Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Study on water sorptivity of the surface layer of concrete

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents the results from a study of water sorptivity of concrete surface layer. The sorptivity is characterized by a surface sorptivity index as measured by Autoclam. In this study, different types of concrete were immersed in ultrapure water and NaCl solution prior to the sorptivity test. The influences of several factors on the value and evolution of concrete surface sorptivity index are discussed. It is found that: concrete surface sorptivity is a function of the pore structure, higher porosity and lower tortuosity lead to higher surface sorptivity; as cured in moist condition for 1 month, the surface sorptivity is an increasing function of w/c in plain cement concretes, and an increasing function of fly ash replacement if w/b is kept constant; surface sorptivity increases as immersed in ultrapure water in the first month of immersion due to leaching, and decreases thereafter as the continuous hydration of cementitious materials makes the pore structure finer and finer; the immersion in NaCl solution limits the effect of leaching because of the formation of calcium oxychloride compounds, and results in lower long-term surface sorptivity index as compared with the ultrapure water immersion, due to the formation of Friedel’s salt which reduces the pore volume and blocks the pore network.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aligizaki KK (2006) Pore structure of cement-based materials: testing, interpretation and requirements. Taylor & Francis, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Balonis M, Lothenbach B, Le Saout G, Glasser FP (2010) Impact of chloride on the mineralogy of hydrated Portland cement systems. Cem Concr Res 40(7):1009–1022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Barrett EP, Joyner LG, Halenda PP (1951) The determination of pore volume and area distributions in porous substances: I. Computations from nitrogen isotherms. J Am Chem Soc 73(1):373–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Basheer L, Cleland DJ (2011) Durability and water absorption properties of surface treated concretes. Mater Struct 44(5):957–967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Basheer L, Nanukuttan SV, Basheer PA (2008) The influence of reusing ‘Formtex’ controlled permeability formwork on strength and durability of concrete. Mater Struct 41(8):1363–1375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Basheer PA, Long AE, Montgomary FR (1994) The Autoclam—a new test for permeability. Concrete 28:27–29

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bellmann F, Erfurt W, Ludwig H (2012) Field performance of concrete exposed to sulphate and low pH conditions from natural and industrial sources. Cem Concr Compos 34(1):86–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bertolini L (2008) Steel corrosion and service life of reinforced concrete structures. Struct Infrastruct Eng 4(2):123–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Birnin-Yauri UA, Glasser FP (1998) Friedel’s salt, Ca2Al(OH)6(Cl,OH)·2H2O: its solid solutions and their role in chloride binding. Cem Concr Res 28(12):1713–1723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Brown P, Bothe J Jr (2004) The system CaO–Al2O3–CaCl2–H2O at 23 ± 2°C and the mechanisms of chloride binding in concrete. Cem Concr Res 34(9):1549–1553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Carde C, François R (1997) Effect of the leaching of calcium hydroxide from cement paste on mechanical and physical properties. Cem Concr Res 27(4):539–550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Castro J, Bentz D, Weiss J (2011) Effect of sample conditioning on the water absorption of concrete. Cem Concr Compos 33(8):805–813

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Chahal N, Siddique R, Rajor A (2012) Influence of bacteria on the compressive strength, water absorption and rapid chloride permeability of concrete incorporating silica fume. Constr Build Mater 37:645–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chen W, Liu J, Brue F, Skoczylas F, Davy C, Bourbon X, Talandier J (2012) Water retention and gas relative permeability of two industrial concretes. Cem Concr Res 42(7):1001–1013

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Chia K, Zhang M (2002) Water permeability and chloride penetrability of high-strength lightweight aggregate concrete. Cem Concr Res 32(4):639–645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Chidiac SE, Panesar DK, Zibara H (2012) The effect of short duration NaCl exposure on the surface pore structure of concrete containing GGBFS. Mater Struct 45(8):1245–1258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Deby F, Carcassès M, Sellier A (2009) Probabilistic approach for durability design of reinforced concrete in marine environment. Cem Concr Res 39(5):466–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Diamond S (2000) Mercury porosimetry: an inappropriate method for the measurement of pore size distributions in cement-based materials. Cem Concr Res 30(10):1517–1525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Fang C, Lundgern K, Plos M, Gylltoft K (2006) Bond behavior of corroded reinforcing steel bars in concrete. Cem Concr Res 36(10):1931–1938

