Effect of accelerated carbonation conditions on the characterization of load-induced damage in reinforced concrete members

Reinforced concrete is widely used in the construction of buildings, historical monuments and also nuclear power plants. For various reasons, many concrete structures are subject to unavoidable cracks that accelerate the diffusion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the steel/concrete interface. Carbonation at the interface induces steel corrosion that may cause the development of new cracks in the structure, and this is a determining factor for its durability. It is therefore important to accurately characterize the length of the load-induced damage along the steel/concrete interface in order to understand the effect of cracking on corrosion initiation and propagation. The aim of this paper is to present an experimental procedure that allows the load-induced damage length to be assessed. The procedure consists in subjecting specimens to accelerated carbonation and determining the length of the carbonated steel/mortar interface, which is assumed to be equal to the length of the damaged steel/mortar interface. Suitable conditions should therefore be found for the accelerated carbonation in order to obtain an accurate characterization of the damaged steel/mortar interface length. To this end, two carbonation concentrations (3, 50%) and several carbonation durations were tested. The results indicate that a strong carbonation shrinkage phenomenon develops at high carbon dioxide concentration and leads to new cracking along the steel/mortar interface. These cracks allow the carbon dioxide to spread along the interface over a length greater than the damaged length. This is not the case when the accelerated carbonation test is performed at lower carbon dioxide concentration. Consequently, accelerated carbonation at high carbon dioxide concentration (50%) cannot be used neither for the estimation of the length of the mechanically damaged steel/mortar interface nor for the carbonation-induced corrosion studies because it will lead to an overestimation of the size of the corroded area.     

The effect of processed fly ashes on the durability and the corrosion of steel rebars embedded in cement–modified fly ash mortars

This paper deals with the study of corrosion level of reinforcing steel bars embedded in Portland cement mortars containing different types of fly ash. Fly ashes used were obtained by physico-chemical treatments of an original F class fly ash to modify their magnetic properties and reduce their particle size. An original fly ash (T0) and three types of modified ashes were tested according to treatment duration and magnetic properties (T60, ground fly ash; TNM, non-magnetic fraction; TM, magnetic fraction). Corrosion tests on reinforced mortar specimens with and without different types of fly ashes, cured at 40 °C, and under accelerated carbonation conditions and seawater immersion, have been performed in order to obtain conclusions on durability. From the corrosion point of view the addition of TNM in mortars showed to be much more effective than addition of the original T0 fly ash.     

Transport properties of high-volume fly ash concrete: Capillary water sorption,water sorption under vacuum and gas permeability

Studying concrete’s resistance to carbonation-induced corrosion usually involves exposing the material to CO₂ for quite some time. To estimate the performance of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete more quickly, two key properties governing this process can be studied, namely water penetrability and gas permeability. With respect to HVFA mixtures optimized for usage in an environment exposed to carbonation with wetting and drying, we adopted the latter approach. This paper presents a full assessment of concrete mixtures with varying fly ash amounts. A 50% fly ash mixture by mass with a binder content of 400 kg/m³ and a water-to-binder ratio of 0.4 had a lower capillary water uptake (?32.6%), water sorption under vacuum (?10.7%) and gas permeability (?78.9%) than a proper reference normally used in this environment. The fly ash applied had an excellent quality regarding loss on ignition (3.5%) and fineness (19% retained on a 45 μm sieve).     

Corrosion protection investigation of reinforcement by inorganic coating in the presence of alkanolamine-based inhibitor

Corrosion of reinforced concrete structures is a major problem throughout the world, demanding significant amounts for repair and rehabilitation. Corrosion protection is commonly performed by coating the concrete or by using corrosion inhibitors. This paper describes the comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of an acrylic dispersion and an inorganic coating on silicate basis, of an alkanolamine-based corrosion inhibitor and of their combination, on reinforced mortar specimens partially immersed in 3.5% NaCl solution. The following techniques were used: strain gauges, measurements of the corrosion potential, the mass loss and the EIS of the reinforcing bars and measurements of the chloride diffusion and the carbonation depth in mortars. Results demonstrate that the simultaneous use of the alkanolamine-based corrosion inhibitor with the inorganic coating offers a protection degree comparable to that of the acrylic dispersion, which performs best in the presence of both chloride ions and carbon dioxide.     

