Concrete Deterioration Mechanisms under Combined Sulfate Attack and Flexural Loading
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 1
Abstract
The deterioration mechanisms of sulfate attack on concrete under sustained loading and wet-dry cycling were investigated based on micro and macroobservations. The mass fraction of sodium sulfate solution was 6.9%. Three loading levels of 20, 40, and 60% of ultimate flexural load were considered, and the load was mechanically applied to the specimens under four-point bending. Microobservations included the analysis of the chemical products formed using thermal analysis and the determination of the sulfate-ion content profile using the modified barium sulfate gravimetric method (chemical titration). Macroobservations primarily included visual observations and flexural strength changes. Test results showed that under alternate action of wet-dry cycling, concretes are attacked by expansive products such as ettringite and gypsum during the wetting cycle, and crystallization damage, induced by evaporation, is superposed during the drying cycle. Results also showed that the tensile stresses can increase diffusivity by initiating or developing microcracks; the compressive stresses are small compared with the concrete compressive strength, so any effect on ion transport properties is not obvious. Under simultaneous sulfate attack and flexural loading, deterioration is aggravated as the loading level increases, and this is characterized on the macroscale by the increased strength degradation. This research can provide some references for the assessment method of concrete structures under combined sulfate attack and loading action.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers are profoundly grateful to Dr. D. W. Law (Heriot-Watt University, UK) for his constructive comments about this paper. Support for this work was provided by the National Natural Science Fund (No. 90715041) and Outstanding Youth Science Fund of Henan Province (No. 04120002300).
References
Applied Chemical Department, Hungary Technology University (ed.). (1978). Collection of thermal analysis curves atlas, Trans. Z. Q. Weng. Metallurgical Industry, Beijing.
ASTM. (2005). “Test methods for chemical analysis of hydraulic cement.” C114, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bassuoni, M. T., and Nehdi, M. L. (2009). “Durability of self-consolidating concrete to sulfate attack under combined cyclic environments and flexural loading.” Cem. Concr. Res., 39(3), 206–226.
Clifton, J. R., and Knab, L. R. (1989). “Service life of concrete.”, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC.
Cody, R. D., and Cody, A. M. (2001). “Reduction of concrete deterioration by ettringite using crystal growth inhibition techniques.”, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.
Ferraris, C. F., Stutzman, P. E., and Snyder, K. A. (2006). Sulfate resistance of concrete: A new approach, Portland Cement Association, Illinois.
Flatt, R. J. (2002). “Salt damage in porous materials: How high supersaturations are generated.” J. Cryst. Growth, 242(3–4), 435–454.
Gérard, B., and Marchand, J. (2000). “Influence of cracking on the diffusion properties of cement-based materials. Part I: Influence of continuous cracks on the steady-state regime.” Cem. Concr. Res., 30(1), 37–43.
Jin, Z. Q., Sun, W., Jiang, J. Y., and Zhao, T. J. (2008). “Damage of concrete attacked by sulfate and sustained loading.” J. Southeast Univ. (English Ed.), 24(1), 69–73.
Kresten, P., and Berggren, G. (1975). “The thermal decomposition of thaumasite.” Thermochim. Acta, 20(6), 1–6.
Mu, R., Sun, W., and Miao, C. W. (1999). “Sulfate attack of high strength concrete on the action of pre-loading.” Ind. Constr., 29(8), 52–56.
Neville, A. (2004). “The confused world of sulfate attack on concrete.” Cem. Concr. Res., 34(8), 1275–1296.
Rodriguez-Navarro, C., Doehne, E., and Sebastian, E. (2000). “How does sodium sulfate crystallize? Implications for the decay and testing of building materials.” Cem. Concr. Res., 30(10), 1527–1534.
Santhanam, M., Cohen, M. D., and Olek, J. (2001). “Sulfate attack research—Whither now?” Cem. Concr. Res., 31(6), 845–851.
Scherer, G. W. (2004). “Stress from crystallization of salt.” Cem. Concr. Res., 34(9), 1613–1624.
Schneider, U., and Chen, S. (1999). “Behavior of high-performance concrete under ammonium nitrate solution and sustained loading.” ACI Mater. J., 96(1), 47–51.
Schneider, U., and Piasta, W. (1991). “The behavior of concrete under solution attack and sustained compression or bending.” Mag. Concr. Res., 43(157), 281–289.
Shu, L., and Lu, Y. (2007). “Application of DTA method in cement chemistry.” Shandong Build. Mater., 28(1), 23–25.
Skalny, J., Marchand, J., and Odler, I. (2002). Sulfate attack on concrete, Spon, London and New York.
Tixier, R., and Mobasher, B. (2003a). “Modeling of damage in cement-based materials subjected to external sulfate attack. I: Formulation.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 15(4), 305–313.
Tixier, R., and Mobasher, B. (2003b). “Modeling of damage in cement-based materials subjected to external sulfate attack. II: Comparison with experiments.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 15(4), 314–322.
Tsui, N., Flatt, R. J., and Scherer, G. W. (2003). “Crystallization damage by sodium sulfate.” J. Cultural Heritage, 4(2),109–115.
Wang, Y. L., and Yao, Y. (2001). “Researches on key engineering concrete durability and applications.” China Building Materials, Beijing.
Xie, Y., and Wang, X. D. (1997). “Application of thermal analysis method in cement hydration.” Cement, (5), 44–47.
Zhang, Y., Jiang, L. X., Zhang, W. P., and Qu, W. J. (2003). “Durability of concrete structures.” Shanghai Science and Technology, Shanghai.
Zhao, S. B., Chen, J. H., Gao, R. D., and Li, Q. B. (2008). “Measurement of sulfate-ion content in concrete attacked by sodium sulfate.” Port Eng. Technol., (3), 31–33.
Zou, R. Z., Sun, S. Q., and Chen, X. T. (1995). “Study on the relation between thermal stability and carbonation rate of ettringite.” J. Hebei Inst. Chem. Technol. Light Ind., 16(4), 64–67.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 13, 2009
Accepted: Apr 18, 2012
Published online: Apr 20, 2012
Published in print: Jan 1, 2013
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.