Effect of axial compressive damage on gas permeability of ordinary and high-performance concrete

Abstract Gas permeability is commonly used to evaluate durability characteristics of concrete. However, these values are often achieved using never stressed or damaged specimens. The objective of this study is to examine experimentally the effect of axial compressive loading on the permeability of three different types of concrete: ordinary concrete (OC), high-performance concrete (HPC), and high-performance steel fiber-reinforced concrete (HPFC). Monotonic and cyclic loads are applied on 220×110-mm diameter specimens. Stress levels vary between 60% and 90% of the ultimate strength. At the end of the loading phase, a disc is extracted from the middle part of the cylinders and is dried in a ventilated oven. Four different gas permeability tests are conducted during the drying procedure. The results show that, for each drying stage, the gas permeability of the discs increases with the load-induced strain. A correlation is worked out between the increase in permeability and the applied-strain/yield-strain ratio. Finally, a relationship between mechanical damage indicators and the increase in permeability is also discussed.

[1]  Carola Edvardsen,et al.  Water Permeability and Autogenous Healing of Cracks in Concrete , 1999 .

[2]  B. Gérard,et al.  Cracking and permeability of concrete under tension , 1996 .

[3]  Surendra P. Shah,et al.  Permeability study of cracked concrete , 1997 .

[4]  D. Quenard,et al.  GAS PERMEABILITY OF CONCRETE: DEFINITION OF A PRECONDITIONING PROCEDURE FOR MEASUREMENTS AND CROSSOVER TRIALS , 1999 .

[5]  Kenneth C. Hover,et al.  Influence of microcracking on the mass transport properties of concrete , 1992 .

[6]  Alberto Carpinteri,et al.  Scale effects in uniaxially compressed concrete specimens , 1999 .

[7]  B. Christaras,et al.  Determination of the moduli of elasticity of rocks. Comparison of the ultrasonic velocity and mechanical resonance frequency methods with direct static methods , 1994 .

[8]  Nataliya Hearn,et al.  Measurement of Permeability under Uniaxial Compression: A Test Method , 1998 .

[9]  P. Monteiro,et al.  Analysis of Compressive Stress-Induced Cracks in Concrete , 1998 .

[10]  La dégradation des bétons , 1999 .

[11]  Theodore W. Bremner,et al.  Effect of Stress on Gas Permeabilityin Concrete , 1996 .

[12]  F. Jacobs,et al.  Permeability to gas of partially saturated concrete , 1998 .

[13]  Abdy Kermani,et al.  Permeability of stressed concrete , 1991 .

[14]  Nataliya Hearn,et al.  Effect of Shrinkage and Load-Induced Cracking on Water Permeability of Concrete , 1999 .

[15]  D. Evelyne.  Thèse de doctorat d'Etat , 1988 .

[16]  J. J. Kollek.  The determination of the permeability of concrete to oxygen by the Cembureau method—a recommendation , 1989 .

[17]  M. Carcasses,et al.  Gas permeability of concrete in relation to its degree of saturation , 1999 .