
dry mixture and placed in a centrifuge tube. The tube is
wc′
wct = (10). next filled with a heavy liquid, an acetylene tetra-bromide
γ a −1 γ −1 solution, which weighs about three times as much as wa-
⋅ B + ct
γa γ ct ter. The tube is rotated in a centrifuge for a prescribed
The mass of a concrete sample in air wc is equal to the period, which causes the cement to settle to the bottom
sum of the individual components’ mass in air where ww and the lighter fine sand floats to the surface of the heavy
is the mass of water in air. liquid. The cement is then separated from the fine sand.
wc = wa + wct + ww (11) When mineral admixtures are added, they can be made to
float in the heavy liquid in a layer just below the sand
Dividing Eq. 11 by wct, we could obtain because these powdered materials are generally lighter
wc wa wct ww w than the cement but heavier than the sand in density.
= + + = B +1+ (12)
wct wct wct wct c The Willis-Hime test costs about one and a half hours
to complete, making it unfavorable for field quality con-
Substituting Eq. 10 for wct, we could obtain
trol of concrete. Besides, the heavy liquid used is poi-
w wc ⎛ γ a − 1 γ −1⎞ sonous. A substitute material like common fuel oil was
= ⎜ ⋅ B + ct ⎟ − B −1 (13) proposed, which is much cheaper, readily available, and
c wc′ ⎝ γ a γ ct ⎠
seems to work equally well without any toxic effect.
The equation accounting for the existence of mineral 3.2 Specific gravity method
admixture can be developed using a similar procedure as The Wills-Hime apparatus encountered some difficul-
described. ties for separating cement from small percentages of
The Buoyancy method is fast, simple to perform, black sand, which is peculiar in Los Angeles area. Being
in-expensive, and field-worthy. However, some work somewhat heavier than the cement, the black sand would
demonstrated that this method is very dependent on ac- settle to the bottom of the centrifuge tubes in a layer be-
curate density and absorption values.[18] The value used low the cement, which could not be completely separated
for γa must be accurate to ± 0.01 to have the water-cement from cement. To solve this problem, a different approach
ratio result within a 97% confidence level, and to ± 0.02 was developed based on different density of sand and
to be within a 94% confidence level. The density of most cement.
cement γct averages around 3.15. This value can be within The density of sand and cement can be easily deter-
± 0.5 to have the water- cement ratio within a 97% con- mined and is around 2.65 and 3.15, respectively. A com-
fidence level. bined mixture of sand and cement would have a specific
Considering that the water content can be determined gravity in between these two values, depending upon the
by some other easy methods such as microwave method. content of the cement. By determining the density of an
The water-to-cement ratio of fresh concrete is prone to unknown mix, we can readily find the content of cement
gain when the cement content is known. The following for given conditions. If the content of cement is then
 第 40 卷第 11 期 肖江帆 等：新拌混凝土水灰比测定方法
known, the mass or sacks per cubic yard can be easily
calculated.
The procedure for this method employs the same
methods of washing and drying the material passing the
30 mesh screen as used in the Willis-Hime method. The
density are then determined by measuring the volume of
kerosene displaced by known weight of the materials in a
glass flask with a graduated neck. This entire operation is
much easier than the Willis-Hime method.
3.3 Rapid Analysis Machine
The Rapid Analysis Machine (RAM) is a floor mounted
unit for determining the cement content of fresh concrete.
The first version was designed and built by the Cement &
Concrete Association in the early 1970s and the series
has been used on hundreds of sites in U.S.A listing of its
component parts are shown in Fig. 10.[25]
Fig. 10 Component parts of the RAM[25]
The RAM operating cycle is automatically controlled
by a solid state sequence timer after the machine is
primed with water and loaded with an 8 kg sample of
fresh concrete. Water is pumped through the sample at a
carefully controlled rate to wash the cement-sized parti-
cles up and over the top of the elutriation column. Three
sampling channels take off a 10% of sample, with the
remaider going to waste. The 10% of sample passes
through a 150 μm vibrating sieve into a conditioning
vessel where chemical agents are stirred into the suspen-
sion, causing the cement particles to cling together and
sink quickly to the bottom of the constant volume vessel.
After all the cement particles have settled, the excess
water is removed by siphoning. On completion of the
siphoning operation the constant volume vessel and con-
tents are removed and weighed on a balance. The cement
content of the concrete sample is determined from a cali-
bration graph which is based on the linear relationship
・ 1583 ・
between cement content of the sample and the mass of
the constant volume vessel plus contents after the test.
The machine is calibrated by analyzing the samples of
silt-free concrete containing known amounts of cement.
