The relationship between pore structure and strength of aeolian sand concrete under low temperature

Abstract

To examine the relationship between microscopic parameters and compressive strength of aeolian sand concrete (ASC) at low temperatures, the compressive strength of ASC at different temperatures is predicted by factors such as the pore structure parameters and the ambient temperature. The experiments used 100 % replacement of river sand (RS) with aeolian sand (AS) to prepare fully ASC, and regular concrete with the same water-cement ratio as the control group. The experiment used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology and grey correlation analysis method to analyze the microscopic parameters and compressive strength of concrete specimens with three curing ages of 7d, 28d, and 60d at temperatures of 20 °C, 0 °C, −5 °C, −10 °C, −15 °C, and −20 °C. It was shown that the agglomeration between the fine particles during the mixing process results in a large number of pores in the interior of the ASC, resulting in a larger porosity compared to ordinary concrete. As a result, its compressive strength was lower than that of ordinary concrete, and the loose and porous internal structure provides room for the filling of more ice crystals. Therefore, the increase in compressive strength of ASC at different curing ages in an environment of −20 °C was greater than that of ordinary concrete. Among them, at-20 °C, the compressive strength of ASC with curing ages of 7d, 28d and 60d increased by 6.31 %, 3.59 % and 3.97 % respectively compared with ordinary concrete. Finally, a predictive model between parameters such as temperature, porosity, mean pore size distribution and gel content and compressive strength was developed, which was highly accurate.