Title: New Pre-saturation Method for Accelerated Sulfate Attack Testing of Concrete Specimens

Author(s): Hocine Siad, Mohamed Lachemi, and Mustafa Sahmaran

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 349

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 224-236

Keywords: Concrete; Expansion; Microstructure; Pre-saturation; Sulfate attack; Sulfate profiles

DOI: 10.14359/51732749

Date: 4/22/2021

Abstract:
This paper studies the use of a new preconditioning process for an accelerated testing of concrete resistance against sulfate attack. For this reason, concrete specimens were subjected to a part by part pre-saturation method using a concentrated sulfate solution drained inside desiccators. This preconditioning technique was applied before exposing the specimens to different immersion conditions in 5% and 10% sulfate solutions, and to storing at high temperature and to wetting/drying cycles. Length change measurements and sulfate penetration profiles were performed on normal and high strength concretes. In addition, SEM-EDS analysis were used to investigate the type and amount of degradation products in the core layer of samples exposed to accelerated testing. The new pre-saturation method highly accelerated the degradation of concrete samples exposed to different immersion conditions. The microstructural observations showed advanced depths and greater amounts of gypsum and ettringite within the degraded specimens subjected to the primary preconditioning stage. However, the real field observations were only achieved when combining the pre-saturation method and the immersion in 5% sulfate solution.