1

Tamkang Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 17 (2009)

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using

Surface Rebound Value and Design Parameters of
Concrete Material
Jen-Chei Liu, Mou-Lin Sue and Chang-Huan Kou*
Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Informatics Chung-Hua University, Hsin
Chu, Taiwan 300 R.O.C.

Abstract
This study estimates the strength of concrete, an attempt is also made to increase the
accuracy of Calculating the strength, using the nondestructive test (NDT) surface hardness rebound
value, material design parameters and regression analysis. The strength of the concrete specimens
was 130480 kgf/cm2, and their ages were 738 days. In total, 166 standard specimens of concrete
were grouped into 146 training examples and 20 test examples to estimate concrete compressive
strength.
Regression analysis was performed to establish a mathematical formula. Study results
indicate that the correlation coefficient may reach 0.9622, indicating that the proposed method has
referential value. Therefore, engineers may use this comprehensive approach to develop NDTs to
determine concrete strength.
KeyWords: Strength of Concrete, Rebound Value, Design Parameters, Regression Analysis

1. Introduction
Concrete has significantly influenced the
nature of engineering projects. Concrete, as a
composite material, is generally composed of
cement, sand, aggregate, water, mineral
admixtures and chemical admixtures.
Considerable work has been conducted to
develop rapid, nondestructive tests (NDTs) that
provide a reproducible measure of concrete quality
in a structure [1]. Unfortunately, as is usually the
case in concrete testing, all these NDT generate
results that are affected by various parameters such
as aggregate type and size, age, moisture content,
and mix proportions [1]. Therefore, the correlation
between measured properties and strength differs
for various concretes and must be limited to the
concrete in question. However, the NDTs are also

convenient and have been used for many years in

quality management of engineering materials.
These tests are useful in determining the
differences in concrete quality from
*Corresponding author. E-mail: chkou@chu.edu.tw

one part of a structure to another. Developed in

Germany
in1930,thereboundhammertest(RHT),basedonAST
M C805 and BS 4408 Part 4, can be utilized for
testing concrete surface hardness [1,2]. In 1948,
Schmidt developed the Schmidt rebound hammer
test [3,4]. This device is universally used because
of a hardened steel hammerimpacted on the
concrete by a spring. The RHT is a convenient
NDT. The surface of hardened concrete is struck
with the hammer, and concrete compressive
strength is estimated via the surface hardness

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using Surface Rebound value and Design Parameters of Concrete Material

rebound value. In 1979, the ASTM listed the

rebound hammer testing method (ASTM C 80579) as a standard testing method, explaining that
this method can be used to estimate the
uniformityofconcreteand
detect
areasofinferiorqualitywithin a concrete structure;
however, it is not a substitute for concrete strength
testing methods. The general view held by many
users of the Schmidt rebound hammer is that it
isusefulinassessingconcreteuniformityandincompa
ring one concrete against another, but can only be
used as a rough indication of concrete strength in
absolute terms [1]. When the RHTis performed,
kinetic energy fromthe impact and amount of lost
kinetic energy affect the rebound value. Typically,
the amount of energy lost during contact between
the pole and concrete must be determined via the
stress-strain relationship of the concrete; therefore,
rebound energy is correlated with the concrete
strength and rigidity. However, the accuracy of
RHT need to be improved in real applications
when estimating concrete strength using the
surface rebound value.
Low strength concrete will have a low rebound
value. However, when two concrete specimens
have the same strength and different rigidities, the
resulting rebound values may not equal each other
[5]. The amount of energy lost with low-rigidity
concrete is greater than that lost with high-rigidity
concrete. The reason for this difference may be
associated with material parameters. For instance,
the amount of coarse aggregate and how aggregate
is mixed in a concrete mixture affect the concrete
rigidity, thus affecting the rebound value.
Thus, this study analyzes the proportions in
concrete mixtures. Design parameters are used as
input data to create a rebound model, to enhance
the accuracy of determining concrete strength.
In the conventional material modeling process,
regression analysis is an important tool for
constructing a model. In this study, seven design
parameters, i.e. amounts of cement, coarse
aggregate, fine aggregate, slag, fly ash, chemical
admixture, water-to-binder ratio (X1-7) and
rebound value of concrete, were used to build the
regression formula.

