Size effect on fracture resistance and fracture energy of concrete

Title: Size effect on fracture resistance and fracture energy of concrete
Author(s): K. Duan, X.-Z. Hu, F. H. Wittmann
Paper category : journal
Serial title: Materials and Structures
Abreviated Serial title: Mater. Struct.
ISSN: 1359-5997
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Volume: 36
Issue: 256
Issue date: 2003-03-01
Publication year: 2003
Pages: 74 - 80
Total Pages: 7
Nb references: 38
Language: English

Abstract: When an electrical field is applied to a cementitious material, the ions of its pore solution move to the cathodic and anodic electrodes.
As a consequence, an acceleration of the leaching degradation process may cause the dissolution of the solid phases.
Several researchers have applied this kind of method to the study of the leaching of cementitious materials, but mainly on cement paste.
The study of leaching in concretes by this method is more difficult as, on the one hand, the high resistivity of these materials implies a quite low intensity passing through the concrete even at high voltage applied and characterisation of the degraded zones is doubtful.
In this paper, electrical fields are applied to determine the ability of these methods to characterise and classify ultra high performance concretes (UHPC).
Three different mixes of UHPC have been submitted to a migration test in galvanostatic conditions, using granitic water as electrolyte, and analysing the resulting electrolytes and the solid sample by different techniques.
As a reference, the results have been compared with those obtained by following the standard ANSI/ANS-16.
1-1986 "Measurement of the leachability of solidified low-level radioactive wastes by a short term procedure".
From this research, it could be deduced that the migration method accelerates very much the leaching process and gives a longer-term classification of different mixes of concretes against the degradation by natural water.
The research presented in this paper has been carried out as part of the research project named "UNICORN", supported by the Basic BRITE-EURAM Program of the EU.

Online publication: 2003-01-25
Classification: Scientific Reports
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00
doi: 10.1617/13779