J. Inst. Eng. India Ser.

A
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-021-00521-4

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION

Correlation Between Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV)

and Compressive Strength of Coal Bottom Ash Mortar
Abhishek Srivastava1 • S. K. Singh1 • Chandra Shekhar Sharma1

Received: 11 August 2020 / Accepted: 8 March 2021

Ó The Institution of Engineers (India) 2021

Abstract The utilization of coal bottom ash (CBA) as between compressive strength and UPV were exponential
natural sand replacement in mortar is a feasible solution to in nature with high correlation coefficient varying from
reduce the environmental issues created due to its disposal. 0.91 to 0.99. The feasibility of developed empirical equa-
However, strength behavior of CBA mortar varies from tions in predicting the compressive strength was validated
conventional natural sand mortar. For design and quality by comparing the predicted results with measured test
control in the field, there is a need to assess the feasibility results.
of nondestructive test methods in estimating the in situ
mechanical properties of CBA mortar. To address this, the Keywords Coal bottom ash  Compressive strength 
present research study elaborates the correlation between Correlations  Empirical relations  Mortar 
compressive strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity to pre- Ultrasonic pulse velocity
dict the compressive strength of CBA mortar using UPV
test. The influence of CBA replacement level and curing
age was examined. The experimental program involves two Introduction
mortar mix proportioned cement-fine aggregate ratios of
1:3 and 1:5 having standard flow of 110–115%. The natural The construction industry is accountable for over dredging
sand replacement with CBA varies from 20 to 100% in of natural sand from river beds to meet the increase
increment of 20%. Control mortar mix contains 100% demand of shelter. Mortar is one of the key components of
natural sand. Mortar samples were casted, cured at ambient building structure, which mainly consist of cement, fine
temperature and then tested at curing age of 7 days, aggregate, water and admixtures. Utilization of CBA which
28 days, 56 days, 90 days and 120 days. Workability and is a by-product from thermal power plant as fine aggregate
density test of mortar specimens have also conducted for in mortar is a sustainable and eco-friendly step toward
reference. Results indicate that the UPV and compressive sustainable construction [1–3]. Many researchers [4–7]
strength of CBA mortar were lower than those of the have investigated the behavior and feasibility of incorpo-
control mortar for all replacement levels at all curing age rating the CBA as replacement to natural sand (NS) in
and for all mixes. The empirical relationships obtained mortar, and encouraging results of 20–50% replacement
were reported.
Compressive strength is one of the decisive properties of
& Abhishek Srivastava cementitious materials. Many physical and durability
[email protected]
properties like elastic modulus, impermeability, and resis-
S. K. Singh tance to weathering environment are believed to be
[email protected]
dependent on strength and thus are deduced from strength
Chandra Shekhar Sharma test data. There are several techniques for estimating the
[email protected]
mechanical properties of cementitious materials, which are
1
CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee 247667, broadly classified as destructive and nondestructive tech-
India niques. Destructive methods are costly, time consuming,

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 J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A

and requires sophisticated instruments. Nondestructive Tan [17] proposed empirical relationship between UPV and
techniques are economical and simple alternative of ultrasonic pulse attenuation with compressive strength of
destructive techniques to assess the material property. In cement mortar. Voigt et al. [18] investigated the effect of
nondestructive methods, material property is correlated curing temperature on the correlation of ultrasonic pulse
with certain measurable experimental parameter. reflection loss with compressive strength of cement mortar
The UPV technique is a popular nondestructive tech- by conducting studies at different water-cement ratio of
nique used for evaluating the mechanical properties of 0.35, 0.50, 0.60 and curing temperature of 15–35 °C. It was
concrete [8], mortar [9, 10], rock [11], masonry [12], bricks observed that the relationship is independent to curing
[13], cement paste backfill [14, 15], etc. The versatility, temperature. Table 1 summarizes the relationships between
repeatability and simplicity make UPV test effective for the compressive strength and UPV provided by different
condition assessment of materials. It involves measurement researchers.
of the speed of ultrasonic pulses moving through the given Studies in the past literature have revealed that UPV test
material test specimens [16]. There are many studies is extensively used for characterizing the mortar properties.
related to the use of UPV test of mortar. Tharmaratnam and CBA mortar is an eco-friendly material, which has the

Table 1 Summary of relationship between compressive strength and UPV provided by different authors
Authors Type of Studies Correlations R2 Remarks
cementitious
material

