Site Air-Permeability of HPSFR and Conventional Concretes

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Title: Site Air-Permeability of HPSFR and Conventional Concretes

Author(s): Roberto Torrent, Marco di Prisco, Veronica Bueno, and Fabio Sibaud

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 326

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 84.1-84.10

Keywords: air-permeability, durability, fiber-reinforced concrete, site testing, water-tightness

DOI: 10.14359/51711067

Date: 8/10/2018

Abstract:

An investigation in an industrial building devoted to manufacturing equipment for the pharmaceutical industry was carried out. Stringent requirements were set for the building, in particular a very low permeability was required against the relatively high water-table. The design of the building, as well as the quality of the concrete, was concerned with providing an impermeable barrier, besides structural safety and functionality.

Different concrete qualities were used for different parts of the building. The most critical areas were built with steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC), both precast and cast in situ. In particular, some slabs were cast in situ with self-compacting (SCC-SFRC). Concrete samples were cast on site and taken to the laboratory for testing mechanical and durability performance. In order to verify the degree of impermeability reached in the end product, on site air-permeability measurements were conducted on representative elements of the structure. The paper presents and analyzes the air-permeability results obtained on several different elements, concluding that the cast on site SCC-SFRC presents a unique extremely low permeability and that the external wall tested has an air-permeability low enough to withstand the environment to which it is exposed. On the contrary, some non-critical internal elements, both cast on site and precast, present rather high and scattered air-permeability values.

Related References:

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2. Fédération Internationale du Béton, “fib Model Code for Concrete Structures 2010”, Wilhelm Ernst und Sohn Verlag für Architektur. 402, Berlin, Germany, 2013.

3. European Committee for Standardization, “EN 14651: Test method for metallic fibered concrete - Measuring the flexural tensile strength (limit of proportionality (LOP), residual)”, 2005.

4. SIA 262/1:2013, “Betonbau - Ergänzende Festlegungen", Schweizer Norm , 1 August 2013, 52 p. (in German).

Partial English Translation in: http://m-a-s.com.ar/pdf/Translation%20of%20SIA%20262-1-2013%20referred%20to%20kT%20v1.1.pdf

5. Torrent, R., “Non-Destructive Air-Permeability Measurement: from Gas-Flow Modelling to Improved Testing", Paper 151, Microdurability 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 11-13 April, 2012.

6. Torrent, R. and Szychowski, J., “Innovation in Air-Permeability NDT: Concept and Performance”, XIV DBMC, Ghent, 29-31 May 2017, Proceedings, paper DBMC-p313

7. Jacobs, F., Denarié, E., Leemann, A. und Teruzzi T., “Empfehlungen zur Qualitätskontrolle von Beton mit Luftpermeabilitätsmessungen”, Office Fédéral des Routes, VSS Report 641, December 2009, Bern, Switzerland.

8. Torrent, R., “Recommendations for Quality Control of Concrete with Air-Permeability Measurements”, Translation into English of Chapters 1 and 2 + Annex D of 6., available at http://www.m-a-s.com.ar/pdf/Swiss%20Recommendations%20for%20site%20measurement%20Ch%201%20and%202%20and%20Annex%20D.pdf

9. Torrent, R., Denarié, E., Jacobs, F., Leemann, A. and Teruzzi, T., “Specification and site control of the permeability of the cover concrete: the Swiss approach”, Materials and Corrosion, V. 63, n 12, December 2012, pp. 1127–1133.

10. Torrent, R., Armaghani, J. and Taibi, Y., “Evaluation of Port of Miami Tunnel Segments: Carbonation and service life assessment made using on-site air permeability tests”, Concrete International, May 2013, pp. 39-46.

11. Li Kefei and Torrent, R., “Analytical and Experimental Service Life Assessment of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Link”, IABMAS 2016, Paper 427, Foz do Iguaçú, Brazil, 26-30 June 2016.

12. Torrent, R., “The gas-permeability of high-performance concretes: site and laboratory tests”, High-Performance Concr., Performance & Quality of Concr. Struct., ACI SP-186, Paper 17, pp. 291-308, 1999.

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