• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.150-160
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• 2017

In order to determine the porosity of rock, the 'standard test method for porosity and density of rock' proposed by the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics is commonly used. However, the standard test method, which uses a drying oven, takes 8 to 24 hours to complete the test in taking samples out of the oven every four hours and measuring the weight of the specimen. To complement these disadvantages, we devised a method for measuring rock porosity by using a microwave oven. The devised method reduced the cause of errors and the inconvenience occurred in the process of weighing samples by constructing a weight monitoring system, which monitors the drying process. A suitable heating/pause time was set up to maintain the temperature of sample below $105{\pm}3^{\circ}C$ in drying process, and an alarm system was implemented in order to stop drying process when the weight change of the rock sample is within 0.1% of the initial weight. The porosity was determined from the dry weight of the sample, which was obtained by the curve fitting of weight monitoring data. Then, the porosities obtained by using the microwave oven were compared with those obtained by the standard test method. Test results using sandstone samples showed that the porosities obtained by a microwave oven was similar to those obtained by the standard method and the porosity difference between two methods was as large as 0.4%. In addition, repeated porosity measurement using the same specimen showed that the standard deviation of the porosity, which reflects the precision of the measurement was as good as 0.23%. Therefore, a microwave oven porosity measurement system can give the porosity of rock samples with high reliability.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2023

In this research, the microwave oven drying method was investigated as a potential accurate testing approach for determining the water content of fresh concrete. To do so, water content estimation formulas employed in three prominent oven drying test methods were selected, and the calculation principles for each equation, along with potential error factors arising during the actual testing process, were considered. Moreover, a concrete test was conducted to validate the possible error factors. Consequently, it was confirmed that estimation errors in the water content of fresh concrete can occur due to sample deviations arising during the wet screening process for creating mortar specimens or deviations in the coarse aggregate sampling quantity during the sample collection process.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.101-110
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• 2022

In this study, water content tests were performed on various fresh concretes subjected to different binder compostions to review the estimation errors and reliability of water content test methods. Micro-oven drying method, air-meter method, capacitance method and microwave penetration method were used to estimate water content of fresh concrete. Errors in water content estimation were analyzed by each test method. Regardless of the test method of water content, the estimation error was less than 5 %, and in the case of the test using mortar, the error in the estimation value was relatively large. In addition, based on the test results of water content of various concrete, the probability density function in which the estimation error for each test method becomes the population was analyzed. Water content test methods of fresh concrete which using concrete samples showed high estimate reliability of 97 % within the estimation error range of ± 10 kg/m³. On the other hand, the reliability of water content test method using mortar samples was lower.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2017

During a construction of embankment, sub base, or retaining wall backfill, the speedy measurement of water content is necessary. In this study, a test method for field determination of water content of soil by the calcium carbide gas pressure (speedy water content measurement method) was evaluated for its reliability and accuracy. Dry oven and microwave oven methods were also used for water content measurement. In the test, weathered granite and Nakdong River sand in the site and kaolinite were used for water content measurement. The mass of 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30 g of soil was respectively tested for 1, 3, and 5 min. The effect of each sample on water content was compared one another and analyzed. As the mass and testing time increased, the water content increased. The amount of soil was more important factor than testing time for the speedy water content measurement. In order to obtain similar result to that of dry oven method, 3 min of testing time with 24 g of soil was necessary for weathered granite classified as SM and 3 min with 30 g for Nakdong River sand classified as SP. For Nakdong River sand with 20-50% of kaolinite, the water content by speedy measurement increased as the clay content increased.