Investigation of erosive wear effect on concrete water structures: the case of Porsuk Dam, Turkey

Abstract

Water structures usually consist of concrete surfaces. The concrete surfaces are subjected to erosive wear under the flow of water containing suspended sediment in high concentrations. Such flow-induced erosion is a significant problem for ageing structures because it can shorten their service lives. In this study, Böhme, ASTM C 1138 and newly developed sand–water jet abrasion test methods were used to determine the abrasion behaviour of different concrete types. Various mineral additives, such as fly ash (FA) and ground blast furnace slag (GBFS) were used to improve the wear resistance of the concrete specimens. In the study, the spillway of the Porsuk dam, Turkey, was chosen as a case study. By taking the spillway concrete recipe of this dam as a reference, its abrasion resistance was analysed for different mineral-added concrete recipes. According to the results of the study, it was observed that mixtures using 10% FA and GBFS considerably improved the resistance to abrasion.