Tharmaratnam Mortar Attenuation of ultrasonic pulse fc ¼ 0:015e1:83UPV 0.908 Attenuation is well correlated with
and Tan [17] in cement mortar fc ¼ 0:023e1:72UPV 0.906 compressive strength
Del Rio et al. Concrete Characterization and hardening fc ¼ eð5:40:8Þþð0:001850:00018ÞUPV 0.92 Exponential relationship exists
[20] of concrete with ultrasonic between strength of concrete and
testing UPV
Nash et al. [19] Concrete Finding an unified relationship fc ¼ 1:19e0:715UPV 0.59 Strong correlation exist between
between crushing strength of concrete strength and UPV
concrete and nondestructive
tests
Gul et al. [21] Mortar Compressive strength and fc ¼ 0:1414e0:0015UPV 0.94 Correlation between compressive
ultrasound pulse velocity of strength and UPV is well
mineral admixtured mortars accounted by the exponential
relationship
Qiu et al. [9] Mortar Determination of mechanical fc ¼ 0:134e0:0:000149UPV 0.869 Correlation between strength and
properties of cement asphalt UPV was exponential in nature
mortar via UPV method
Omer et al. Mortar Relationship between fc ¼ 0:00114e0:0019UPV 0.88 The compressive strength possesses
[10] compressive strength and fc ¼ 3:03e0:0011UPV 0.95 exponential relationship with
UPV of GGBFS based UPV before and after the
fc ¼ 6:29e0:0011UPV 0.98
geopolymer mortars exposed exposure to elevated temperature
to elevated temperatures fc ¼ 3:267e0:0028UPV 0.98 with R2 ranging from 95 to 98%
Mohammed Concrete Effects of maximum aggregate fc ¼ 0:088e1:581UPV 0.722 Correlating UPV with compressive
and size on UPV of brick fc ¼ 0:388e1:186UPV 0.660 strength and Young’s modulus
Mahmood aggregate concrete well established
fc ¼ 0:226e1:32UPV 0.696
[22]
fc ¼ 0:409e1:136UPV 0.542
Shariq et al. Concrete Studies in ultrasonic pulse fc ¼ 0:23e1:16UPV – Correlations between UPV and
[23] velocity of concrete fc ¼ 0:114e1:13UPV compressive strength can be used
containing GGBFS for predicting the strength of
fc ¼ 0:195e1:19UPV
GGBFS concrete at all
fc ¼ 0:199e1:14UPV replacement percentage
fc ¼ 0:1e1:29UPV
fc ¼ 0:175e1:16UPV
Rao et al. [24] Concrete Experimental studies in fc ¼ 1:526e0:761UPV 0.895 Concrete mix with fly ash cement
ultrasonic pulse velocity of replacement shows increase in
roller compacted concrete UPV values with age
pavement containing fly ash
and M-sand

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Table 2 Physical properties of natural sand and CBA Experimental details

S. nos Properties NS CBA
Materials Characterization
1 Specific gravity 2.63 1.87
2 Fineness modulus 2.46 2.51 The materials used were Ordinary Portland cement (OPC
3 Water absorption (in %) 0.82 8.62 43 grade) conforming to IS 8112 [25], natural sand con-
4 Bulk density (in g/cc) 2.65 1.83 forming to IS 383 [26] and CBA. The natural sand was
collected from locally available supplier, and CBA was
obtained from National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd.
potential to be used in building construction. It is worth
Dadri, India.
mentioning that past literature studies discussed on the
Physical properties of natural sand and CBA were tested
various physical, mechanical and durability aspects of
as per IS 2386 (Part-III) [27] and are shown in Table 2. The
CBA mortar. However, no study illustrates the process of
chemical composition of was determined using X-ray flu-
predicting the compressive strength of CBA mortar mixes a
orescence (XRF) technique and is tabulated Table 3. The
priori to construction. Thus, the present study focused on
grading curves of natural sand and CBA are given in
establishing the nondestructive UPV-test-based predictive
Fig. 1. Both natural sand and CBA lie in the zone II of IS
equations through experimental investigation. Experiments
383 [26]. The grading curve of the CBA was adjusted
have been carried out on mortar specimens with varying
similar to natural sand, so that the only variable is fine
replacement percentage of natural sand by CBA at 20%,
aggregate type. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM)
40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% and evaluating the properties at
image of CBA and natural sand is shown in Fig. 2. CBA is
curing age of 7 days, 28 days, 56 days, 90 days and
highly porous and possesses rough surface texture as
120 days. Results of the test specimens are plotted, and
compared to natural sand. Figures 3 and 4 represent the
empirical equations are proposed for predicting compres-
X-ray diffraction of natural sand and CBA, respectively.
sive strength using UPV test. The proposed empirical
The major components found in CBA were quartz and
equations were validated with the experimental test data to
mullite, while in natural sand peaks of quartz can be easily
verify their reliability.
observed.