2. Experimental Work
Figure 1 presents the research flow chart. The
compressive strength of concrete is estimated
using the statistical regression analysis model.
Additionally, the root mean square of error
(RMSE) and coefficient of determination are used
to determine model reliability. The research
method is as follows:
(1) The rebound value with concrete design
parameters, using statistical regression to
find the compressive strength. Statistical
regression is used to identify compressive
strength based on the rebound value and
concrete design parameters.
In total, 146 specimens with different mixture
proportions are made in this study. Different
methods for the HRT of standard cylinders (15 cm,
L = 30 cm) are categorized as follows. (1) Measure
20 distributed test points and calculate the average.
(2) Take 5 points, perform 4 measurements at each
point, and calculate the average. (3) For a single
point, perform HRT 20 times and calculate the
average. The largest mean rebound value in this
study is the rebound value used as input data .The
largest rebound value obtained using method (3)
20 tests are made at the same point and calculate
the average.
In this model, 146 concrete specimens with
different mixture proportions are used as raw data.
Regression analysis is applied to the variables
(Table 1). Table 1 lists the ranges of values for
applied parameters.
Regression analysis was utilized to construct a
model for estimating the concrete strength.
(2) Model Confirmation
When the model was completed, 20 sets of test
data are used to determine the accuracy of
regression esti-

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using Surface Rebound value and Design Parameters of Concrete Material

accuracy increases. Thus, the accuracy of the

model is confirmed.

3. Findings and Analysis

Input parameters employed in this study
include moisture content. The influence of
moisture content on rebound value is 9950%
(average 24%). The different methods for the RHT
applied to standard cylinders (15 cm, L30 cm) are
as follows. For one point, apply the RHT 20 times
and calculate the average.
Test results indicate that rebound value
increases by 2070% when multiple tests are made
on the same point, with method (3) (20 tests on the
same point). Applied to all data collected for the
146 concrete samples, the resulting regression
(equation of Single Point estimation) is as follows:
y = 23.085x 145.02
where y is compressive strength, x is the rebound
value, and the correlation coefficient is 0.916.
With method (3) (20 tests on the same point),
concrete compressive strength values directly
deduced from the single rebounding point deviate
by 153% (average 11%) (strength error, 27.26

Figure 1. Research flow chart.

Table 1. Regression analysis output and input variables (The lower and upper bounds of each component)
Variable
Input variable X1
Input variable X2
Input variable X3
Input variable X4
Input variable X5
Input variable X6
Input variable X7
Input variable X8
Input variable X9
Input variable X10
Output variable Y

Component
3

Cement (kg/m )
Coarse aggregate (kg/m3)
Fine aggregate (kg/m3)
Slag (kg/m3)
Fly ash (kg/m3)
Chemical admixture (kg/m3)
Water-to-binder ratio
Age (days)
Moisture content (%)
Rebound value (n)
Compressive strength (kgf/cm2)

mates. The absolute deviation values and

percentages are utilized for comparisons with true
values. As the absolute deviation values and
percentages decreases, the degree of difference
between the predicted compressive strength and
true compressive strength decreases, and model

Range of values
140280
08071031
790910
060150
040110
1.78.6.
0.450.62
0738
0.0150.060
1230
130480

kgf/cm2).
The rebound value with designed parameters
and statistical regression are used to estimate the
compressive strength of concrete. In this model,
statistical regression analysis is applied to all data

Jen-Chei Liu et al.

collected for the 146 concrete samples.The

resulting regression is as follows:
Y= 1237.66 0.695 (X1) 0.292 (X2) 0.501
(X3)
0.530 (X4) 1.117 (X5) + 1.013 (X6)
606.478 (X7) + 3.673 (X8) 30.994 (X9)
+ 12.887 (X10)
where Y is concrete compressive strength and X1
is amount of cement; Table 1 presents X210.
By employing the regression equation
formulated in this study, which incorporates
material design parameters such as age and
moisture content, errors of estimated and actual
values of concrete compressive strength. Obtained
from the regression analysis reasoning formula
and the accuracy are high.
To test the results of the regression analysis,
this examines the RMSE as a criterion for
evaluating the extent of data error in regression
analysis. The RMSE formula
is

where
Tij = the test output value of the jth order on the ith
sample
Oij = the objective output value of the jth order on
the ith sample n = sample number N = number of
output variables
Table 2 lists the parameter values obtained, by
regression analysis for regression, residual error,
and total results analysis for statistical regression.
The F- value is 168.5738 and the P-value is 3.97E71. The P-value for this model is far smaller than
the standard level of significance ( = 0.05);
therefore, significance is excellent, indicating that
the regression line is valid.
The correlation coefficient is 0.9622 for this
model, and the coefficient of determination (R2) is
0.9258, RMSE is 24.088, and goodness of fit is
good. Thus, a very strong positive relationship

exists between independent and dependent

variables.
Table 3 shows the correlation coefficients for
each input material parameter. Table 3 also lists
the effects of ingredients on concrete mixes and
other input variables on concrete compressive
strength. Apositive correlation exists between
rebound value, age, cement, slag, chemical
admixture, and fly ash amount; concrete
compressive

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using Surface Rebound value and Design Parameters of Concrete Material

Degrees of freedom

Sum of squares

Value of mean square

Regression
010
978139.3
97813.93
Residual error
135
78332.92
580.2439
Total
145
1056472
Remarks: The F-value and P-value are regression parameters of regression analysis.

