Using Non-Destructive Testing to Assess Static Elastic Modulus of a Limestone Exposed to High Temperatures

The determination of static elastic modulus in the laboratory requires rock core extraction and the subsequent testing of the samples by means of standardised uniaxial compressive strength tests. However, this destructive procedure is not always suitable – as in the case of protected historic buildings. In these cases, the static elastic modulus can be obtained from the dynamic elastic modulus, in turn derived from the velocity of ultrasonic waves (a non-invasive and non-destructive test). The relationship between both the dynamic and static moduli of rocks has been extensively addressed in the scientific literature. Furthermore, several researchers have separately studied the evolution of static or dynamic elastic moduli of rocks exposed to high temperatures – although few studies have compared both values. It is well known that the dynamic modulus is generally higher than the static modulus, and the values diverge especially in rocks with a low modulus of elasticity. These differences can be mainly explained by the effect of porosity and the size of cracks in the determination of both parameters. In this research, the relationship between static and dynamic moduli for ‘Borriol’ limestone is studied for samples previously subjected to 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C and then cooled slowly (in air) or quickly (immersed in water). The results show that the static modulus of samples heated up to 600 °C decreased 80.9 and 79.1 % and dynamic modulus decreased 62.5 and 64.8 % for slow and quick cooling samples, respectively. For samples heated to 600 and 800 °C, the static and dynamic moduli are similar. In general, no significant differences between both cooling methods are observed, even though static modulus shows more loss than dynamic modulus. Finally, linear models were used to correlate static and dynamic moduli, providing coefficients of determination of 0.99 and 0.97, for slow and quick cooling, respectively. It is also remarkable that the Edyn/Est rate was smaller than 1 for elastic moduli over 30 GPa (i.e., 105, 200 and 400 °C) and greater than 1 for lower moduli (i.e., 600 and 800 °C). The results obtained can be used to calculate the static elastic modulus of ‘Borriol’ limestone from dynamic modulus determined by non-destructive techniques.