CONCRETE TESTING EQUIPMENT FOR THE FIELD AND LAB

Concrete is a widely used, fundamental construction material made of cement, water, aggregates, and other additives or admixtures.

The roots of concrete stretch all the way back to the Roman empire. The Romans made concrete (opus caementicium) from quicklime, pozzolana and an aggregate of pumice. The stone-like material was used for the construction of roads and many structures. That infrastructure was a key component to the expansion of their empire.

As a foundational material, testing is critical. The primary goal of concrete testing is to verify that the material is safe for its intended purpose, reducing the risk of structural failures and ensuring the longevity of its performance. Concrete is tested for strength, workability, consistency, and other properties through fresh concrete testing and lab testing.

Concrete testing equipment are supplies and specialty tools used to conduct wet concrete tests at the job site and strength tests at the lab. Equipment varies depending on the application, but all equipment must conform to industry standards.

Forney’s concrete testing equipment conforms to all applicable construction materials testing standards and testing protocols, including ASTM, AASHTO, BS EN, ISO, and more.

Fresh concrete testing evaluates the properties of freshly poured (wet) concrete. Fresh concrete tests include:

• Slump: measures the consistency of fresh concrete before it sets. Slump testing requires a slump cone, tamping rod, aluminum base plate, and tape measure.
• Slump flow for SCC: Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a medium-viscosity concrete mix with low levels of yield stress and high levels of segregation resistance. Due to its fluid pouring process, SCC must be tested for slump flow instead of slump. This test requires equipment like a base plate, slump cone, beveled straight edge, and J-ring.
• Unit weight/density: measures the weight of a concrete sample. Density is an indicator of workability and flowability and is closely related to the consolidation and air content of fresh concrete. All you need is a bucket and digital field scale.
• Temperature: an important indicator of workability, setting time and long-term durability. Requires a min-max concrete thermometer with a long stem.
• Air entrainment: increases the concrete’s ability to resist freezing and thawing as well as reduce the frequency and severity of cracking and splitting. The Forney Press-Aire Meter device takes measurements of entrained air by applying pressure to the concrete and tracking the change in volume. You can also test entrained air with the volumetric method (using a lightweight roller meter) for lightweight concrete or concrete that uses porous aggregate.
• Mobile field application: used by field technicians to capture the above data and more. Powered by CMT software, a mobile field application ensures that the data captured in fresh concrete testing is synced with subsequent work in the lab.  

Concrete curing is a crucial step that provides concrete with necessary moisture and temperature conditions over a specified period of time. Curing ensures concrete achieves its desired strength, durability, volume stability, and freeze/thaw resistance.

To properly cure concrete, you will need to first cast concrete specimens with molds, whether plastic of steel, cylinder or beam, and other shapes and sizes. Then, specimens need to be cured in a concrete curing box. These boxes can include heating and cooling components, fans, and other accessories for temperature and humidity control. Concrete curing tanks are also available in a range of sizes and material.

Concrete strength testing measures concrete durability through a series of tests that occur after 3, 7 and 28 days of curing. Strength tests include compression, flexural and tension.

To prepare a cylindrical concrete test core, you need smooth and even surfaces on the cylinder ends for an accurate read of measured strength. To ensure this, you will need capping compound and fixtures, retaining rings, pad caps, masonry saws, melting pots, debris sleeves, a grinding machine, scales and safety equipment.

If you need to test the strength of concrete already in a building or structure, you will need concrete core testing equipment, including core drilling machines, extractors, clamps and drill bits.  

When it’s time to test, you will need the right machine for your specific application and other accessories, like strain gauges. Today, automatic testing machines are the standard for labs testing concrete strength, providing better accuracy, consistency and repeatability. To ensure that this important data is captured appropriately, more and more testing organizations are integrating their machines with construction materials testing software: a platform that connects the CMT workflow from the moment field data is captured in the system, to specimen curing and identification, to validation and testing, to sign-off and next steps.

Non-destructive testing evaluates concrete without destroying its serviceability. Traditional strength testing involves extreme stress that causes the material to “break” or “fail.” With non-destructive testing, you can evaluate physical attributes of concrete without destroying the sample. Some examples of these tests include:

• Windsor probe tests: determines the compressive strength of concrete by driving a probe into the concrete with a known amount of force. It works with fresh and mature concrete.
• Impact echo tests: measures thickness of slabs to determine the location and extent of cracks, de-laminations, voids, honeycombing and de-bonding based on impact-generated sound waves.
• Concrete test hammers: assesses the uniformity of in-place concrete to estimate strength and determine regions of poor quality or deterioration.

Because concrete is a foundational building material, it must exceed quality and strength expectations. This depends on being able to prove that the concrete has been properly tested, recorded and approved.

Like any manual process, concrete testing is sensitive to human error and manual inefficiencies. Concrete testing software (also known as construction materials testing software) helps construction projects automate the process from specimen identification to data collection, transfer and analysis. This is important because it drives more accuracy, transparency and productivity into the process.

Concrete testing is the process of evaluating concrete properties of concrete to validate its quality, strength, durability, and compliance with industry standards. The right equipment and other essentials are critical to get the job done.

Here are some other helpful resources related to concrete testing and equipment:

• Construction Materials Testing Protocols [Full Listing]
• QA/QC Field Testing Guide
• Glossary of Construction Materials Testing Terms
• Concrete Testing Equipment Essentials
• Concrete Lab Testing: Material Testing Machine Types & Machine Finder
• 3 Benefits of CMT Software for Concrete Testing Machine Users