F value
168.5738

P-value
3.97E-71

Table 3. Correlation coefficients for each ingredient

WaterMoisture
Fly Chemical to-binder Age
Compressive
Cement
Admixture
Slag ash
AggregateAggregate
Content Value
Ratio
Cement 1.000 Coarse
-0.395
1.000
Aggregate
Fine Aggregate -0.673 -0.221
1.000
Slag
0.457 -0.777
-0.186
1.000
Fly Ash
0.459 0.203
-0.644
0.010 1.000
Chemical
0.394 -0.227
-0.301
0.185 0.757
1.000
Admixture
Water-tobinder -0.895 0.382
0.656 -0.558 -0.698 -0.630
1.000
Ratio
Age
-0.109 -0.037
0.133
0.017 -0.074
0.036
0.088 1.000
Moisture
-0.399 0.314
0.270 -0.384 -0.175 -0.299
0.411 -0.157 1.000
Content
Rebound Value 0.479
-0.333
-0.320
0.386 0.261
0.342 -0.489 0.604 -0.452 1.000
Compressive
0.431 -0.296
-0.289
0.362 0.248
0.331 -0.455 0.738 -0.417 0.916
Strength
Coarse

Rebound

Fine

Strength

1.000

Table 2. The residual error of regression analysis

table

strength is compared with correlation coefficients

of regression analysis (Table 3). Table 3 also lists
the effects of ingredients on concrete mixes and
other input variables on concrete compressive
strength. Table 3 shows the test results of 20
repetitive measurements(of the concrete sampleRebound value, age, cement, slag, fly ash and
chemical admixture) are all positively correlated
with concrete compressive strength, and have
correlation coefficients of 0.916, 0.738, 0.431,
0.362, 0.248 and 0.331, respectively. The water-tobinder ratio, moisture content, course aggregate
and fine aggregate are all negatively correlated
with concrete compressive strength, and have
correlation coefficients of -0.455, -0.417, -0.296
and -0.289, respectively. The trend of correlation
coefficients generally complies with the physical
and chemical characteristics of concrete with

Jen-Chei Liu et al.

general aggregates. As too many variables are

included in this regression analysis, correlation
coefficients are 0.4550.916. Thus, this stu-

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using Surface Rebound value and Design Parameters of Concrete Material

dy takes the largest correlation coefficient as an

example for discussion. A maximum positive
correlation, 0.916, exists between rebound value
and concrete compressive strength. Water-tobinder ratio, coarse aggregate, sand amount and
concrete compressive strength of concrete are
negatively correlated.
Thecorrelationcoefficientforreboundvalueis0.9
622, which is higher than correlation coefficients
for other variables. Furthermore, in standardizing
residual errors for rebound values (Figure 2), the
distribution of residual errors has a central
tendency, and no pattern exists in residual errors.
No problem of serial correlation exists; thus, the
model is permissible.
Figure 3 shows the correlation between
compressive strength and rebound value; the
coefficient of determination for this model is
0.9258, indicating that the difference between
expected values and estimated values is not large.
The RMSE for this model is 24.1 kg/cm2.

Additionally, from the normal distribution of

compressive strength estimated by sample
percentages (Figure 4), specify has an
approximate straight-line graph with little
variation. Figure 4 shows the accumulated
percentage for strengths of different specimens in
146 training examples in the model developed in
the study with actual compression strength values
of 131-477 kgf/cm2. Concrete compressive
strength in this study approximates a normal
distribution; this is also confirmed from the fact
that, with 20 test examples, an error percentage of
0 26% exists when compressive strength is
148.9402.5 kgf/cm2 average error is only 5.43%
and strength deviation is only 13.05 kgf/cm2.
Thus, the data are approximately normally
distributed. The difference between expected
values and estimated values is not large,
suggesting that the regression analysis is valid.
However, when the seven design parameters
(X1-7), age (X8) and moisture content (X9) of
concrete also used as input variables in this model,
the correlation coefficient increased to 0.9622.

Testing

Figure 2. Standardization of residual error for the

rebound value.

Testing the statistical regression model

By employing the regression equation
formulated in this study, which incorporates
material design parameters such as age and
moisture content, errors of estimated and actual
values of concrete compressive strength vary at
026% (average, 5.43%) (Table 4), of which the
accuracy is more than double that estimated with
20 tests applied to one point (equation (1)).
Table 4 Compares the accuracy of regression
estimates with true compressive strength. Finally,
this study organizes test results for the regression
model. Based on test results, the regression
analysis estimates, absolute

Jen-Chei Liu et al.

