INVESTIGATION OF AGGREGATE DURABILITY IN CONCRETE

THE EFFECTS OF AGGREGATE ON THE FREEZING AND THAWING DURABILITY OF CONCRETE AND METHODS OF SPECIFYING AGGREGATE QUALITY HAVE AND CONTINUE TO BE OF CONCERN TO BOTH AGGREGATE PRODUCERS AND HIGHWAY ENGINEERS. THE REPORTED DATA HIGHLIGHT CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES IN THE INTERPRETATION OF CONVENTIONAL EMPIRICAL SOUNDNESS, FREEZING AND THAWING, AND OTHER TESTS. CONCRETES MADE WITH 56 DIFFERENT COARSE AGGREGATES FAILED QUITE RAPIDLY IN ASTM C 291 RAPID FREEZING IN AIR AND THAWING IN WATER WHEN THE COARSE AGGREGATES WERE SATURATED UNDER VACUUM AND INCORPORATED IN CONCRETES WHICH WERE CONTINUOUSLY MOIST CURED PRIOR TO EXPOSURE. BASED ON SERVICE RECORDS AND LIMITED OUTDOOR EXPOSURE TESTS, THE C 291 TEST IS VERY SEVERE AND MAY BE UNDULY SENSITIVE TO THE EFFECTS OF VERY SMALL PERCENTAGES OF POTENTIAL POPOUT PRODUCING MATERIALS IN THE COARSE AGGREGATE. THE SMALL SPECIMENS AND HIGH RATES OF FREEZING EMPLOYED IN THE LABORATORY TEST CONTRIBUTE TO THIS POPOUT SENSITIVITY. RESISTANCE TO THIS LABORATORY TEST WAS NOT CORRELATED WITH RESULTS OF USUAL SPECIFICATION TESTS SUCH AS LOS ANGELES ABRASION OR SOUNDNESS. ALTHOUGH DEFICIENT IN PRECISE QUANTITATIVE SIGNIFICANCE, DURABILITY DECREASED WITH INCREASED ABSORPTION OF THE COARSE AGGREGATE, PERCENTAGE OF LIGHTWEIGHT PARTICLES , PERCENTAGE OF CHERT, PERCENTAGE OF LIGHTWEIGHT CHERT AND PERCENTAGE OF DELETERIOUS PARTICLES. ADDITIONAL TESTS DEMONSTRATE THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF DRYING THE AGGREGATE BEFORE INCORPORATION INTO CONCRETE OR OF A SHORT DRYING PERIOD DURING CURING BEFORE EXPOSURE TO LABORATORY FREEZING AND THAWING. WHEN SIMILARLY HIGHLY SATURATED, THE CONCRETES MADE WITH 36 SANDS ALL WITHSTOOD AT LEAST 450 CYCLES OF LABORATORY FREEZING AND THAWING. /AUTHOR/

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  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Paper sponsored by Committee on Durability of Concrete--Physical Aspects and presented at the 46th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
  • Authors:
    • Gaynor, Richard D
    • Meininger, Richard C
  • Publication Date: 1967

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 25-40
  • Monograph Title: Aggregates and concrete durability
  • Serial:

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00212327
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Feb 2 1994 12:00AM