A laboratory investigation for potential durability of ready-mixed concrete retempered for air content and workability

1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Langan ◽  
M. A. Ward

The effects of agitation and retempering on some properties of fresh and hardened concrete are considered.Data are presented on the influence of agitation and retempering with an air-entraining agent on the workability, compressive strength, and air void system in hardened concrete.The results indicate that although agitation reduces air content and increases the spacing factor, the original parameters can be regained by proper retempering. It is shown that any loss in compressive strength due to retempering is accompanied by an increase in potential durability due to the improvement of the air void system.

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1118-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Saucier ◽  
Richard Pleau ◽  
Daniel Vézina

Since 1993, the Quebec Department of Transportation requires all its concrete suppliers to demonstrate that their concrete satisfies the requirements of the CSA A23.1 standard as regards the maximum spacing factor of the air void system. This new requirement raises questions about the reproducibility of the ASTM C 457 test method. An interlaboratory study was carried out to verify if the variability of the test method is sufficiently low to allow reliable decisions on the acceptance or rejection of in-place hardened concrete. A total of 18 operators from 13 different laboratories microscopically examined the six concrete slabs used for the study. It is concluded that the average reproducibility coefficient of variation is 14.4% for the total air content measurement and 14.2% for the spacing factor measurement. Considering these results, the probability that the measured value of the spacing factor exceeds the mandatory limit of 230 μm on a concrete production containing an air void system with a spacing factor of 170 μm (the target value proposed in the CSA A23.1 M-94 standard) is less than 0.7% (a probability of error of about 1%, 5%, or 10% is typical of most quality control test methods). Key words: concrete, air content, air void measurement, spacing factor, ASTM C 457 standard, interlaboratory study, freeze–thaw durability.


1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-314
Author(s):  
Gaston Larose ◽  
Michel Pigeon

The durability of concrete to freeze-thaw cycles is dependent upon the existence of an adequate air-void system. There are very few studies on the air-void system of field concretes. Laboratory tests have proven that the air content measurement on the fresh concrete is not sufficient to judge the aptitude of the air-void system to protect the concrete from frost damage.This paper is a comparison of the air-void systems of field concretes produced in either a conventional plant or a mobile unit the use of which is becoming more and more frequent. The concretes produced in the conventional plant generally had sufficient air-void systems for air contents in the usual range (5–7%). The mobile unit showed that a slightly higher air content (8%) was needed to produce an adequate air-void system. Key words: concrete, mobile concrete-mixer, air-void systems, air-entraining agent, spacing factor, surface area, air content.


2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wawrzeńczyk ◽  
A. Molendowska ◽  
T. Juszczak

AbstractIn this paper we discuss the test results for concretes containing various amounts of ggbs as compared to concretes made with Portland cement. The main objective of these tests is to evaluate the influence of varying air content in such mixtures on the structure and frost resistance of concrete. The authors suggest that the approach presented here allows for a safe design of concrete mixtures in terms of their frost resistance.The results indicate that concrete can be resistant to surface scaling even at the W/C ratio markedly higher than 0.45. Increased addition of ggbs leads to a decrease in concrete resistance to surface scaling. Proper air entrainment is the fundamental factor for frost-resistant concrete, and the air void system has to be assessed (micropore content A300, spacing factor $\overline L $). The addition of ggbs increases pore diameters, thus, to obtain the appropriate air pore spacing factor, micropore quantities introduced have to be increased.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-598
Author(s):  
Yong Ge ◽  
Qinfei Li ◽  
Yunsheng Zhang ◽  
Deqing Xie ◽  
Paulo J.M. Monteiro

AbstractThis paper analyzed the air-void system in air-entrained concrete in the presence of calcium salts and developed a new approach method, random “parking” method, for studying it. The foam index test studied indicated that the introduction of calcium salts did result in a drop in foaming power at 0.5 min, but the foam ability after 60 min was enhanced in surfactant-water solution. The Powers spacing factor in the air-entrained hardened concrete decreased gradually in the presence of CaCl2 or Ca(NO3)2. The probability density function of air-void distribution showed that the air-void size in air-entraining concrete was reduced with the addition of CaCl2 and Ca(NO3)2. The random parking method developed herein was compared with the experimental Powers spacing factor, and the concept of the alternative spacing factor, defined as the average distance between the surfaces of the two nearest air voids in concrete, was used. It was indicated that the alternative spacing factor is in close proximity to the experimental Powers spacing factor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Peiwei Gao ◽  
Zhixiang Zhang ◽  
Youqiang Pan ◽  
Weiguang Zhang

Through laboratory testing, this research studied the connection between air-void structures of hardened concrete and fresh concrete and discussed the effects of the air-void structure on the salt-frost durability of the concrete. The results demonstrate that, in comparison with fresh concrete, the air-void spacing factor shows a close correlation with hardened concrete air-content and decreases in the form of a power function as the air-content increases. When the fresh concrete air-content is more than 6% and the hardened concrete air-void spacing factor is less than 0.18 mm, the influence of parameters of air-void structure on the salt-frost resistance of the concrete reduces. The air-void spacing factor more significantly affects the salt-frost resistance of the concrete compared with air content and the correlation reaches 0.93. Therefore, air-content and air-void spacing factor are recommended for dual control.


Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Hover ◽  
Roger J. Phares

Approximately 76 m3 (100 yd3) of ready-mixed, air-entrained concrete were placed in a parking lot and driveway at the Schwing America Manufacturing facility in White Bear, Minnesota, on June 21, 1994. This concrete was placed by means of a pump, crane and bucket, and truck-mounted conveyor, and came directly from the chute of ready-mix trucks. Pump configurations were used that allowed unrestricted free-fall of the concrete; a kink in the rubber hose at the end of the line created a slight back pressure and slowed the descent of the concrete. After placement, the concrete was consolidated by an immersion vibrator in some locations and struck off with no further consolidation in other locations. Air content of the fresh concrete was measured by ASTM C231 pressure meters at the truck chutes and at the point of placement. Air content and air-void system parameters of the hardened concrete were determined in accordance with ASTM C457. Actual freeze-thaw performance was evaluated by ASTM C666 for concrete sampled from the truck chute and sampled from the pavement after placement by the various methods. Twenty-four tests of the air content of concrete from six successive truckloads of concrete showed that the variation in truck-to-truck air content was frequently greater than the within-truck variation because of different methods of handling the concrete. Tests of the fresh concrete after pumping, conveying, chuting, and free-fall from the concrete bucket showed reduced air content. From analysis of the hardened concrete, it was observed that the air bubbles remaining in the pumped concrete were smaller than in the concrete as delivered. The air-void spacing factor was not significantly altered by pumping. In ASTM C666 freezing and thawing tests, the specimen experiencing the greatest loss of air content as a result of pumping was determined to have the lowest total air content of all specimens tested (before vibration), yet had the highest durability of all specimens tested.


Author(s):  
M. Lessard ◽  
M. Baalbaki ◽  
P.-C. Aïtcin

The stability of the air content of concrete during pumping has been the subject of a number of recent investigations. Because increasing volumes of concrete are placed with the aid of pumps and the durability of such concrete to freezing and thawing (ASTM C666) as well as the scaling resistance (ASTM C672) preoccupy engineers, a study concerning the stability of the air-void system of a concrete with 45 to 50 MPa compressive strength was carried out. The slump of the three tested concretes ranged between 85 and 115 mm. Three pumping setups were studied. In the first, the concrete was pumped horizontally; in the second the concrete was pumped upward and then downward. In the third, the vertical setup was used but a reduced section was placed at the end of the pump line, and the concrete was allowed to free fall a short distance. For each pump setup, the concrete was sampled before being placed in the pump and after leaving the pump. The results clearly show that when the concrete is pumped horizontally, the spacing factor (L) and the specific surface of the air-void system are barely altered. On the other hand, after pumping the concrete vertically without a reduced end section, it was impossible to obtain an L less than 230 μm, the maximum spacing factor allowed by Canadian standards (CSA A23.1) to ensure good frost durability. Furthermore, the specific surface of the air bubbles fell to 20 mm−1, which is inferior to the 25-mm−1 value recommended in Canadian standards. By placing a reduced section at the end of the vertical pump line, it was possible to enhance the air-void system but that procedure still fell short of ensuring a system that satisfies the air-void system recommended by Canadian standards to ensure proper frost durability. Although the pumped concrete mixtures did not always satisfy the requirements of CSA A23.1 regarding air-void systems, they satisfied the requirements of ASTM C666 (Procedure A) for resistance to freeze-thaw cycles. Freeze-thaw resistance in the presence of deicing salts was evaluated according to ASTM C672. After 50 frost cycles, all but one concrete exhibited mass losses that were lower than the maximum permissible limit of 0.50 kg/m2 required by BNQ 2621-900, the standard currently enforced in the province of Quebec. Placing a reduced section at the end of the pump line creates a light counterpressure in the descending section of the pump line, which allows the conservation of an acceptable air-void system. Considering the appreciable improvement in the preservation of air-void characteristics when a reduced section was placed at the end of the pump line, it was decided to proceed with further experimental work using four 90-degree elbows placed at the end of the vertically hanging pump line.


2013 ◽  
Vol 857 ◽  
pp. 110-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu Hua Zheng ◽  
Yong Ge ◽  
Jie Yuan

Air-entraining agent turely is one of the necessary compositions of the high durability concrete. The influence of air content and vibration time on the frost resistance of concrete was researched, and air void characteristics of hardened concrete was analysed. The results showed that the air contents could reduce the compressive strengthof hardened concrete excessively, but it made the spacing factor reduce obviously and significantly improve the frost resistance of concrete.The air voids with different structure in concrete were realized by vibration time. It was found that the air void structure and the frost resistance properties were influenced by the vibration time largely. The optimized vibration time is 30s, the appropriate vibration time is 20s~30s, no more than 35s.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (13) ◽  
pp. 680-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhichao Liu ◽  
Will Hansen ◽  
Fazhou Wang ◽  
Wenqin Zhang

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