A virtual rapid chloride permeability test

Abstract

The rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), as it is commonly called, has been in existence for over 20 years and was standardized by ASTM over 15 years ago. The test is used extensively in the concrete industry for assessing concrete quality and is now being included in concrete specification documents. Because the underlying physics of the test are fairly well understood, it is possible to create a virtual test method that mimics the real world physical test. This paper presents a prototype virtual test method that includes prediction of the conductivity of the cementitious binder pore solution and the total charge passed during an ASTM C1202 RCPT. Potential applications of the virtual test method are first discussed. Then, the technical background used and the numerous assumptions employed in creating the prototype virtual test are outlined in detail. In addition, the computer implementation of the virtual test, as a set of HTML/JavaScript web documents, is presented. Validation against existing data sets is presented, with a generally reasonable agreement noted between the experimental and the virtual test results. Published by Elsevier Ltd.