Effect of acid rain erosion on steel fiber reinforced concrete

Abstract

Acid rain can deteriorate the performance of reinforced concrete structure. Combined with the characteristics of acid rain in China, the properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to acid rain were studied. The effects of steel fiber content and pH value of acid rain on the mass loss, erosion depth, neutralization depth, and splitting tensile strength of tested concrete were investigated. The mercury intrusion pore (MIP) test was used to analyze the influence of steel fiber on the acid rain resistance of concrete matrix. The results show that the corrosion of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to acid rain results from the combined effect of H+ and SO4 2- in the acid rain, and steel fiber can improve the acid rain resistance of the tested concrete by improving the pore structure and enhancing the tie effect of the concrete matrix. The experiment further indicates that the optimum content of steel fiber is 1.5% compared to the various mixing proportion in this tests. The tested concrete mass loss and splitting tensile strength decrease followed by increasing as a function of corrosion time when the pH value of the simulation solution is 3 or 4, while they decrease continuously in the simulation solution at pH 2. Thanks to the tie effect of steel fiber, the spalling of concrete matrix is significantly improved, and the erosion depth and neutralization depth are less than those of conventional concrete.