Figure 3. Correlation between compressive strength and rebound value.

Figure 4. Normal distribution of compressive
strength estimated by sample
percentage.

Table 4. Compares the accuracy of regression estimates with true values

Item

Concrete compressive
strength (kgf/cm2)

Regression
formula
Absolute error value
estimates (kgf/cm2)

279

270.3

() 8.7

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Mean value

356
437
202
225
189
352
345
325
331
150
281
168
251
161
150
285
345
320
314

355.5
402.5
217.2
284.2
219.3
357.1
344.1
314.5
340.2
148.9
285.7
148.9
219.3
160
160
295.9
342.6
314.5
314.4

() 0.5
() 34.5
(+) 15.2
(+) 59.2
(+) 30.3
(+) 5.1
() 0.9
() 10.5
(+) 9.2
() 1.1
(+) 4.7
() 19.1
() 31.7
() 1
(+) 10
(+) 10.9
() 2.4
() 5.5
(+) 0.4
13.045

error mean values is 13.045 kgf/cm 2, absolute

error percentage is 5.43%, and the correlation
coefficient is 0.9258. Obtained from the regression
analysis reasoning formula and the accuracy
thereby obtained are high.
Study results show that the accuracy of
regression formula is based on known parameters
of material mixture proportions involving fly ash,
slag and the chemical admixture. The range of
estimating strength is 130480 kgf/cm2. Thus, the

Absolute
percentage

error
3%

0%
8%
8%
26%
16%
1%
0%
3%
3%
1%
2%
11%
13%
1%
7%
4%
1%
2%
0%
5.43%

established estimation model has better accuracy

than the equation (1).
The quality of the cement paste produced is
primarily an inverse function of the water-cement
ratio (w/c). Restated, concrete strength is a
function of total void content of the material [6].
The accuracy of the established estimation model
is based on known parameters of material mixture
proportions, involving fly ash, slag and chemical
admixture [7].

Estimating the Strength of Concrete Using Surface Rebound value and Design Parameters of Concrete Material

Pozzolanic materials are known to enhance the

uniformity of concrete. Adding fly ash to the mix
introduces a variable that increases paste quality
and, consequently, overall concrete quality. Many
studies have shown that when the water-binder
ratio (w/b) is used instead of the water-cement
ratio as the basis for mix design, the accuracy of
the strength prediction increases [8,9].

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

The following conclusions are based on
analyses and discussions.
1. Through multiple statistical regression
analyses ofestimating concrete compressive
strength using the rebound value model, a
real scaling RMSE of 24.08 kgf/cm 2 was
obtained. When the seven design parameters
(X1-7), age (X8) and moisture content (X9)
of concrete are input variables in this model,
the correlation coefficient increased to
0.9622. This indicates that combining the
rebound hammer test value with design
parameters of composite concrete materials
and using statistical regression analysis to
estimate concrete strength has an average
accuracy of within an error of 5.5%.
2. Simulation and test results of compound
materialparameters processed by the
statistical regression formula indicate that
using statistical regression with the surface
hardness rebound value, and design
parameters of concrete materials increases
the accuracy when estimating concrete
strength.
3. Study results show that, regarding surface
hardness rebound value (an NDT) and
design parameters of materials for
estimating concrete strength, the accuracy of
Calculating concrete strength is based on
input design parameters of materials
involved, such as water-binder ratio, fly ash,

slag, chemical admixture, age, and moisture

content.

References
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(1981).
[2] Kumar, Mehta, P. and Paulo, J. M., Monteiro
ConcreteStructure,Properties,andMethods,p.3
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[3] Schmide. E.,The Concrete Test Hammer (Der
Betom pruf hammer), Schweiz Bauz (Zurich)
Vol. 68, p. 378 (1950).
[4] Schmide, E., The Concrete Szlerometer, Proc,
Int, Symp, Nodestructive, Testing on Material
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(1954).
[5] Lin, I.-C., The Test Concrete Strength the NonDestruction Test Technology, the Taiwan area
mixes the concrete industry trade association
published conference proceeding in advance,
pp. 2325 (1999).
[6] Aitcin, P. C. and Neville, A., High
Performance Concrete Demystified, ACI
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(1993).
[7] Yeh, I.-C., Computer-Aided Design for
Optimum Concrete Mixture, Cement and
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(2007).
[8] Yeh, I.-C., Modeling Slump Flow of Concrete
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[9] Yeh, I.-C., Analysis of Strength of Concrete
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Manuscript Received: Apr. 24, 2007

Accepted: Jun. 27, 2008