Quantification of the Uncertainty in Ultrasonic Wave Speed in Concrete: Application to Temperature Monitoring with Embedded Transducers

This article presents an overall examination of how small temperature fluctuations affect P-wave velocity (<i>V_p</i>) measurements and their uncertainties in concrete using embedded piezoelectric transducers. This study highlights the fabrication of custom transducers tailored for long-term concrete monitoring. Accurate and reliable estimation of ultrasonic wave velocities is challenging, since they can be impacted by multiple experimental and environmental factors. In this work, a reliable methodology incorporating correction models is introduced for the quantification of uncertainties in ultrasonic absolute and relative velocity measurements. The study identifies significant influence quantities and suggests uncertainty estimation laws, enhancing measurement accuracy. Determining the onset time of the signal is very time-consuming if the onset is picked manually. After testing various methods to pinpoint the onset time, we selected the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) due to its ability to produce sufficiently reliable results. Then, signal correlation was used to determine the influence of temperature (20 °C to 40 °C) on <i>V_p</i> in different concrete samples. This technique proved effective in evaluating velocity changes, revealing a persistent velocity decrease with temperature increases for various concrete compositions. The study demonstrated the capability of ultrasonic measurements to detect small variations in the state of concrete under the influence of environmental variables like temperature, underlining the importance of incorporating all influencing factors.