DEFORMATION AND DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE AT LOW TEMPERATURES

Under low temperature, some concrete structures suffer serious deterioration. This may be due to the ice formation in concrete micropores, which causes microcracking and induces volume changes of concrete. Based on this observation, we investigated deterioration of concrete subjected to cyclic cooling and heating of various temperature ranges. The two major findings are: (1) residual strain of concrete is in good correlation to its relative dynamic modulus of elasticity and (2) there are well-defined temperature ranges which determine the progress of deterioration. Qualitative and quantitative analyses will be made on these observations.