Effects of Relative Humidity and Temperature on the Transport of Chloride in the Concrete

Effects of Relative Humidity and Temperature on the Transport of Chloride in the Concrete

To investigate the role of RH and temperature on the transport of chloride in the concrete, two groups of specimens were configured. For both groups, mix design was based on w/c=0.45, $400kg/m^3$ cement, $794kg/m^3$ fine aggregate and $858kg/m^3$ coarse aggregate. After specimen fabrication these were exposed to four different RH (35, 55, 75 and $95\%$ RH) and temperature (0, 20, 30 and $40^{\circ}C$) conditions. After 3 and 6 months $15\%$ NaCl exposure 5mm cores were taken. These cores were sliced and individual cores were ground to powder. In addition, to evaluate the effect of temperature on the chloride binding some powder samples were leached in the each of four temperature chambers. Chloride titration fur these was performed using FDOT acid titration method. Based upon the resultant data conclusions were reached regarding that 1) effective diffusion coefficient, $D_e$, increased with increasing exposure RH, suggesting that the size and number of water paths increased with elevated moisture content in the specimens, 2) $D_e$ increased with increasing temperature in the range of 0 to $40^{\circ}C$ possibly by elevated thermal activation of chloride ions and reduced chloride binding at higher temperature, 3) water soluble chloride concentration, $[Cl^-]_s$, increased with increasing temperature, and 4) chloride concentration profile for initially dry concrete specimens was higher than for the initially wet ones indicating pronounced capillary suction (sorption) occurred for the dry concrete specimens.