Determination of P-wave Velocity of Carbonate Building Stones During Freeze–Thaw Cycles

Abstract

In this paper, laboratory investigations were conducted on 22 carbonate building stones (including 3 types of limestone, 12 types of travertine and 7 types of marble) from various quarries in Iran. Based on data obtained from these investigations, an empirical equation was developed to determine the P-wave velocity (VP) of stones during freeze–thaw (F–T) cycles. This equation was developed by combining two previously suggested F–T decay models and predicts VP of stones after each cycle of F–T based on properties of fresh stone. During developing phase, the performance of proposed equation was evaluated using three statistical indices including the coefficient of determination (R2), the root mean square error (RMSE) and the variance account for (VAF). The mean values of R2, NRMSE and VAF were obtained as 0.940, 0.027 and 93.921, respectively, which indicates good prediction capacity of proposed equation. Furthermore, the results obtained from the validating phase indicated that the equation provides reliable prediction of Vp with error percentage of less than 10%. Therefore, the output of equation can be applied to assess the deterioration of building stones during F–T action.