Modeling of Moisture Diffusion in Crushed Basaltic Rock Stabilized with Cementitious Binders
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 17, Issue 6
Abstract
The prediction of moisture diffusion within the cementitiously stabilized materials is essential for assessing their shrinkage and associated cracking potential. A theoretical approach was presented for modeling of moisture loss during drying of cementitiously stabilized pavement materials. The moisture loss process was characterized by isotropic nonlinear diffusion theory. Laboratory experiments were undertaken to measure the material properties and characteristics that included the coefficient of moisture diffusivity and the humidity isotherm. Independent laboratory tests were undertaken to validate the theoretical approach adopted, and the experimental and predicted results displayed close agreement. The laboratory results indicated that as the drying progressed, the rate of moisture loss became slower, which can be explained by the reduction in the coefficient of moisture diffusivity with the decrease of moisture content. The humidity isotherms measured also indicated that the stabilized pavement materials appear not to dry significantly further after they reach a pore relative humidity of about 65%.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work is a part of a research project (SPIRT/Linkage) sponsored by the Australian Research Council and Chadwick Geotechnical Testing Pty Ltd., Melbourne, Australia. Their financial and in-kind support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also rendered to Blue Circle Southern Cement for their in-kind contribution.
References
Akita, H., Fujiwara, T., and Ozaka, Y. (1997). “A practical procedure for the analysis of moisture transfer within concrete due to drying.” Mag. Concrete Res., 49(179), 129–137.
Asad, M., Baluch, M. H., and Al-Gadhib, A. H. (1997). “Drying shrinkage stresses in concrete patch repair systems.” Mag. Concrete Res., 49(181), 283–293.
Austroads Inc. (1992). A guide to the structural design of road pavements, New South Wales, Australia.
Austroads Inc. (1998). Guide to stabilization in roadworks, New South Wales, Australia.
Bazant, Z. P., and Kim, J. (1991). “Consequences of diffusion theory for shrinkage of concrete.” Mater. Struct., 24(143), 323–326.
Bazant, Z. P., and Najjar, L. J. (1972). “Nonlinear water diffusion in nonsaturated concrete.” Mater. Struct., 5(25), 3–20.
Bullen, F. (1994). “The resilient moduli of cement treated materials.” Road Transport Res., 3(2), 94–104.
Chakrabarti, S., Kodikara, J. K., and Pardo, L. (2002). “Survey results on stabilization methods and performance of local government roads in Australia.” Road Transport Res., 11(3), 3–16.
Colombier, G. (1997). Cracking in pavements: Nature and origin of cracks, E&FN Spon, London.
Crank, J. (1975). The mathematics of diffusion, Clarendon, Oxford, U.K.
Kodikara, J., and Chakrabarti, S. (2001). “Shrinkage behavior of cemented materials as applicable to in situ pavement stabilization.” Proc., Australian Road Research Board 20th Conf., Melbourne, Australia.
Neville, A. M. (1994). “Cementitious materials—A different viewpoint.” Concr. Int., 116(7), 32–33.
Penev, D., and Kawamura, M. (1991). “Moisture diffusion in soil-cement mixtures and compacted lean concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 21(1), 137–146.
Rahman, M. K., Baluch, M. H., and Al-Gadhib, A. H. (1999). “Modeling of shrinkage and creep stress in concrete repair.” ACI Mater. J., 96(5), 542–550.
Sakata, K. (1983). “A study on moisture diffusion in drying and drying shrinkage of concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 13(2), 216–224.
Serruto, M., and Pardo, L. (2001). “Evaluation of stabilized marginal pavement materials using established and newly developed cementitious binders.” Proc., Australian Road Research Board 20th Conf., Melbourne, Australia.
Standards Australia. (1993). “Determination of the dry density/moisture content relation of a soil using Standard compactive effort.” AS 1289.5.1.1, Sydney, Australia.
Torrenti, J. M., Granger, L., Diruy, M., and Genin, P. (1999). “Modeling concrete shrinkage under variable ambient conditions.” ACI Mater. J., 96(1), 35–39.
Wilson, G. W., Fredlund, D. G., and Barbour, S. L. (1994). “Coupled soil-atmosphere modeling for soil evaporation.” Can. Geotech. J., 31(2), 151–161.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 23, 2003
Accepted: Apr 5, 2005
Published online: Dec 1, 2005
Published in print: Dec 2005
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Paulo J. M. Monteiro
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.