scholarly journals Effect of Freeze–Thaw Cycles on the Performance of Concrete Containing Water-Cooled and Air-Cooled Slag

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7291
Author(s):  
Seung-Tae Lee ◽  
Se-Ho Park ◽  
Dong-Gyou Kim ◽  
Jae-Mo Kang

An experimental study on the resistance of concrete containing air-cooled slag (AS) and water-cooled slag (WS) against freeze–thaw cycles was conducted. For comparison, the durability of ASTM Type I ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete exposed to the same freeze–thaw environment was examined. To evaluate the durability of concrete exposed to the freeze–thaw environment, an experiment was conducted according to ASTM C 666 procedure A. Furthermore, the relative dynamic modulus of elasticity, surface electrical resistivity, and compressive strength of concrete specimens were measured after exposing them to freeze–thaw cycles for a predetermined period, and the results were compared with those of OPC concrete. The relationship between the freeze and thaw resistances of concrete and the air-void system (spacing factor and specific surface area) was identified. Furthermore, the microstructure of concrete exposed to freeze–thaw cycles was observed using scanning electron microscopy to identify the interfacial transition zone, cracks, and micropores. Experimental results showed that the resistance of blended cement concrete containing WS and AS against freeze–thaw cycles was significantly higher than that of OPC concrete. The concrete in which 10% of OPC was replaced by AS exhibited a similar durability as that of the concrete in which 40% of OPC was replaced only by WS. Therefore, it is expected that blended cement concrete containing WS and AS based on an appropriate mix proportion design will exhibit excellent durability in regions experiencing freezing temperatures.

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Marija Krstic ◽  
Julio F. Davalos ◽  
Emanuele Rossi ◽  
Stefan C. Figueiredo ◽  
Oguzhan Copuroglu

Recent studies have shown promising potential for using Glass Pozzolan (GP) as an alternative supplementary cementitious material (SCM) due to the scarcity of fly ash and slag in the United States. However, comprehensive studies on the freeze–thaw (FT) resistance and air void system of mixtures containing GP are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate GP’s effect on FT resistance and characterize mixtures with different GP contents, both macro- and microscopically. In this study, six concrete mixes were considered: Three mixes with 20%, 30% and 40% GP as cement replacements and two other comparable mixes with 30% fly ash and 40% slag, as well as a mix with 100% Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as a reference. Concrete samples were prepared, cured and tested according to the ASTM standards for accelerated FT resistance for 1000 cycles and corresponding dynamic modulus of elasticity (Ed). All the samples showed minimal deterioration and scaling and high F/T resistance with a durability factor of over 90%. The relationships among FT resistance parameters, air-pressured method measurements of fresh concretes and air void analysis parameters of hardened concretes were examined in this study. X-ray micro-tomography (micro-CT scan) was used to evaluate micro-cracks development after 1000 freeze–thaw cycles and to determine spatial parameters of air voids in the concretes. Pore structure properties obtained from mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and N2 adsorption method showed refined pore structure for higher cement replacement with GP, indicating more gel formation (C-S-H) which was verified by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).


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.


Author(s):  
Aref Shafiei Dastgerdi ◽  
Kyle Riding ◽  
Robert J. Peterman ◽  
B. Terry Beck

