Self-desiccation and self-desiccation shrinkage of silica fume-cement pastes

Self-desiccation is one common phenomenon of high-performance cementitious materials, which are characterized by low water/binder (w/b) ratio and high mineral admixture incorporation. As a consequence, large magnitude of self-desiccation shrinkage, a key factor which influences the cracking behavior of concrete, develops rapidly in the cement matrix due to the internal relative humidity (RH) decrease and capillary pressure induced by self-desiccation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the behavior of self-desiccation and self-desiccation shrinkage in silica fume (SF) blended cement pasts with low w/b ratio of 0.25. The self-desiccation process was revealed by the measurement of internal RH of the sealed cement pastes with conventional method of hygrometer. The shrinkage of the sealed cement pastes was measured by the corrugated tube method, permitting measurements to start at early age. Experimental results revealed that SF blending leads to a higher internal RH, indicating slower self-desiccation process, compared with pure cement paste. Consequently, less self-desiccation shrinkage was observed in SF blended cement pastes than that in pure cement paste

Durability and service life of concrete repairs in the presence of cracks

Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) has been proposed to be one of the most promising repair materials due to its unique high ductility and tight crack width control. In concrete repairs, the shrinkage of repair materials is restrained by concrete substrate, and the repair material therefore often cracks. When ECC is used as repair material, the crack width is much smaller compared to normal concrete. The tight crack width of ECC retards the penetration of water and harmful substances and thus enhances the durability of concrete repairs. This paper is aimed to explore the chloride penetration in cracked ECC repairs and to assess the service life of the repair systems. Rapid chloride migration tests was conducted to investigate the chloride penetration profile. Based on the experimental results, the service life of repair systems was evaluated

Service life design for infrastructure

In the past few years more and more attention has been devoted to the safety and serviceability as well as durability and sustainability of structures. Meanwhile there are intensive research and development activities going on, e.g. on materials properties, deterioration mechanisms, geometric- and structural design, execution aspect and maintenance. Furthermore, codes and standards on service life design are being discussed and partially established world wide. It is now time to present a focused picture of the current status and future trends in this field, including theory, practice and education. The aim of the symposium is to provide a forum to researchers and practitioners for presenting the newest findings and to discuss new ideas on service life design and serviceability of infrastructural Works, effectiveness of service life design methods and experiences from the practice

Multi-scale simulation of capillary pores and gel pores in Portland cement paste

The microstructures of Portland cement paste (water to cement ratio is 0.4, curing time is from 1 day to 28 days) are simulated based on the numerical cement hydration model, HUMOSTRUC3D (van Breugel, 1991; Koenders, 1997; Ye, 2003). The nanostructures of inner and outer C-S-H are simulated by the packing of monosized (5 nm) spheres. The pore structures (capillary pores and gel pores) of Portland cement paste are established by upgrading the simulated nanostructures of C-S-H to the simulated microstructures of Portland cement paste. The pore size distribution of Portland cement paste is simulated by using the image segmentation method (Shapiro and Stockman, 2001) to analyse the simulated pore structures of Portland cement paste. The simulation results indicate that the pore size distribution of the simulated capillary pores of Portland cement paste at the age of 1 day to 28 days is in a good agreement with the pore size distribution determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The pore size distribution of the simulated gel pores of Portland cement paste (interlayer gel pores of outer C-S-H and gel pores of inner C-S-H are not included) is validated by the pore size distribution obtained by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). The pores with pore size of 20 nm to 100 nm occupy very small volume fraction in the simulated Portland cement paste at each curing time (0.69% to 1.38%). This is consistent with the experimental results obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

