Unsaturated Capillary Flow within Alkali Activated Slag Concrete
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 9
Abstract
Alkali activated slag concrete (AASC), based on a binder that consists of 100% blast furnace slag that is activated by an alternative alkali to conventional Portland cement, has considerable environmental benefits. Nevertheless, the durability of the exposed surface zone of AASC needs consideration. The ingress of harmful agents is highly influenced by convection-induced effects; e.g., moisture gradients caused by exposure to rainfall or the wetting and drying effects in the splash zone of a marine environment that can lead to high surface concentration of chloride. The convective effects also propagate steel reinforcement corrosion, once initiated, by making available moisture and oxygen for the cathodic reaction at the steel reinforcement, as well as changing the conductivity of the concrete surface zone. This paper reports the behavior of convection-induced uptake of water into AASC and ordinary Portland cement concrete. The sensitivity to “exposed,” “sealed,” and “bath” curing and the resultant pore structure for concrete made with different water/binder is contrasted.
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Acknowledgments
The financial support for this project is jointly provided by Independent Cement and Lime Pty Ltd., Blue Circle Southern Cement Ltd., and Australian Steel Mill Services. The writers thank the sponsors, especially Alan Dow, Tom Wauer, Katherine Turner, Paul Ratcliff, John Ashby, and Dr. Ihor Hinczak for the guidance and support. The enthusiastic participation of final year students Soon Keat Lim and Eric Tan in this project is very much appreciated. The efforts and assistance with the laboratory work provided by Jeff Doddrell, Roger Doulis, and Peter Dunbar are also gratefully acknowledged.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 565 - 570
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 20, 2007
Accepted: Feb 7, 2008
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Clarissa F. Ferraris
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