Mock-up experiments on permeability measurement of concrete and construction joints for air tightness assessment

Abstract

Concrete permeability is subject to various test conditions, and on-site measurement at in situ structural scale is much preferable. This paper presents an experimental study to measure the permeability of concrete linings and their construction (placing) joints between old and new concretes using a novel in situ permeability testing system. Using the developed system, we performed in situ scale permeability tests of rectangular concrete specimens with dimensions of 500 × 500 × 2800 mm3, within which the construction joints were artificially placed. From this model experiment, we verified an effective applicability of the system to both low permeability concrete matrices and highly permeable construction joints thanks to its selective capability of gas or water permeability test, depending on the air/water tightness of tested materials. The experimental results presented in this paper also showed that the intrinsic permeability of the construction joint could be higher than that of the concrete matrices by orders of magnitude (101–104 times), but it could be reduced to as low as those of the concrete matrix by pasting a bonding agent on the interfacing surfaces. As a result of geomechanical monitoring during the experiment, the opening displacement of construction joints with relatively higher stiffness values showed a reversible deformation when the gas injection pressure was unloaded, which is much preferable in a storage performance perspective of underground lined rock caverns.