Table 3 Chemical composition of natural sand and CBA

Chemical composition Na2O (%) MgO (%) K2O (%) CaO (%) MnO (%) Fe2O3 (%) Al2O3 (%) SiO2 (%) Other (%) LOI (%)

NS 0.57 0.45 1.38 1.05 0.05 1.83 9.85 82.80 0.62 1.40
CBA 1.01 1.38 2.19 2.56 0.06 4.78 18.10 65.30 2.52 2.10

Fig. 1 Grading curves of

natural sand and CBA

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Fig. 2 SEM images of a natural sand and b CBA

Fig. 3 Variation of w/c ratio of mixes at different CBA content

Mix Proportions accordance with the ASTM C1437 [28]. In all the mortar
mixes, super-plasticizer (polycarboxylic ether based) con-
In this study, two volumetric mixes of 1:3 and 1:5 cement/ firming to IS: 9103[29] was added for improving the
fine aggregate ratio were used. Natural sand was substi- consistency. The procedure of mixing the materials was in
tuted with CBA by 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. accordance with ASTM C305 [30]. It firstly involves
Control mortar contains 100% natural sand as fine aggre- placing the cement and water in mixing bowl of mixer and
gate. The mix proportions of the mortars are given in mixed for 30 and then sand is gradually added while
Table 4. Determination of mortar flow was done in mixing over 30 s. After that mixer was stopped and then

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Fig. 4 Variation of dry density of mixes at different CBA content

Table 4 Mortar mix proportions, kg/m3

Mix designation Cement (kg/m3) Natural sand (kg/m3) Coal bottom ash (kg/m3) Water (kg/m3) Plasticizers (kg/m3)

3NS 480 1680 – 270 1.45

3CBA20 480 1340 280 280 1.45
3CBA40 480 1010 560 302 1.45
3CBA60 480 670 840 315 1.45
3CBA80 480 340 1120 400 1.45
3CBA100 480 – 1400 456 1.45
5NS 320 1860 – 240 0.96
5CBA20 320 1490 310 255 0.96
5CBA40 320 1120 620 275 0.96
5CBA60 320 750 930 282 0.96
5CBA80 320 380 1240 291 0.96
5CBA100 320 – 1550 302 0.96

mix was allowed to stand for 90 s (mortar attached to bowl estimated through flow table test to obtain the flow of
wall were scrapped), finally mixing was again done for 110–115% as per IS 2250-1981[31]. For each mix, three
60 s. specimens were casted. Determination of specimen’s den-
sity was in accordance with ASTM C642 [32]. To deter-
Specimen Preparation and Testing Procedure mine the compressive strength, the
50 mm 9 50 mm 9 50 mm cube samples were casted as
Workability or flowability is one of the important proper- per ASTM C109 [33]. The mortar samples were tested at 7,
ties of mortar for its easy application as rendering mortar 28, 56, 90 and 120 days of curing age using 1000 kN
and also aids in the proper filling of masonry joints. Mortar Universal Testing machine.
mix was prepared, and the amount of water to be added is

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The UPV test involves casting of three mortar speci- Density

