Evaluation of concrete deterioration under simulated acid rain environment

Abstract

Abstract Acid rain is identified as one of the most serious environmental problems nowadays and it is mainly a mixture of sulfuric and nitric acids. Deterioration of concrete structures exposed to aggressive acid rain attack is a key durability issue that affects the performance and maintenance costs of vital civil infrastructures. The motivation for understanding the acid rain corrosion process is high because of the early age deterioration of many concrete structures exposed to acid rain. The main objective of this study was to investigate the durability of concrete specimens with different supplementary cementitious materials, such as fly ash, zeolite and blast furnace slag against acid rain attack. Experiments of acid rain simulation influence on the composites were carried out for 7 weeks and parameters like visual changes, absorbability and leachability of calcium and silicon ions were evaluated. The increase in absorbability was detected for all samples while the sample with blast furnace slag was identified to be the most durable in this point of view. The most durable sample considering leached-out calcium and silicon ions was found to be sample with fly ash.