Measurement of alkali–silica reaction progression by ultrasonic waves attenuation

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Development of non-destructive methods, developed specifically for assessing the damage induced by alkali–silica reaction (ASR) in concrete structures, is needed in order to carry out a systematic evaluation of the concrete condition. The aim of this study is to monitor the evolution of the ASR-damage in laboratory with concrete samples with ultrasonic pulse velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves methods. For this study, results of both methods were compared with expansion and mass variation.One reactive concrete mixture was made with reactive aggregate, and one other mixture, incorporating non-reactive aggregate, was made as a control. Specimens were kept at 38 °C in a 1 mol l−1 NaOH solution to accelerate the reaction. Attenuation of transmitted ultrasonic waves appeared to be more appropriate for the evaluation of ASR-damage compared with pulse velocity. The attenuation of accelerated reactive concrete cylinders increased by 90% after 1 year while it increased by 40% for the non-reactive concrete used as a control. Major part of the attenuation increase in the non-reactive concrete is due to liquid absorption.This work suggests that in-situ non-destructive techniques based on ultrasonic wave attenuation, like ultrasonic attenuation tomography, should be developed in order to evaluate the development of ASR in concrete structures. Petrographic examination confirmed that damage to concrete is associated with ASR.