A 3D petrographic analysis for concrete freeze-thaw protection. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Song, Yu; Damiani, Robbie M.; Shen, Chuanyue; Castaneda, Daniel I.; Lange, David A.
• Is Part Of: Cement and concrete research. Volume 128(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Petrography -- Freeze-thaw -- Spacing factor -- Image analysis -- Unfolding -- Air void analysis -- 3D modeling -- PPV analysis -- Paste protection; Cement -- Periodicals; Cement -- Research -- Periodicals; Concrete -- Periodicals; Concrete -- Research -- Periodicals; Ciment -- Périodiques; Béton -- Périodiques; Cement; Concrete; Periodicals; 620.135
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconres.2019.105952
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-8846

Abstract

Abstract: Petrographic analysis is routinely implemented to measure air void parameters for predicting freeze-thaw durability of concrete. The 1D or 2D measurements obtained from polished concrete sections are used to infer 3D protection of the paste. Since an arbitrary point in a section view may be partially protected by air voids that are not intersected, a stereological model is proposed to consider both intersected and un-intersected voids. The model is tested with a group of concrete mixtures with varying air entrainment, mix proportion, and aggregate type. As compared with the 2D analysis, this 3D analysis indicates a higher percent of cement paste being protected. When equating the protection range to Powers' spacing factor, it is found that roughly 98% of paste is protected in 3D. Findings in this study also align with results obtained by other authors using numerical simulation and computed tomography. This model offers a realistic concrete freeze-thaw assessment.