As an important element in track, pre-stressed concrete railroad ties in the high-speed rail industry must meet the safety and performance specifications of high-speed trains. Systematic destructive and non-destructive evaluation of existing concrete ties can lead to a better understanding of the effect of prestressed concrete tie material design on performance and failure within their service life. It has been evident that environmental and climate conditions also have a significant impact on concrete railroad ties, causing various forms of deterioration such as abrasion and freeze-thaw damage. Understanding of the material characteristics that cause failure in different types of existing concrete railroad ties taken from different places is the main focus of this paper. Observing the current status and damages of railroad ties taken from track might give a correlation between the material characteristic and type of distress and cracking seen. Although it has been seen by previous works that effective factors such as air void system and material composition directly affect the performance of concrete ties such as freeze-thaw, material evaluation of existing ties after service life has not been addressed in previous publications. In this research, the authors have investigated the material characteristic such as aggregate and air-void system of existing pre-stressed concrete railroad ties taken from track. However, compressive and splitting tensile strength and fractured surface of samples cored from the ties were acquired. In order to obtain the strength of concrete materials of existing ties, six samples were cored from six different types of ties taken from tracks across the U.S., according to ASTM C42-16, and tested using ASTM C39 and ASTM C496 methods. However, the concrete air-void system (ASTM C457) was measured on saw-cut samples extracted from the ties to evaluate the influence air content and distribution on mechanical properties of the ties. Regarding the history and service life condition of the ties, it seems that material properties of the ties effectively alter the performance of the ties. Aggregate sources used at each location may have different properties such as texture, angularity, and mineralogy, contributing either propagation or resistance in splitting cracking in concrete. Furthermore, the polished surface of samples extracted from the ties show the uniformity and air void system in some ties which demonstrate their superiority in terms of resistance to freeze-thaw damage. Considering the results of this research, comprehensive evaluation of material characteristics might give a better view of existing concrete railroad ties situation, providing a worthwhile background for future tie design considerations.


Author(s):  
Yu Song ◽  
Chuanyue Shen ◽  
Robbie Damiani ◽  
David Lange

Hardened air void analysis provides essential information of concrete freeze-thaw durability based on the size and spacing of air voids in the material. As the physical freeze-thaw experiment is time-consuming and costly, the characteristics of concrete air voids are often deemed as a proxy of the freeze-thaw performance. This analysis is typically done by measuring the 2D air void intersections on polished samples, but the current interpretation of the 2D void characters does not accurately represent the actual void structure in 3D. To solve this problem, a 2D-to-3D unfolding technique has been proposed in the field of stereology. However, the unfolding analysis is known to be sensitive to several factors, such as void population and size along with a binning scheme, where improper unfolding can considerably bias the prediction of the actual concrete void system. This study investigates the optimal strategy of conducting the unfolding analysis for concrete. The investigation is carried out on both idealized void systems to interrogate the influence of the critical factors individually, and real concrete samples with varying levels of air entrainment to assess the concrete-specific impacts. The concrete void system is studied based on a stereological model emulating the intersected 3D air voids on the surface of polished concrete. The results highlight that, for unfolding concrete voids, logarithmic binning scheme is far more accurate to linear binning. The low unfolding error of the concrete samples indicates that the proposed methodology enables an accurate restoration of 3D void size distribution.


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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 534 ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Che Wan Che Norazman ◽  
Ramadhansyah Putra Jaya ◽  
Sri Jayanti Dewi ◽  
Badorul Hisham Abu Bakar ◽  
M.A. Fadzil

The influences of different replacement levels of rice husk ash (RHA) blended cement concrete subjected to 5% Na2SO4 solution via wetting-drying cycles was evaluated in this study. RHA was used as a Portland cement Type I replacement at the levels of 0%, 10%, 20, 30%, and 40% by weight of binder. The water-to-binder ratio was 0.49 to produce concrete having target strength of 40 MPa at 28 days. The performance of RHA blended cement concrete on compressive strength, reduction in strength and loss of weight was monitored for up to 6 months. The results of the compressive strength test have been shown that use of RHA in blended cement has a significant influence on sulfate concentration. When increasing the replacement level of RHA, the strength of concrete also increases in comparison to OPC concrete (except RHA40) even exposed to 5% Na2SO4 solution. On the other hand, the reduction in strength and weight loss of specimens increased with increase in the exposure time. Generally, it can be said that the incorporation of rice husk ash as cement replacement significantly improved the resistance to sulfate penetration of concrete. Finally, RHA cement replacement in concrete mixed provided better resistance to sodium sulfate attack up to 6-month exposure.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 2451-2456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Giergiczny ◽  
Michal A. Glinicki ◽  
Marcin Sokołowski ◽  
Marek Zielinski

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 102453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateusz Radlinski ◽  
Jan Olek ◽  
Qinghuan Zhang ◽  
Karl Peterson ◽  
K. Wang ◽  
...  

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