Therefore, a silt correction line must be established
whenever the aggregate source is changed or the design
mix proportions are changed.
The RAM has the advantage of being fully automatic
once loaded. The total time from loading to reading off
an accurate answer from the graph is less than 10 min.
Laboratory tests conducted by Tom[35] showed conclu-
sively that the RAM has a good potential for determining
the cement content of both regular and fly ash mixes. The
only admixtures found to effect the calibration are air
entraining substances. However, this can be overcome by
adding a small quantity of tributylphosphate to the con-
crete before it is added to the elutriatior.
3.4 Constant neutralization method
The constant neutralization method is another one re-
lying on chemical means for the determination of cement
content. This method assumes that the concentration of
hydroxide ions in the concrete liberated during the hydra-
tion process be directly proportional to the amount of
cement in the concrete.
The method consists of maintaining a concrete sample
neutral using phenolphthalein as an indicator and
hydrochloric acid as a titrant. At 1-min intervals, the
sample is brought back to a neutral state for 60 min. The
sieved and diluted sample is weighed at the beginning
and in the end of the test period. The difference of masses
determines the hydrochloric acid used that is then related
to cement content via a pre-established calibration curve,
which is formed by testing known cement content
concrete samples.
Problems with this method include the time required
to perform the test is relatively long, especially in case
when calibration curves need to be built. The other con-
cern is that the neutralization of the solution should be
done carefully, particularly in the end of the testing when
the hydration process has slowed considerably.
3.5 Hydrometer analysis method
The hydrometer analysis method relies on the meas-
urements of the density of a cement-water suspension. A
sample of fresh concrete is washed over No.100 sieve.
All the particles passing the sieve are collected and water
is added to produce a consistent testing volume. The
mixture is well stirred for one minute. Then hydrometer
readings on the solution are taken every ten seconds for 1
to 2 min. The stirring and reading process is repeated
until four series of readings are obtained. The average
value of the tests is then used to determine the cement
content based on a previously developed calibration
chart.
It was reported that this method determined cement
content to within 4% of the total mass of the cement.
・ 1584 ・ 硅 酸
However, the hydrometer readings are temperature de-
pendent and plenty of preliminary work is essential to
build the calibration curve. In addition, it was reported
that the accuracy of the results of repeated tests decreased
when cement content exceeded 40 g/L. This is mainly due
to a high fines content in concrete, which could not be
reliably tested.[36]
3.6 Dunagan buoyancy method
This method is based on size difference in components.
The volume of the cement is the difference between the
volume of the sample and the volume of the aggregates.
This method uses a sample of approximate 4 kg. The
mass of the sample in air and in water is recorded. Then
the sample is washed over No.4 and No.100 sieves to
separate the components by size. The materials retained
on the sieves are then weighed in water. The mass of the
material on No.100 sieve is corrected for silt. The quan-
tity of cement is determined by subtracting the sub-
merged mass of the aggregates retained on the sieve from
the submerged mass of the concrete sample. The sub-
merged mass of cement is then converted to mass in air.[37]
There are several major problems with this method.
Although a calibration to determine raw materials other
than cement that pass No.100 sieve is performed, varia-
tions of the amount could easily go undetected. Because
the particles passing No.100 sieve appear as cement, any
process or addition to the concrete affecting the fines
passing the sieve will cause error in determining cement
content.[36]
4 Summary
Though the measurement of water-to-cement ratio of
fresh concrete is of great significance, there is no single,
simple and efficient method that can provide instantane-
ous and accurate results.
The water content of concrete can be easily obtained
by the microwave method, it has to combine with other
methods to measure the cement content so to determine
the w/c of the concrete. The electrical resistivity method
has a high accuracy, which can be recommended when
the fitted equation is established or time is sufficient to
perform the test. The nuclear gauge is innovative. How-
ever, certified operators are needed and testing results
lack of sufficient precision. Chemical titration method
involves complex procedures, and cement content meas-
urement is not accurate enough. Flotation method is se-
verely affected by aggregate type and mineral admixtures,
which generally leads to an underestimation of the w/c
ratio. The Kansas meter cannot precisely determine the
water-to-cement ratio. Meanwhile, the cost of purchasing
and maintaining of the meter is relatively high. The
buoyancy method is dependent on accurate specific grav-
ity and absorption values, which increase the work of this
test.
盐 学 报 2012 年
Among the different methods to determine the cement
content, the Willis-Hime method and specific gravity
method takes too long time to complete. The calibration
curves need to be established in the RAM, the neutraliza-
tion method and hydrometer analysis method. The Du-
nagan buoyancy method has a deficiency in the testing
principle.
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