mens for each mix of size 40 mm 9 40 mm 9 160 mm
prisms and then testing in dry condition [34]. Before test- The 28 days dry density of different mortar specimens is
ing, the end surfaces of specimens were made smooth and shown in Fig. 4. From Fig. 4, it can be noticed that gen-
thin layer of grease was coated as coupling gel to ensure erally the mortar incorporating CBA possess lower dry
proper contact between transducer and sample surface. The density as compared to control mortar. Within the series,
UPV was measured using 54 kHz transducer with a pre- lowest dry density was observed for 3CBA100 and
cision of 0.1 ls, connected to UPV testing device (Proceq 5CBA100 containing 100% CBA as fine aggregate. It can
Pundit Lab). For eliminating the instrumental error, the also be observed in Fig. 4 that density reduction was more
UPV testing device was calibrated using the reference bar in 1:5 CBA mortar mix as compared to 1:3 CBA mortar
before the test. The UPV was determined through direct mix. This behavior is because of the higher CBA content
transmission technique in which transducers are placed on and high water-cement ratio.
opposite surface of the mortar sample. The velocity of the The decrease in the density of CBA mortar is primarily
ultrasonic pulses is given as: due to (a) lower bulk density of CBA as compared to
x natural sand and (b) increase in water content in mortar to
UPV ¼ ð1Þ achieve the required consistency [5, 7]. The CBA particles
t
are porous, whereas natural sand particles are solid
where UPV is the velocity of ultrasonic pulses, x is the
(Fig. 2), due to this, the bulk density of CBA is 29.92%
distance traveled, and t is the travel time.
lower than the natural sand (Table 1). When CBA is mixed
in mortar, it causes reduction in overall unit weight of mix
for particular volume, and thus decrease in density was
Results and Analysis
observed.
High water content (w/c ratio) of CBA mortar mixes
Workability
leads to the formation of more number of pores and thus
makes the structure porous and lighter in weight as com-
The flow of the mortar mixes was made fixed to attain
pared to natural sand mortar. This can be observed in Fig. 4
110–115% as per IS 2250 [31], and the quantity of water
that as CBA content increases, w/c ratio of the mix
added was adjusted such that requisite flow/workability
increases but accordingly dry density is decreasing.
was obtained. The variation in water quantity was quanti-
fied in terms of water–cement ratio. Figure 3 shows the
Compressive Strength and UPV
change in water-cement ratio for attaining the target
flowability. From Fig. 3 it can be observed that, for 1:3
Influence of CBA/Replacement Level
mortar mix, the w/c ratio of reference mortar (3NS) is 0.56,
but in 3CBA40 and 3CBA100, w/c ratio increases to 0.63
The influence of CBA content on the pulse velocity and
and 0.95, respectively, which is 12.5% and 69% higher
compressive strength of mortar was analyzed by measuring
than the reference mortar mix. In 1:5 mortar mixes,
the UPV and strength of mortar specimen at different
5CBA40 and 5CBA100 show the rise of 18.60% and
replacement level. To simplify the analysis, the UPV and
55.81%, respectively, in w/c ratio as can be observed in
compressive strength results of hardened mortar at an age
Fig. 3.
of 28 days were taken as reference subject for analysis.
This increase in w/c ratio of CBA mortar is attributed to
The average compressive strength of mortar specimens
high water absorption of CBA with respect to natural sand.
with different CBA content is presented in Fig. 5. The
CBA particles are highly porous in nature as compared to
compressive strength of mortar decreases with the increase
natural sand as shown in Fig. 2. This will lead to absorp-
in CBA content as shown in Fig. 5. For instance, mortar
tion of water available in the mortar mix. Thus more water
mixes 3CBA20, 3CBA40 and 3CBA60 have compressive
is required to maintain the required flow/ workability. From
strength of 36.45 MPa, 30.83 MPa, 21.1 MPa, respec-
Fig. 2, it is also evident that CBA particles have rough
tively. These strength values are lower than the strength of
surface texture as compared to natural sand particles.
control mortar samples, i.e., 3NS (40.89 MPa). In 1:5
Hence, it might significantly increase the friction between
mortar mixes, these values range between 33.6 and
the particles resulting in reduced mortar flow [35].
20.12 MPa for 20–60% replacement level. However,
among the CBA mortar, mortar mixes containing CBA up
to 20% show comparable results with control mortar with
marginal reduction in strength of only 9.82–10.85%.

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Fig. 5 Compressive strength (28 days) of mortar mixes at different CBA content

Fig. 6 UPV (28 days) of mortar mixes at different CBA content

The lower strength of CBA mortar specimens is attrib- CBA mortar leads to increased porosity and thus adversely
uted due to high water–cement ratio of CBA mortar com- affects the performance under compression loading. The
pare to control mortar samples [6]. High water content in observed trends are in agreement with the results reported

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Fig. 7 Evolution of
compressive strength with age
for 1:3 CBA mortar mix

Fig. 8 Evolution of
compressive strength with age
for 1:5 CBA mortar mix

in the literature [4, 6]. However, higher reduction in values decreases with increasing CBA content. In 1:3 mortar mix
was observed in the present study which is probably due to proportion, the reduction in UPV value varies from 2.88 to
greater CBA content and higher w/c ratio of the mixes as 23.41% for 3CBA20 to 3CBA100 mortar specimens.
compared to the mixes in literature. Similar to this, 28-day cured samples of 1:5 CBA mortar
In Fig. 6, the UPV values of different mortar specimens specimens have UPV values ranging between 2912 and
are presented. In general, UPV values of CBA mortar are 2286 m/s, which was lower than UPV value of 5NS
lower than those of the control mortar and it continuously (3114 m/s) samples as can be seen in Fig. 6.This reduction

