Fundamental investigations on concrete wear by high velocity water flow

Abstract

A primary concern in the design of marine constructions is the wear and erosion of concrete structures by high velocity water flow. The mechanism of concrete failure for this type of loading is not well understood. By using high velocity water jets to simulate the loading, the authors observed the general behaviour of concrete during failure and investigated the influence of water velocity and exposure time. The results show that the interface between hardened cement paste and aggregate grains plays the main role in the fracture process. It is found that a critical threshold velocity w c and a critical threshold exposure time t c must be achieved in order to induce the erosion process. A mathematical relation between both parameters and the erosion intensity is found through mass removal measurements.