Strength and durability of concrete in hot spring environments

Abstract

In this paper an experimental study of the influence of hot springs curing upon concrete properties was carried out. The primary variables of the investigation include water-to-binder ratio (W/B), pozzolanic material content and curing condition. Three types of hot springs, in the range 40-90oC, derived from different regions in Taiwan were adopted for laboratory testing of concrete curing. In addition, to compare with the laboratory results, compressive strength and durability of practical concrete were conducted in a tunnel construction site. The experimental results indicate that when concrete comprising pozzolanic materials was cured by a hot spring with high temperature, its compressive strength increased rapidly in the early ages due to high temperature and chloride ions. In the later ages, the trend of strength development decreased obviously and the strength was even lower than that of the standard cured one. The results of durability test show that concrete containing 30-40% Portland cement replacement by pozzolanic materials and with W/B lower than 0.5 was cured in a hot spring environment, then it had sufficient durability to prevent steel corrosion. Similar to the laboratory results, the cast-inplace concrete in a hot spring had a compressive strength growing rapidly at the earlier age and slowly at the later age. The results of electric resistance and permeability tests also show that concrete in a hot spring had higher durability than those cured in air. In addition, there was no neutralization reaction being observed after the 360-day neutralization test. This study demonstrates that the concrete with enough compressive strength and durability is suitable for the cast-in-place structure being used in hot spring areas.