Formal Enforcement of Security Policies : An Algebraic Approach

La sécurité des systèmes d’information est l’une des préoccupations les plus importantes du domaine de la science informatique d’aujourd’hui. Les particuliers et les entreprises sont de plus en plus touchés par des failles de sécurité et des milliards de dollars ont été perdus en raison de cyberattaques. Cette thèse présente une approche formelle basée sur la réécriture de programmes permettant d’appliquer automatiquement des politiques de sécurité sur des programmes non sécuritaires. Pour un programme P et une politique de sécurité Q, nous générons un autre programme P’ qui respecte une politique de sécurité Q et qui se comporte comme P, sauf si la politique est sur le point d’être violée. L’approche présentée utilise l’algèbre [symbol] qui est une variante de [symbol] (Basic Process Algebra) étendue avec des variables, des environnements et des conditions pour formaliser et résoudre le problème. Le problème de trouver la version sécuritaire P’ à partir de P et de Q se transforme en un problème de résolution d’un système linéaire pour lequel nous savons déjà comment extraire la solution par un algorithme polynomial. Cette thèse présente progressivement notre approche en montrant comment la solution évolue lorsqu’on passe de l’algèbre de [symbol] à [symbol].The security of information systems is one of the most important preoccupations of today’s computer science field. Individuals and companies are more and more affected by security flaws and billions of dollars have been lost because of cyber-attacks. This thesis introduces a formal program-rewriting approach that can automatically enforce security policies on non-trusted programs. For a program P and a security policy Q, we generate another program P’ that respects the security policy Q and behaves like P except when the enforced security policy is about to be violated. The presented approach uses the [symbol] algebra that is a variant of the BPA (Basic Process Algebra) algebra extended with variables, environments and conditions to formalize and resolve the problem. The problem of computing the expected enforced program [symbol] is transformed to a problem of resolving a linear system for which we already know how to extract the solution by a polynomial algorithm. This thesis presents our approach progressively and shows how the solution evolves when we move from the [symbol] algebra to the [symbol] algebra

Effects of sodium ions on synthesized alkali silica reaction gels

The alkali-silica reaction (ASR), leading to serious structural degradation, is the chemical reaction between reactive silica presenting in aggregates and hydroxyl ions from cement paste or pore solution. Although the chemical mechanism of ASR attack has been well studied for years, the mechanism of micro scale ASR gel formation leading to macro scale expansion is still under debate. The present study aims to illustrate the performance of ASR gel by investigating the interaction between ASR gel and sodium ion from solution. In this study, ASR gels with different calcium silica (Ca/Si) ratios (0.1, 0.5, 1) are synthesized by mixing reagent Ca(OH)2 with silica fume in a sodium hydroxide solution for seven days. Afterwards, the synthesized ASR gel is immersed in sodium hydroxide solutions with different concentrations (0.1mol/L, 0.5mol/L, 1.0mol/L) for seven days. Chemical composition, structure and water content of the ASR gel before and after alkali exposure are studied by XRD, XRF and TGA. The results confirm that an ASR gel with a targeted Ca/Si ratio can be synthesized. In addition, XRD and TGA results show that part of the calcium in the ASR gel is exchanged by sodium, leading to a structural modification. In general, this study will give further comprehension of ASR gel performance under alkaline environment, and provide detailed data to investigate the interaction between ASR gel and calcium ions in an alkaline solution in the future

Autogenous shrinkage of zeolite cement pastes with low water-binder ratio

Self-desiccation is one common phenomenon of high-performance cementitious materials characterized by low water to cementitious material ratio (w/c). Autogenous shrinkage is closely related to the internal relative humidity (RH) drop and capillary pressure induced by self-desiccation in the cement pastes. However, there is debate about the determination of time-zero, the time at which autogenous shrinkage begins to develop. The objective of this study is to provide an accurate determination of time-zero based on the relationship between the internal RH and autogenous shrinkage of low w/c ratio cement pastes. And according to the time-zero, cement pastes blended with zeolite were prepared to investigate the potential of zeolite as internal curing agent. The autogenous shrinkage was conducted according to the standard method ASTM C1698. Internal RH was performed on the sealed cement pastes at very early age by conventional method of hygrometer. Setting time was determined by the Vicat needle apparatus according to the standard method ASTM C191. Experimental results revealed that no internal RH drop was observed around the final setting time determined by the Vicat method. Besides, a knee point was observed in the shrinkage curve at the time when the internal RH began to decrease. This is the so-called time-zero. And zeolite was found to be a potential internal curing agent according to the autogenous shrinkage tests measured from the new time-zero

Effects of chloride concentration on microstructure of cement pastes by AC impedance spectroscopy HU

Alternating current (AC) impedance spectroscopy has been applied in characterizing microstructural evolution and electrochemical properties of cement-based systems. In the present paper, an equivalent circuit model was proposed to study the influences of chloride binding on microstructure and solid-liquid interfacial properties of cement paste. Chloride concentration index of pore solution was measured to correlate to the parameters in equivalent circuit model corresponding to electrical double layer at solid-liquid interface. The results showed that the parameters of equivalent circuit model can properly indicate the microstructure and interfacial properties of cement paste. Resistance of continuous pores was gradually decreased with chloride concentration in soaking solution due to the higher conductivity of pore solution. The capacitance of electrical double layer was increased with chloride concentration in pore solution due to more content of chloride ions in electrical double layer. While the thickness of electrical double layer was decreased as chloride concentration increased, which is in agreement with mathematical calculation