Effect of mix design inputs,curing and compressive strength on the durability of Na2SO4-activated high volume fly ash concretes

This paper aims to advance research on the use in concrete of a high volume of fly ash, with a high loss on ignition value, aiding in sustainable low carbon footprint construction. To this end, the work explores the benefits that may be achieved in terms of long-term concrete performance from the incorporation of fly ash along with a chemical activator. Durability tests are performed on concrete with an activated hybrid cementitious system: Portland cement (PC) and high volume fly ash with sodium sulfate. The chloride diffusion coefficient significantly decreased over time for the activated system (50% PC - 50% fly ash with added sodium sulfate) compared to the control samples (100% PC and 80% PC - 20% fly ash) at the same water to cementitious material ratio. This behavior is particularly evident in samples cured under controlled laboratory conditions (100% RH and 23 °C). However, outdoor curing increases the permeability for all concretes. Long term carbonation is also investigated under natural exposure conditions, and samples that are cured outdoors exhibit a significant carbonation depth. The compressive strength is correlated with the durability parameters: the durability performance improves as the compressive strength increases, indicating that as is the case for Portland cement (but not always for alkali-activated binders), the microstructural factors which yield high strength are also contributing to durability properties.     

Sustainability-based decision support framework for choosing concrete mixture proportions

A framework is proposed, along with two objective indices, for the selection of concrete mixture proportions based on sustainability criteria. The indices combine energy demand and long-term strength as energy intensity, and carbon emissions and durability parameters as A-indices, which represent the apathy toward these essential features of sustainability. The decision support framework is demonstrated by considering a set of 30 concretes with different binders, including ordinary portland cement (OPC), fly ash, slag and limestone calcined clay cement (LC3). In addition to the experimental data on compressive strength, chloride diffusion and carbonation, life cycle assessment has been performed for the concretes considering typical situations in South India. The most sustainable of the concretes studied here, for service life limited by chloride ingress, are those with LC3, OPC replaced by 50% slag, and ternary blends with 20% each of slag and fly ash. In the case of applications where carbonation is critical, the appropriate concretes are those with OPC replaced by 15–30% slag or 15% fly ash, or with ternary blends having 20% slag and 20% Class F fly ash.     

Relation between carbonation resistance,mix design and exposure of mortar and concrete

When cement with mineral additions is employed, the carbonation resistance of mortar and concrete may be decreased. In this study, mortars containing mineral additions are exposed both to accelerated carbonation (1% and 4% CO₂) and to natural carbonation. Additionally, concrete mixtures produced with different cements, water-to-cement ratios and paste volumes are exposed to natural carbonation. The comparison of the carbonation coefficients determined in the different exposure conditions indicates that mortar and concrete containing slag and microsilica underperform in the accelerated carbonation test compared to field conditions. The carbonation resistance in mortar and concrete is mainly governed by the CO₂ buffer capacity per volume of cement paste. It can be expressed by the ratio between water added during production and the amount of reactive CaO present in the binder (w/CaO_reactive) resulting in a novel parameter to assess carbonation resistance of mortar and concrete containing mineral additions.     

Corrosion protection of steel in pumice lightweight mortar by coatings

The purpose of this work was to investigate the corrosion resistance of lightweight mortar exposed to corrosive environments. Widespread use of lightweight mortar is attributed to the several advantages it presents; nevertheless its durability is questionable, as far as the corrosion of reinforcing bars is considered, due to its high porosity. Lightweight mortar specimens were produced using two types of Greek cements as well as Greek pumice of volcanic origin; three different organic coatings and a varnish were applied on them. Specimens were either partially immersed in 3.5% NaCl solution or exposed outdoors. The anti-corrosive performance of these systems was investigated monitoring corrosion potentials and mass loss as well as carbonation and chloride diffusion. The results revealed that in all cases the use of protective coatings reduced significantly corrosion of rebars. Among the examined systems the best protection is offered by the aqueous acrylic dispersion containing titanium dioxide.     

纳米SiO2与粉煤灰协同改性水泥基材料性能研究

通过调整纳米SiO_2与粉煤灰的比例,研究了两者协同作用对水泥基材料性能的影响。结果表明,纳米SiO_2(NS)和粉煤灰协同作用效果优于NS单一掺加,3%(质量分数,下同)纳米SiO_2和不大于30%的粉煤灰同时掺加可以补偿粉煤灰引起的早期强度降低,且砂浆28d抗压强度不降低。随着NS掺量增加水泥基材料的干燥收缩增大,粉煤灰可以改善纳米SiO_2对干燥收缩的不利影响。随着NS掺量的增加,试件的抗冻性和抗氯离子渗透性能均得到提升,掺加3%NS与30%粉煤灰使水泥基材料达到最佳耐久性能。NS可以缩短水泥水化诱导期,加速水泥水化进程,且使胶凝体系总放热量增加。在水泥粉煤灰体系中掺入NS后,非蒸发水含量在早期明显增多,但在后期增长缓慢。     

