Are surface scaling and internal damage of concrete under frost action caused by the same mechanism?

Conference paper (2018)

Authors

Zhendi Wang China Building Materials Academy
Y. Xu China Building Materials Academy, Materials and Environment - CEG
Ling Wang China Building Materials Academy
Research Group
Materials and Environment (CEG) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Materials- Mechanics- Management & Design

Research Group

Materials and Environment

Abstract

Frost action is the major threat against durability of concrete under cold region. Surface scaling and internal damage are the two main deterioration phenomenon caused by frost action. Nowadays, there is still a debate about whether surface scaling and internal damage caused by the same mechanism because of lacking direct experimental evidence. To prove that salt scaling is not analogous to internal damage, a rigid restraining ring is applied on concrete to simulate the real stress condition of concrete. Both relative dynamic modulus (RDM) and weight of surface scaling (SS) are recorded after every 4 cycles for both restraint specimens and free concrete. For the same mix proportion, the decrease of RDM of restraint specimens is less than that of free specimens, while the increase of SS of restraint specimens is higher than that of free specimens. The less decrease of RDM of restraint specimen is as expected due to the improvement of internal bond by rigid restraining ring. However the increment of SS of restraint specimens is more than that of free specimens prove that surface
scaling and internal damage of concrete under frost action are dominant by different mechanisms directly. It is recommended that the testing of frost resistance shall be conducted on concrete with steel restraining ring.