Concrete quality assessment before building structures submitting to environmental exposure conditions

DOI: 10.7764/RDLC.16.3.374 Abstract A study on concrete quality assessment before building structures submitting to environmental exposure conditions was carried out. It was necessary to determine the ultrasonic velocity pulse, compressive strength and percentage of effective capillary porosity values in concretes probes of water/cement ratio 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6.The results allowed to demonstrate how from relationship between compressive strength and percentage of effective capillary porosity, as well as, from relationship between capillary coefficient absorption and percentage of effective capillary porosity, durability requirements were obtained. Durability requirements were: Critical value of percentage of effective capillary porosity from which the concrete permeability increased. Critical value of percentage of effective capillary porosity from which, compressive strength decreased. Ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength tests by itself were not enough to concrete quality assessment. Results using the visual observation were confirmed, in the reinforced concrete probes exposed to corrosivity categories of the atmospheres very high (C5) and extreme (CX) in a tropical coastal climates during three years, as well as by scanning electron microscopy tests in small samples of hardened cement paste for the three water/cement ratios.

[1]  F. Corvo,et al.  Study of Atmospheric Corrosion of Reinforcement Steel in Havana, Cuba. , 2014 .

[2]  Jaap Weerheijm,et al.  Investigating porous concrete with improved strength: Testing at different scales , 2013 .

[3]  A. Masood,et al.  Studies in ultrasonic pulse velocity of concrete containing GGBFS , 2013 .

[4]  Xudong Chen,et al.  Influence of porosity on compressive and tensile strength of cement mortar , 2013 .

[5]  A Castañeda,et al.  Evaluación de sistemas de protección contra la corrosión en la rehabilitación de estructuras construidas en sitios de elevada agresividad corrosiva en Cuba , 2012 .

[6]  P Castro-Borges,et al.  Análisis de daños por la interacción de cargas ambientales y estructurales en una subestructura marina , 2012 .

[7]  Odile Abraham,et al.  Development of an ultrasonic experimental device to characterise concrete for structural repair , 2012 .

[8]  S. Beecham,et al.  The relationship between porosity and strength for porous concrete , 2011 .

[9]  M. Molero,et al.  Study of the influence of microstructural parameters on the ultrasonic velocity in steel–fiber-reinforced cementitious materials , 2011 .

[10]  Jubum Kim,et al.  Detection of delamination in concrete using ultrasonic pulse velocity test , 2011 .

[11]  Marcelo Henrique Farias de Medeiros,et al.  Surface treatment of reinforced concrete in marine environment: Influence on chloride diffusion coefficient and capillary water absorption , 2009 .

[12]  Marta Castellote,et al.  Effect of the marine environment on reinforced concrete durability in Iberoamerican countries: DURACON project/CYTED , 2007 .

[13]  M. Angel,et al.  Permeabilidad a los cloruros del hormigón armado situado en ambiente marino sumergido Chloride permeability of reinforced concrete in submerged marine environment , 2007 .

[14]  Min-hong Zhang,et al.  Hydration of cement and pore structure of concrete cured in tropical environment , 2006 .

[15]  O. Troconis de Rincón,et al.  Durability of concrete structures: DURACON, an iberoamerican project. Preliminary results , 2006 .

[16]  E. Kearsley,et al.  The effect of porosity on the strength of foamed concrete , 2002 .

[17]  G. Fagerlund.  THE CAPILLARITY OF CONCRETE , 1982 .

[18]  Investigaciones Científicas,et al.  Corrosion of steel reinforced concrete in the tropical coastal atmosphere of Havana City, Cuba , 2013 .

[19]  N. D. Tomashov,et al.  Corrosion of metals and alloys , 1966 .