Sustainable utilization of pre-treated and nano fly ash powder for the development of durable geopolymer mortars

Developments in geopolymer construction are gaining more interest nowadays due to the elimination of cement and the consequent effects such as carbon dioxide emission, greenhouse effect, etc. Although the use of fly ash as a binder in the geopolymer system acts as a key solution for the major hazardous effects like land dumping, soil contamination, groundwater pollution, and respiratory diseases, the slow reactivity of the fly ash resulted in the considerable reduction in the strength. In this paper, a novel pretreatment method was employed on the fly ash binder in terms of thermal and mechanical means. Also, a cost-effective nano fly ash powder was synthesized and used as filler material on the geopolymer system. The efficiency of the fabricated geopolymer mortar was assessed by examining the workability, compressive strength, and resistance against chloride ion penetration. The geopolymer mortars with pre-treated fly ash exhibited a highly workable mix of 130% improved flow rate without adding any superplasticizer. Further, the addition of 1% nano fly ash, exhibited the highest compressive strength of 71.22 MPa, confirmed almost nil chloride ion permeability, and sustained 90% residual strength after immersing in the brine solution for 60 days which explored the development of sustainable and cost-effective geopolymer construction in the marine environment.     

混凝土在碳化和干湿循环作用下的抗硫酸盐腐蚀性能

采用自然浸泡和干湿循环的试验方法, 研究了碳化后的粉煤灰混凝土(FAC)、 大掺量矿物掺合料混凝土(HVMAC)及高性能混杂纤维增强膨胀混凝土(HPHFREC)在5%硫酸镁溶液中的损伤过程。结果表明: 碳化一定程度上密实了混凝土表层, 但改变了混凝土表层的化学组成, 降低混凝土的抗硫酸镁腐蚀性能。干湿循环加速硫酸镁的扩散作用, 扩展混凝土内部原有的微裂缝。在碳化+硫酸镁双重破坏因素作用下, HVMAC具有优异的抗腐蚀性能, 适合应用于硫酸镁腐蚀的严酷环境; 在碳化+干湿循环+硫酸镁多重破坏因素作用下, HPHFREC2的三元纤维混杂起到明显的增强增韧效果, 抗腐蚀性能较好。     

Service life and global warming potential of chloride exposed concrete with high volumes of fly ash

Today, it remains unclear how ‘green’ concrete with high volumes of fly ash really is, especially when subject to chloride-induced corrosion. This paper presents chloride diffusion test results for high-volume fly ash and fly ash + silica fume concrete. Apparent diffusion coefficients and surface concentrations were compared with those for traditional concrete. Instantaneous chloride diffusion coefficients and ageing exponents were estimated and critical chloride contents for submerged exposure conditions were experimentally verified. The estimated time to chloride-induced steel depassivation for the two concrete types with fly ash (60 to more than 100 years) was much longer than for traditional concrete (24–32 years). As a consequence, global warming potentials (GWPs) calculated for the required concrete volume per unit of strength and service life indicate that an important reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is possible for both concrete types with high volumes of fly ash (GWP –50 to −82%).     

Influence of fly ash as a cement addition on the hardened properties of recycled aggregate concrete

The effects of the use of Class F fly ash as a cement addition on the hardened properties of recycled aggregate concrete were determined. In this study, four series of concrete mixtures were prepared with water-to-cement (w/c) ratios of 0.55, 0.50, 0.45 and 0.40. The recycled aggregate was used as 0%, 20%, 50% and 100% replacements of coarse natural aggregate. Furthermore, fly ash was employed as 0% and 25% addition of cement. Although the use of recycled aggregate had a negative effect on the mechanical properties of concrete, it was found that the addition of fly ash was able to mitigate this detrimental effect. Also, the addition of fly ash reduced the drying shrinkage and enhanced the resistance to chloride ion penetration of concrete prepared with recycled aggregate. Moreover, it was found that the drying shrinkage and chloride ion penetration decreased as the compressive strength increased. Compared with the results of our previous study, the present study has quantified the advantages of using fly ash as an additional cementitious material in recycled aggregate concrete over the use of fly use as a replacement of cement.     

Utilization of fly ash concrete in marine environment for long term design life analysis

This paper presents the performance of 7-year fly ash concrete exposed to hot and high humidity climate in marine conditions. Control concrete and fly-ash concrete cube specimens of 200 mm were cast and steel bars of 12 mm in diameter and 50 mm in length were embedded at various cover depths. The concrete specimens were exposed to tidal zone of marine environment in the Gulf of Thailand. The concrete specimens were tested for chloride penetration profile, chloride content at the position of embedded steel bar, and corrosion of embedded steel bar after being exposed to tidal zone of sea water up to 7 years. Consequently, these experimental data were used to generate the empirical equation for predicting long term required cover depth of cement and fly ash concretes to protect against the initial corrosion of reinforcing steel in a marine environment.     

