Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 2(6), pp. 235 - 244
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020601

Alkali-Silica Reaction in a Form of Chemical Shrinkage

Kai-Wei Liu ^1,*, Anol Kanti Mukhopadhyay ^2
1 Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, 77843, Texas, United States
² Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, 77843, Texas, United States

ABSTRACT

The current approach of ASR testing and mitigating damaging ASR heavily depends on accelerated mortar-bar tests (AMBT) and concrete prism tests (CPT). Although these approaches have resulted significant advances in avoidance of ASR damage in concrete, it was found to have limitations and drawbacks. Therefore, there is a growing demand for an ASR test method to overcome the above issues. A chemical approach that simulates aggregate-pore solution reaction that exists in concrete has been proposed in this study while as-received aggregates were immersed in alkaline solution (i.e.,1N NaOH + Ca(OH)₂) and allowed to react at a relatively high temperature (i.e.,80℃). The approach measures solution volume change in a form of chemical shrinkage over time as the reaction between aggregates and solution proceed. Highly reactive borosilicate glass balls were tested first to validate the proposed approach before any aggregate testing. The tested aggregates were categorized based on the measured chemical shrinkage. The aggregates that are failed by AMBT but passed by CPT and vice versa were identified by this method, and an ASR mechanism in terms of chemical shrinkage was proposed. The results indicate that the proposed test measures solution volume contraction due to ASR and has the potential to predict aggregate alkali reactivity in a short period of time.

KEYWORDS
Alkali-Silica Reaction, Chemical Shrinkage, Solution Volume Contraction, ASR Mechanism

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Kai-Wei Liu , Anol Kanti Mukhopadhyay , "Alkali-Silica Reaction in a Form of Chemical Shrinkage," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 2, No. 6, pp. 235 - 244, 2014. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020601.

(b). APA Format:
Kai-Wei Liu , Anol Kanti Mukhopadhyay (2014). Alkali-Silica Reaction in a Form of Chemical Shrinkage. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2(6), 235 - 244. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2014.020601.