Dual-scale study of pre-damage, water boundary conditions and frost interaction in concrete Show others and affiliations
2025 (English) In: Materials and Structures, ISSN 1359-5997, E-ISSN 1871-6873, Vol. 58, no 2, article id 74Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This study investigated the interactive effects of pre-damage, water boundary conditions, and internal frost damage on concrete at dual-scale. The pre-damage included pre-cracking, which has not been studied experimentally before, and pre-compressive damage. Concrete specimens underwent pre-damage and had varied water boundary conditions during Freeze-Thaw Cycles (FTC). At the macro-scale, wedge-splitting tests combined with Digital Image Correlation (DIC) were conducted to assess post-FTC strength and fracture behaviour. At the meso-scale, X-ray CT scanning was employed to identify internal crack patterns. Results reveal that at the macro-scale, significant interaction between pre-damage and frost damage reduced splitting tensile strength compared to the internal frost damage alone. Besides, increased water exposure during FTCs reduced both splitting tensile strength and compressive strength, with a less pronounced reduction in splitting tensile strength. It also led to a diffuse crack pattern and increased tensile ductility. At the meso-scale, specimens subjected to the interactive effects of pre-damage and internal frost damage exhibited cracks along aggregate-cement interfaces and within the cement paste. Reference specimens displayed no internal cracks, while specimens exposed to only FTCs showed only cracks along aggregate-cement interfaces. Full submersion of specimens during FTCs induced more internal cracks than solely water on top. These findings on the interactions between pre-damage, water boundary conditions, and internal frost damage offer insight into the causes of frost damage, vital for the design and assessment of concrete structures in frost-prone environments. Furthermore, the results of these dual-scale tests can be used as a test case for the development of upscaling numerical models describing heat transfer and frost degradation in concrete.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages Springer, 2025. Vol. 58, no 2, article id 74
Keywords [en]
Concrete, Freeze-thaw cycle, Internal frost damage, Pre-damage, Water boundary condition
National Category
Building Technologies
Identifiers URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-74564 DOI: 10.1617/s11527-025-02599-9 ISI: 001427053600001 Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85218407887 OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-74564 DiVA, id: diva2:1942403
2025-03-052025-03-052025-03-05 Bibliographically approved