Effect of pozzolans on the performance of fiber-reinforced mortars

Randomly oriented short fibers have been shown to increase tensile strength and retard crack propagation of cement based materials such as fiber-reinforced mortars for diverse applications, especially in aggressive environments. In the case of reinforced concrete, it is very important to produce a “high quality” cover in order to prevent corrosion of the rebars. In order to obtain a high performance material the use of a pozzolan is advisable because low permeability is achieved. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of pozzolans such as silica fume (SF), fly ash (FA), and metakaolin (MK) on the properties of fiber-reinforced mortars. Different types of natural and synthetic fibers were used. A superplasticizer was used to keep the same workability as that of the control mortar. Results of the mechanical and durability properties of the fiber-reinforced mortars are reported. The results show that a loss of resistance due to embedding fibers in mortar is compensated for by the increase in strength caused by silica fume or metakaolin additions to the mortar. The addition of 15% of SF or MK produces an improvement of up to 20% and 68%, respectively, when compared with those mortars without addition. There is a significant decrease in the coefficient of capillary absorption and chloride penetration when a highly pozzolanic material is incorporated into the matrix. In general, these materials, especially SF and MK, improve the mechanical performance and the durability of fiber-reinforced materials, especially those reinforced with steel, glass or sisal fibers. The fly ash addition had a different performance, which could be attributed to its low degree of pozzolanicity.     

Corrosion of reinforcement induced by environment containing chloride and carbon dioxide

Reinforced concrete structures during their exploitation may be exposed to the common action of carbonation and chlorides causing corrosion of steel reinforcement. Therefore, the related data seem to be interesting and important when the evaluation of the service life of the structures is the object of interest. This fact was a motivation for the present experimental study on the sequence of action of chloride solutions and carbonation of the embedding concrete. The results obtained show that carbonation of concrete foregoing the action of chloride solutions may intensify the process of corrosion of steel reinforcement in comparison to the converse sequence of the action of mentioned media. At the same time the natrium chloride solution has been shown as a more aggressive medium opposite to the calcium and magnesium chloride solutions.     

Investigations on the influence of fly ash on the formation and stability of artificially entrained air voids in concrete

In concrete, fly ash is applied to a task-oriented improvement of different properties. Besides the advantages, e.g. the improvement of the rheology of the fresh concrete or the density of the hardened concrete, some investigations and the experience from practice indicate that some fly ashes probably influence the formation and stability of artificially entrained air voids. The reason lies presumably in the fraction of unburned carbon, a minor component of the fly ash. To identify the causes, seven fly ashes from European power plants were investigated. The fly ashes were characterized and mortar and concrete tests were conducted to identify specific fly ash parameters which might be responsible for the impaired formation and stability of the air voids. Furthermore, it was examined whether the foam index test is applicable for the assessment of the air entraining agent demand and whether an adequate accuracy of the results is given. On the basis of the results it was also examined whether the mortar tests or a fly ash specific parameter can be applied as an alternative prediction tool to assess the air entraining agent demand for an air entrained concrete.     

Effect of crack opening on carbon dioxide penetration in cracked mortar samples

The paper addresses the effect of crack opening on the ability of carbon dioxide to diffuse along a crack. The experimental tests were carried out on mortar samples. A mechanical expansive core was used to generate cracks of constant width across the thickness of the sample. Cracked specimens with crack openings ranging from 9 to 400 μm were exposed to accelerated carbonation for 65 days. Then they were removed to determine the depth of carbonation perpendicular to the crack path. Theses depths were compared to the measured ones on the reference samples. The results show that crack opening significantly influences the ability of carbon dioxide to diffuse along the crack. Indeed, the carbonation depth perpendicular to the crack wall indicates a lower capacity to diffuse in cracks less than 41 μm in width. For crack openings ranging from 9 to 41 μm, there was still diffusion along the crack path. Moreover, carbonation of the interface between steel and mortar was observed inducing a depassivation of the reinforcement. For the duration of the experiments, there was no diffusion in crack openings of less than 9 μm. The effect of interlocking phenomena between the fracture surfaces on the ability of carbon dioxide to diffuse along the crack, was also studied. The results showed that interlocking phenomena in cracks is the main factor limiting the diffusion of carbon dioxide in fine cracks.