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Fig. 9 Evolution of UPV with

age for 1:3 CBA mortar mix

Fig. 10 Evolution of UPV with

age for 1:5 CBA mortar mix

in UPV values is attributed to lower dry density of CBA Influence of Age

mortar (Fig. 4) which is caused by the increase in the
number of pores in the matrix with CBA inclusion [5]. Compressive strength test results at various curing age are
These pores later get filled with air on drying. The strength shown in Figs. 7 and 8. As expected, the compressive
of pulse gets attenuated when it passes through air filled strength of specimens increases with the increase in curing
voids in the mortar matrix, thereby path length gets age. This is due to the formation of more hydration prod-
increased, and thus lower pulse velocities values were ucts with longer curing period which imparts better bond-
obtained [36]. ing between the particles. However, the rate of strength

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evolution and extent of enhancement is not similar in the products (i.e., C–S–H) leading to more compact and dense
specimens. This behavior is attributed due to variation in mortar specimens. Thus, velocity of ultrasonic pulses
composition of different mortar mixes. increases as less time is required by the pulses to pass
A substantial increase in strength was observed to occur through the solid mortar matrix. These results are in
between 7 and 28 days; afterward, strength increases agreement with those in previous studies [5].
gradually. Also, strength of CBA mortar specimens was
observed to be lower than the control mortar specimens for Correlation Between UPV and Compressive
all replacement level. The two factors ascribed to this trend Strength
were high water content in CBA mortar samples which
increases the porosity and replacement of dense natural The test results show that the UPV and compressive
sand with porous CBA [7]. strength of mortar are significantly affected by CBA con-
Figures 9 and 10 show UPV results on different curing tent and curing age. The experimental investigation was
age for cement: fine aggregate ratio of 1:3 and 1:5, carries out at mortar age of 7, 28, 56, 90 and 120 days. To
respectively. Similar to compressive strength, UPV values establish the relationship, all the data points are merged
of all the specimen’s increase with increase in age irre- together and plotted as shown in Fig. 11. Plotting of test
spective of type of aggregate. For instance, the average results shows that compressive strength of CBA mortar is
gain in UPV values at 120 days curing corresponding to its exponentially correlated with UPV as:
value at 28 days varies from 4.07 to 5.92% for control
fc ¼ aebVc ð2Þ
mortar mixes. In CBA mortar mix, the long-term UPV
improvement varies from 5.58 to 7.38% for 1:3 mortar mix, where fc (MPa) is the compressive strength of mortar, a, b
whereas it is 6.01–9.51% for 1:5 mortar mix at 120 days are the empirical constant, and Vc (m/s) is the UPV. The
compared to 28-day UPV values. general empirical equations obtained to predict
As the hydration proceeds with longer curing period, compressive strength from UPV values were:
pores in the mortar matrix were filled with the hydration fc ¼ 0:2458e0:0016V ð1 : 3 Mortar mixÞ ð3Þ
fc ¼ 0:2765e0:0016V ð1 : 5 Mortar mixÞ ð4Þ
2
The coefficient of determination R of general relationships
was 0.93 for both 1:3 and 1:5 mortar mix proportions. This
represents that the variation in compressive strength with
UPV is accounted well by exponential relationship. The
earlier research work of Qui et al. [9], Omer et al. [10] and
Tharmaratnam et al. [17], has also shown that the UPV and
compressive strength of mortar were correlated
exponentially.
The plot of compressive strength and UPV for CBA
mortar samples at different curing age plotted separately is
illustrated in Figs. 12 and 13 and empirical equations are
shown in Table 5. The coefficient of determination (R2)
varies from 0.91 to 0.99 and from 0.95 to 0.99 for 1:3 and
1:5 CBA mortar mixes, respectively.

Feasibility Analysis

Figure 14 shows the comparison between the predicted

compressive strength and the experimentally obtained
compressive strength of CBA mortar. It can be noted that
the data points of 1:3 mortar mix estimated using general
equation (Eq. 3) were adjacent to 45° similarity line, but at
higher strength, few data points below the similarity line
were beyond ± 15% limit. In the case of 1:5 mixes, the
Fig. 11 General relationship between compressive strength and UPV proposed general relationship (Eq. 4) is mostly giving the
a 1:3 and b 1:5 mix

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values nearer to measured values. Furthermore, compres-

sive strength prediction results of 7 days, 28 days, 56 days,
90 days, and 120 days obtained using equations 5–14 were
also close to similarity line, suggesting that predicted val-
ues were consistent with the experimental results. This
indicated that the proposed exponential equations can be
successfully used for predicting the compressive strength
of CBA mortar specimens.

Conclusions

In this study, the applicability of nondestructive UPV

technique in estimating the strength characteristics of CBA
mortar is assessed. Mortar samples with OPC are prepared
with various CBA content (20–100%) and are tested at
Fig.12 Relation between compressive strength and UPV of 1:3 mix different curing age (7, 28, 56, 90,120 days). Based on
specimens at different curing age results, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. The effect of CBA inclusion on UPV is similar to that
in compressive strength, both decreases with increas-
ing replacement level (20–100%). However, at lower
substitution percentage (up to 20%) results are com-
parable to control mortar.
2. With increases in curing age (7–120 days), the com-
pressive strength and UPV show increment in values,
but increasing rate and their extent varies with mortar
constituents.
3. Exponential relationship exists between UPV and
compressive strength of CBA mortar. Plotting of
UPV versus compressive strength results at different
curing age separately also gives the exponential
relations with strong correlation coefficient
(0.91 \ R2 \ 0.99).
4. Good agreement between predicted and measures test
results validated the effectiveness of proposed empir-
Fig. 13 Relation between compressive strength and UPV of 1:5 mix ical equations in evaluating the compressive strength
specimens at different curing age
of CBA mortar samples with sufficient accuracy.

Table 5 UPV and compressive strength correlation for different mixes with variation of curing age
Mix proportion Curing age (days) Correlation between compressive strength and UPV R2 Equation number

1:3 7 fc ¼ 0:2304e0:0016V 0.99 (5)

28 fc ¼ 0:2083e0:0017V 0.93 (6)
56 fc ¼ 0:2215e0:0017V 0.96 (7)
90 fc ¼ 0:2087e0:0016V 0.91 (8)
120 fc ¼ 0:2132e0:0016V 0.96 (9)
1:5 7 fc ¼ 0:2919e0:0016V 0.95 (10)
28 fc ¼ 0:1569e0:0019V 0.99 (11)
56 fc ¼ 0:1411e0:0019V 0.99 (12)
90 fc ¼ 0:1406e0:0018V 0.96 (13)
120 fc ¼ 0:1238e0:0019V 0.98 (14)

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Fig. 14 Compressive strength

prediction with proposed
empirical relations and
comparison with experimental

The present study implicated that UPV technique is 6. P. Ramadoss, T. Sundararajan, Utilization of lignite-based bottom
feasible for rapid estimation of CBA mortar characteristics ash as partial replacement of fine aggregate in masonry mortar.
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both in the laboratory and at the site. For future studies in 7. P. Torkittikul, T. Nochaiya, W. Wongkeo, A. Chaipanich,
the line of this research to advances the utilization of CBA Utilization of coal bottom ash to improve thermal insulation of
mortar, investigation on the effect of other controlling construction material. J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manage. 19(1),
factors like particle size distribution, curing regime, CBA 305–317 (2017)
8. A. Masood, M. Shariq, M.M. Alam, T. Ahmad, A. Beg, Effect of
mineralogy, admixture, etc., on UPV and strength rela- elevated temperature on the residual properties of quartzite,
tionships for CBA mortar is recommended. granite and basalt aggregate concrete. J. Inst. Eng. Ser. A 99(3),
485–494 (2018)
Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the financial support 9. K. Qiu, H. Chen, W. Sun, L. Sun, J. Hong, G. Zhao, Determi-
from M/s National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited nation of mechanical properties of cement asphalt mortar via
(NBCC) India, New Delhi, under projects: GAP 0018. UPV method. J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 26(6), 04014009 (2014)
10. S.A. Omer, R. Demirboga, W.H. Khushefati, Relationship
Declarations between compressive strength and UPV of GGBFS based
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interest. 11. E. Vasanelli, D. Colangiuli, A. Calia, M. Sileo, M.A. Aiello,
Ultrasonic pulse velocity for the evaluation of physical and
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