EVALUATION OF CHLORIDE ABSORPTION IN PRE-CONDITIONED CONCRETE CUBES
Authors: Balakrishna M.N. , Mohammad Fouad , Evans Robert , Rahman M.M. 
Published: September 2018

The chloride contamination will occur from an application of de-icing salts. It was confirmed that, the application of de-icing salts caused a significant reduction in structural and serviceability reliabilities. The chemicals used in the snow and ice control operations (de-icers) may cause corrosion damage to the transportation infrastructure such as reinforced/pre-stressed concrete structures/steel bridges. There are many ways to manage the corrosive effects of de-icers, such as selection of high-quality concrete, adequate concrete cover and alternative reinforcement, control of an ingress and accumulation of deleterious species, injection of beneficial species into concrete, and use of non-corrosive de-icer alternatives and optimal application rates. In fact, snow and ice on streets and highway are a major threat to human life and limb. Traffic accidents and fatalities climb as snow and ice reduce traction on roadways. Lengthened emergency response times create additional risks for persons in urgent need of medical care, particularly in cases of heart attacks, burns, childbirth and poisoning. Thus the de-icing salts are necessary to provide safe winter driving conditions and save lives by preventing the freezing of a layer of ice on concrete infrastructure. However, the safety and sense of comfort provided by these salts is not without a price, as these salts can greatly contribute to the degradation and decay of reinforced concrete transportation systems. An importance of chloride concentration as a durability-based material property has received greater attention only after the revelation that chloride-induced corrosion is the major problem for concrete durability. Therefore, there is a need to quantify the chloride concentration in concrete which is of paramount importance. The present research work was made an attempt to interpret the concrete chloride absorption in ordered to characterize the different concrete mixtures design for in case of pre-conditioned concrete cubes such as dry/fully/partially saturated condition which was salt ponded with chloride solution for about 160 days. Thus the objectives of this present research are such as: First, this research will examine an influence of conditioning such as dry/fully/partially saturated condition on the results of chloride absorption performed on concrete cubes with different mixtures proportion in which slump, and w/c ratio value was varied with constant compressive strength as in the First case and compressive strength, and w/c ratio value varied with constant slump as in the Second case. Seventy-two concrete cubes (100 mm3) with Grades of concrete ranges from 25 to 40 N/mm2 were prepared and evaluate the chloride absorption under different exposure condition. It’s concluded from the results that, in dry/saturated conditioned concrete cubes, the chloride absorption value was increased in all designed mixtures type. Similarly, average chloride absorption was decreased in solvent/water based impregnation DCC/PSC/FSC cubes as when compared to control DCC/PSC/FSC cubes for constant higher compressive strength and varied slump value as well as varied compressive strength and constant slump value. Whereas average chloride absorption was increased in solvent/ water based impregnation DCC/PSC/FSC cubes for lesser compressive strength and constant slump value as when compared to constant higher compressive strength and varied slump value and the chloride absorption was goes on decreases with an increased compressive strength and constant slump value.