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Faucon P, Le Bescop P, Adenot F, Bonville P, Jacquinot JF, Pineau F, Felix B (1996) Leaching of cement: study of the surface layer. Cem Concr Res 26(11):1707–1715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Fraay AL, Bijen JM, de Haan YM (1989) The reaction of fly ash in concrete: a critical examination. Cem Concr Res 19(2):235–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Haga K, Shibata M, Hironaga M, Tanaka S, Nagasaki S (2005) Change in pore structure and composition of hardened cement paste during the process of dissolution. Cem Concr Res 35(5):943–950

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Hong K, Hooton RD (2000) Effects of fresh water exposure on chloride contaminated concrete. Cem Concr Res 30(8):1199–1207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Huang B, Qian C (2011) Experiment study of chemo-mechanical coupling behavior of leached concrete. Constr Build Mater 25(5):2649–2654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lam L, Wong Y, Poon C (2000) Degree of hydration and gel/space ratio of high-volume fly ash/cement systems. Cem Concr Res 30(5):747–756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Li W, Pour-Ghaz M, Castro J, Weiss J (2012) Water absorption and critical degree of saturation relating to freeze–thaw damage in concrete pavement joints. J Mater Civil Eng 24(3):299–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Luo R, Cai Y, Wang C, Huang X (2003) Study of chloride binding and diffusion in GGBS concrete. Cem Concr Res 33(1):1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ma H (2013) Multi-scale modeling of the microstructure and transport properties of contemporary concrete. PhD thesis, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

  29. Ma H, Li Z (2014) A multi-aggregate approach for modeling the interfacial transition zone in concrete. ACI Mater J (accepted)

  30. Ma H, Li Z (2013) Realistic pore structure of Portland cement paste: experimental study and numerical simulation. Comput Concr 11(4):317–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Müllauer W, Beddoe RE, Heinz D (2012) Effect of carbonation, chloride and external sulphates on the leaching behaviour of major and trace elements from concrete. Cem Concr Compos 34(5):618–626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Narmluk M, Nawa T (2011) Effect of fly ash on the kinetics of Portland cement hydration at different curing temperatures. Cem Concr Res 41(6):579–589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Neville AM (1996) Properties of concrete, 4th and final ed. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  34. Park S, Kwon S, Jung S, Lee S (2012) Modeling of water permeability in early aged concrete with cracks based on micro pore structure. Constr Build Mater 27(1):597–604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Poyet S, Charles S, Honoré N, L’hostis V (2011) Assessment of the unsaturated water transport properties of an old concrete: determination of the pore-interaction factor. Cem Concr Res 41(10):1015–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Schwotzer M, Scherer T, Gerdes A (2010) Protective or damage promoting effect of calcium carbonate layers on the surface of cement based materials in aqueous environments. Cem Concr Res 40(9):1410–1418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Seleem H, Rashad A, El-Sabbagh B (2010) Durability and strength evaluation of high-performance concrete in marine structures. Constr Build Mater 24(6):878–884

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Shafei B, Alipour A, Shinozuka M (2012) Prediction of corrosion initiation in reinforced concrete members subjected to environmental stressors: a finite-element framework. Cem Concr Res 42(2):365–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Spragg RP, Castro J, Li W, Pour-Ghaz M, Huang P, Weiss J (2011) Wetting and drying of concrete using aqueous solutions containing deicing salts. Cem Concr Compos 33(5):535–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Talero R, Trusilewicz L (2012) Morphological differentiation and crystal growth form of Friedel’s salt originated from pozzolan and Portland cement. Ind Eng Chem Res 51(38):12517–12529

    Google Scholar 

  41. Thomas JJ, Chen JJ, Allen AJ, Jennings HM (2004) Effects of decalcification on the microstructure and surface area of cement and tricalcium silicate pastes. Cem Concr Res 34(12):2297–2307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Tuutti K (1982) Corrosion of steel in concrete, Report CBI 10/4/1982 (ISSN 0346–6906). Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute

Download references

Acknowledgments

The financial supports from National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB013604), National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (50925829), Natural Science Foundation of China (51108271), Natural Science Foundation for the Team Project of Guangdong Province (9351806001000001), Shenzhen city science and technology project (JC201005280569A), State Key Laboratory of High Performance Civil Engineering Materials (2010CEM016) and Ministry of Housing and Ural-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China (2010k419) are greatly acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

    Jun Liu, Feng Xing, Biqin Dong & Dong Pan

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

    Hongyan Ma

Authors
  1. Jun Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Feng Xing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Biqin Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hongyan Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dong Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Feng Xing or Hongyan Ma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, J., Xing, F., Dong, B. et al. Study on water sorptivity of the surface layer of concrete. Mater Struct 47, 1941–1951 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0162-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0162-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation