The Gas-Permeability of High-Performance Concretes: Site and Laboratory Tests

By R. Torrent

Synopsis: The objective of this paper is to report test results of gaspermeability of high-performance concretes, measured on laboratory specimens and directly on site. The tests refer to three concretes used in two projects: a tunnel (50 MPa concrete) and a cable-stayed bridge, deck (50 MPa concrete) and pylon (75 MPa concrete). In particular, the investigation was focused on comparing the permeability of the "covercrete", measured on laboratory specimens, with that measured directly on the site concretes, i.e. subjected to strongly different placing, compaction and curing conditions. The air-permeability of the cover of the three concretes was measured with a non-destructive technique, which takes into account the effect of moisture. Cores were drilled from the same elements and the oxygen permeability measured on them. When core-drilling was not allowed, parallel tests were conducted on large cubes, site cured, cast with the same concrete mixture used for the actual construction. For the three structures investigated, the air-permeability of the site concrete was higher than that measured on the companion laboratory specimens. The largest difference was found for the 75 MPa-strength concrete; this difference is attributed to thermal cracking in the pylon, the centre of which exhibited 55C temperature rise. This indicates the risk of impairing the potential durability of HPC through inappropriate practices. The results presented show the importance of checking the quality of the concrete, not only on laboratory-prepared specimens, but also directly on site. Keywords: High-strength concrete; bridge; tunnel; gas-permeability; site tests; laboratory tests.
High-Performance Concrete., Performance & Quality of Concrete Structures, ACI SP-186, Paper 17, pp. 291-308, 1999.

R. Torrent The Gas-Permeability of HPC 1

Roberto Torrent is a Civil Engineer from the University of Buenos Aires and a Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. He is the Technical Director of the Portland Cement Institute of Argentina and has extensive experience in cement and concrete technology.

INTRODUCTION

There is a growing concern about the durability of reinforced concrete structures exposed to aggressive environments, as too many cases have shown service life below the expectancy of the owners and designers. High-Strength Concretes (HSC), due to their low w/c and reduced porosity and permeability, offer a solution for structures that will be exposed to severe environments. Their dense and compact microstructure, make them well suited to resist the ingress of aggressive gases and solutions and to hinder the movement of water, oxygen and ions, required for steel corrosion to take place. The approach followed in this paper is based on the concepts stated in the CEB-FIP Model Code (1), regarding the durability of concrete , which can be summarised as follows: Concrete permeability is an excellent measure for the resistance of concrete against the ingress of aggressive media and, thus, is a measure of its potential durability. The are, at present, no generally accepted methods for a rapid determination of concrete permeability. It is likely that such methods will become available in the future, allowing the classification of concrete on the basis of its permeability. Although concrete of a high strength class is, in most instances, more durable than concrete of a lower strength class, durability primarily depends on the properties of the surface layers of a concrete member (the covercrete)

Therefore, in this paper, the permeability of the "covercrete" to gases will be adopted as a criterion to evaluate the potential durability of concrete. The advent of new methods to measure the gas-permeability of the "covercrete", rapidly and reliably, both in the laboratory and on site, make that evaluation possible today.

R. Torrent The Gas-Permeability of HPC 2

A previous investigation (2), based exclusively on laboratory test results, showed that the gas-permeability of HPCs was one to two orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional concretes. HPCs also performed very well in terms of capillary water suction, frost-salt resistance, etc. There are numerous contributions, based on laboratory results, confirming the potential of HSCs as highly durable material; however, the amount of information collected directly from real structures is still relatively scarce. The results reported in this paper were obtained within the frame of a large research project, led by the author, conducted at "Holderbank" Management and Consulting, Ltd. The project, titled "Methods to Characterise the Quality of the Concrete Cover on Site", was funded by the Swiss Federal Bureau for Roads. The project was divided into two parts: the first part dealt with the evaluation and trial in the laboratory of test methods potentially capable of measuring the quality of the "covercrete" (3). The second part consisted in the application of the best methods, selected in Part I, to site concretes (4).

OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper is to report test results of gas-permeability of high-performance concretes, measured on laboratory specimens and directly on site. The tests refer to three concretes used in two projects: a tunnel and a cable-stayed bridge (deck and pylon). In particular, the investigation was focused on comparing the permeability of the "covercrete", measured on laboratory specimens, with that measured directly on the site concretes, i.e. subjected to strongly different placing, compaction and curing conditions.

METHODS TO MEASURE THE PERMEABILITY OF THE 'COVERCRETE' Many test methods have been proposed to evaluate the permeability of concrete, both to gases and liquids, in the laboratory and on site, (3,5,6). Gas-permeability has some advantages with respect to waterpermeability, because tests are faster and the characteristics of the concrete are not altered, as often happens when the material is in contact with water for relatively long periods. After actual testing of many of the methods (3), the following two were adopted as the more suitable, one for laboratory and the other for site application (4).

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Laboratory Method: O2 Permeability, Cembureau Method The laboratory method adopted to measure the quality of the 'covercrete' was the Cembureau Method for O2 Permeability (7). This is a reliable, accurate and reproducible test method with good chances to be standardised in the future. It is based, see Fig. 1, on placing a sample (in our case 150x50 mm drilled cores) in a cell, where the specimen is sealed by means of a pressurised pneumatic ring. Oxygen under pressure is applied at one end of the specimen and the amount of gas passing through it is measured at the other end by means of a bubble flow meter, once a steady flow has been reached (about 30 min). Thus, knowing the applied pressure, the rate of gas flow and the geometry, the coefficient of permeability can be calculated by means of Poiseuille Law. A single test result corresponds to the average of the values measured at relative pressures of 1.0 and 2.5 bar. As the cores are preconditioned before testing (oven-dried at 50C for 6 days plus 1 day cooled in a desiccator), and the testing conditions carefully controlled, this method can be regarded as a Laboratory Reference Method. The result of this test is the coefficient of permeability to oxygen (kO [m]). Note: the coefficient of permeability k expressed in m constitutes a basic property of the material, theoretically independent of the fluid used for its determination. The better known water permeability kW [m/s] is an engineering parameter.

Site and Laboratory Method: Air Permeability, "Torrent Method" The main features of the so-called "Torrent Permeability Tester" method (8), are a two-chamber vacuum cell and a regulator that balances the pressure in the inner (measuring) chamber and in the outer (guard-ring) chamber (see Fig. 2). The operation is as follows: the cell is placed on the concrete surface and a vacuum is produced with the pump. Due to the external atmospheric pressure and the rubber rings the cell is pressed against the surface and thus both chambers are sealed. Once a certain vacuum has been established, the blue stop-cock is closed, insulating the inner chamber from the pump, and the rate at which the pressure raises in the inner chamber is recorded; this rate is related to the permeability of the underlying concrete. The design of the apparatus,

R. Torrent The Gas-Permeability of HPC 4

basically the guard-ring and the pressure regulator, ensures a unidirectional air flow into the inner chamber. This gives stability and repeatability to the readings, and makes it possible to calculate the coefficient of permeability (kTm [m]), on the basis of a theoretical model (4). The method is completely non-destructive and suitable for both laboratory and site applications. A commercial version exists, equipped with a microprocessor that calculates and displays the kTm value immediately after the termination of the test (which takes between 3 to 12 min, for high- and low-permeability concrete, respectively) and stores the data of up to 300 tests. When the concrete is moist, the values of gas-permeability are significantly lower than when it is dry, see Chapter 4 of (6), a fact that can distort the evaluation of the quality of the covercrete, particularly when it is performed in situ. To neutralise the influence of moisture, a combined method has been conceived, measuring the electrical resistivity, ER, of the covercrete as a complement to the determination of the air-permeability. ER is measured by the well-known 4-electrode method (Wenner Method), which comes as an accessory to the commercial equipment to measure kTm, mentioned above. The ER value is used to correct the measured value of airpermeability. The corrected air-permeability is taken as the highest of the two following values: kT = kTm kT = 3.5 * kTm0.57 / ER (1) (2)

where kTm is the measured value of air-permeability, ER the electrical resistivity and kT the corrected value of air-permeability. In eq. (2), kTm and kT are expressed in [10-16 m] and ER in [kohm.cm]. The concept behind this correction is that a low quality concrete, but dry, will have a high permeability (high kTm) and a low electrical resistivity (low ER). Then, the application of eq. (2) will yield a high kT value. If the same bad concrete is moist, both its measured airpermeability (kTm) and its resistivity (ER) will decrease; the application of eq. (2) will compensate the effect of moisture and still yield a high kT value.

R. Torrent The Gas-Permeability of HPC 5

The kT values shown in this paper are already the corrected ones.

COVERCRETE QUALITY INDEX Based on a large number of tests it was possible to develop a classification of the quality of the covercrete, in terms of values of kT and kO (4,9), as shown in Table I. The classification is based on a logarithmic scale of kT and kO, because it was shown (4,9) that durability-related phenomena such as carbonation depth, rate of capillary suction, and penetration of chlorides are proportional to the logarithm of the gas-permeability of the covercrete. As a reference, high-strength concretes (cube strength beyond, say, 60-70 MPa) are expected to fall in class 1, i.e. excellent quality, if properly placed, compacted and cured.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JOBS AND THE CONCRETES INVESTIGATED Bzberg Tunnel The Bzberg Tunnel is a twin tunnel, 3.5 km long, carrying two lanes in each direction, built as part of Motorway N3, linking the Swiss cities of Zrich and Basel. The load of the vehicles is supported by a reinforced concrete deck which was the object of the investigation.

Rheinbrcke in Schaffhausen This a cable-stayed bridge over the Rhine River, in the Swiss Canton of Schaffhausen, consisting of a single pylon and a deck supported from the pylon by means of stay cables. Two reinforced concrete elements of the bridge were investigated, namely the pylon and the deck.

Basic Characteristics of the Concretes Investigated

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The three concretes investigated had the basic characteristics shown in Table II. The top part of the Table corresponds to the nominal composition of the concrete mixtures, whilst the bottom part presents actual properties measured during the execution of the investigation in the field. All three concretes were specified as frost-salt resistant and with aggregate of 32 mm maximum size. The two decks were built using ordinary portland cements (from different sources) whilst the pylon was built using a high-strength cement containing 7.5 - 8 % of silica fume. The levels of strength and the additional durability requirements of these concretes correspond to the so-called high-performance concretes; this is particularly true for the concrete of the pylon, which belongs also to the category of High-Strength Concrete.

DURABILITY-RELATED MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

Bzberg Tunnel Four blocks (each 12.5 m long) of the tunnel deck were selected for the investigation. On these 4 blocks, 10 areas were chosen, corresponding to 10 different ready-mixed concrete deliveries, where the measurements were carried out. During construction, samples were taken from the 10 deliveries and the zone of the deck where the sampled concrete was placed was carefully identified. Each delivery was tested for slump, DIN compacting factor, unit weight, air content and temperature. Prismatic specimens (120x120x360 mm) were cast to measure the compressive strength at 28 days on 120 mm equivalent cubes, as well as slabs (250x360x120 mm) for the permeability measurements. The specimens for strength were cured 28 days in the moist room (20C, 95% r.h.), whilst the slabs were cured 7 days in the moist room and 21 days in the dry room (20C, 50% r.h.). At 28 days, non-destructive measurements of kTm and ER were conducted on the top, trowelled, side of the laboratory slabs of the ten deliveries. Then, two 150x50 mm cores were obtained from the slabs, by drilling and cutting, representing the top, trowelled covercrete. After the indicated preconditioning, the Oxygen Permeability (kO) was measured on those disks.

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At 28 1 days a similar procedure was followed in the field, whereby the site concrete of 6 areas corresponding to 6 out of the 10 deliveries was investigated. First, kTm and ER were measured on three positions within each area on the top surface of the deck, and then, cores 150x50 mm were obtained by drilling and cutting from the same positions where the non-destructive tests were applied (cores were drilled only in 4 out of the 6 areas). The value of kO was determined on these cores.
B B

The main results obtained are shown in Table III. Each value corresponds to the mean of two or three individual tests.

Schaffhausen Bridge
U

In this case a slightly different procedure had to be adopted due to the fact that the owner forbade any core drilling directly from the site concrete. It was then decided to carry out an intensive non-destructive inspection of the site concrete by means of kT and to have, as backup, reference values of kO obtained from large scale, 1m cubes. These cubes were cast with the same concrete used in the job and cured in a similar manner as the real structure; the cubes were also tested for kT. For this backup, two batches of each class of concrete (Deck and Pylon) were sampled. With each sample, two laboratory slabs and one cube of 1 m side were cast. The location in the structure where the concrete was placed was carefully identified. Thermocouples were placed at the centre of the cubes and of the corresponding section of the pylon, to record the temperature evolution in the elements. At 28 1 days, kT was measured on the prisms, the cubes and the actual structural element (deck or pylon). After that, cores were drilled from the slabs and the cubes, to measure kO. Table IV presents the average values of kT and kO, obtained on the slabs, the cubes and the site concrete for both structural elements.

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS Consistency of the Results Obtained on Laboratory Slabs

U

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First of all, it is interesting to check whether the results obtained in these two projects are consistent to those obtained previously in the laboratory (9). Figs. 3 and 4 show how well the results obtained on the three site concretes investigated, measured on specimens, prepared, cured and tested under laboratory conditions, fit to previous correlations obtained on laboratory concretes. Fig. 3 shows that the values of kO measured on the slabs correspond very well to the values expected, for the level of strength of the three concretes investigated. Fig. 4 shows that the values of kT and kO obtained are consistent with the previous results. The two values indicated in the graph for each site concrete correspond: one to the values measured on the laboratory slabs and the other to those measured on the structure, in the case of the tunnel, or on the large size cubes, in the case of the bridge.

Sensitivity of Permeability Measurements Table III shows that the quality of the concrete delivered to Bzberg Tunnel was very uniform, when judged by the conventional compression test, with a standard deviation for strength of 2.0 MPa and a coefficient of variation of only 4 %. On the other hand, the values of KT and kO, measured on the same concrete deliveries, show a considerably higher scatter. It must be stated that this scatter is not due to possible shortcomings in both test methods, but to the fact that the gas-permeability of concrete is an extremely sensitive property. As shown in Fig. 4, raising the strength of concrete from 20 to 90 MPa means a 100-fold reduction in oxygen permeability. Indeed, the gas-permeability of the "covercrete" is strongly influenced by relatively minor, localised, changes in composition, compaction, finishing, curing, microcracking, etc., changes that have only a slight effect on the compressive strength, measured on the bulk of the concrete. Actually, kT is even more sensitive than kO in that respect. Experimental results with kT and kO, made independently at the Instituto Eduardo Torroja in Spain, confirmed the validity of the previous statements (10).

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Site Concrete vs. Laboratory Specimens Tables III and IV reveal the fact that, generally speaking, the permeabilities measured on the site concrete, and on the large cubes in the case of the bridge, are consistently higher than those measured on the slabs, prepared and cured under laboratory conditions. Fig. 5 shows the difference in gas-permeability, measured in the laboratory and on site, for the 6 concrete deliveries investigated in the field at Bzberg Tunnel. The bars at the left hand side compare the kT values measured directly on the laboratory slabs and on the deck, whilst those at the right-hand side compare the kO values measured on cores drilled from the laboratory slabs and from the deck. Fig. 5 shows that the gas-permeability measured on site was systematically higher for all 6 deliveries investigated, both for the kT and kO measurements. As an average, the kT values measured on site were some 80% higher than those measured on the laboratory cured slabs and kO some 50% higher. Fig. 6 shows similar results but, this time, for the Bridge. In the figure, three values of kT are compared, those measured on the laboratory cured slabs, on the site cured cubes, and directly on the structures. For kO, due to the impossibility of drilling cores from the structure, only the first two are compared. The same pattern seen for the Tunnel is found again in the Bridge, both for the deck and for the pylon. Only that this time the effect of going from the laboratory slabs to the structure is much stronger. In the deck, the values of kT measured on site were about 4 times higher those measured on the slabs and in the case of the pylon that ratio reached a value of 17 (1700%). Fig. 7 shows a comparison of the average kT values, for laboratory slabs and for the site concrete, for the three structures investigated, but plotted on a logarithmic scale to make more evident the stronger difference found in the bridge and, in particular, in the pylon. The Covercrete Quality Indices presented in Table I are also indicated; it can be seen that the only concrete that presents the same class for the slab and the site concrete is the tunnel deck, indicating reasonably good practices, probably favoured by the milder and more uniform thermal conditions prevailing inside the tunnel . On the other hand, in the case of the bridge, the site concrete of both the deck and the pylon retrograded one class. It has to be borne in mind that the tests on the bridge were done in winter with mean temperatures near 0C at the jobsite.

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One possible reason for the strong increase in permeability of the site concrete of the pylon, compared to the permeability of the companion laboratory slabs may lie on the formation of microcracks in the covercrete, due to thermal stresses. Fig. 8 presents the temperature evolution measured in the centre of the pylon and in the centre of the 1 m cubes, showing that strong thermal gradients existed in the thick structural element. The existence of microcracks was later confirmed by other means and required a sealing treatment of the pylon. It is interesting to note, however, that despite the strong increase in its permeability, the concrete at the pylon still outperforms that of the other two structural elements and rate well when compared with their corresponding laboratory slabs (Fig. 7).

CONCLUSIONS The results presented in this paper confirm that high-performance concretes, when properly processed, have a very low permeability and therefore a high potential durability. The 50 MPa cube strength concretes presented covercretes that rated as very good according to the proposed classification, whilst the concrete of 75 MPa rated as excellent, when tested on laboratory cured slabs. In all cases, part of that potential durability was lost during processing the concrete under the actual jobsite conditions. The loss of potential durability was stronger in the case of the bridge than in the tunnel, due to the more severe conditions prevailing in the former. The results presented show the importance of checking the quality of the concrete, not only on laboratory-prepared specimens, but also directly on site. The non-destructive measurement of the permeability to air of the covercrete, is a suitable means to that end. It allows a rapid and reliable comparison between specimens and site concrete. The measurement of the oxygen permeability, on cores drilled directly from the structure or from mock elements, constitutes a good reference method to back the results of in situ air-permeability.

REFERENCES

R. Torrent The Gas-Permeability of HPC 11

(1)

CEB-FIP MODEL CODE 1990, Final Draft, Section d.5.3: "Classification by Durability", CEB Bulletin d'Information N 205, Lausanne, July 1991. Torrent, R. and Gebauer, J., Durability Aspects of HighStrength Concretes, Joint International Ready Mixed Concrete Congress, Madrid, June 23-26, 1992, paper XIII/A-5, 16 p. Torrent, R. and Ebensperger, L.: "Methoden zur Messung und Beurteilung der Kennwerte des Ueberdeckungsbetons auf der Baustelle - Teil 1", Report N 506, Office Fdral des Routes, Zrich, Januar 1993, 119 p. Torrent, R. and Frenzer, G. "Methoden zur Messung und Beurteilung der Kennwerte des Ueberdeckungsbetons auf der Baustelle - Teil 2", Report N 516, Office Fdral des Routes, Zrich, Oktober 1995, 106 p. "Permeability Testing of Site Concrete - a Review of Methods and Experience", Concrete Society Techn. Report No. 31, London, 1987, 95p. Hilsdorf, H. and Kropp, J. (Eds.): Performance Criteria for Concrete Durability, Chapman & Hall, 1995, 336 p. Kollek, J.J., "The Determination of the Permeability of Concrete to Oxygen by the Cembureau Method - a Recommendation", Mater. & Struct., v.22, n. 129, 1989, pp. 225-230. Torrent, R. "A Two-chamber Vacuum Cell for Measuring the Coefficient of Air-permeability of the Concrete Cover on Site", Materials & Structures, v. 25, n.150, 1992, pp. 358-365. Torrent, R. and Frenzer, G., An Innovative Approach to the Durability of Concrete Structures, Concrete 95, FIP Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 4-7 Sept., 1995, Vol. I, pp. 405-412. Andrade C. and Torrent, R., Joint Report on the Results of the Air-permeability Tests (Torrent Method) Contribution to the Editorial Groups Work, RILEM TC 116-PCD, Nov.1997, 12 p.

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

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Table I - Proposed Classification of Covercrete Quality

CQI 1 2 3 4 5

kO [10-16 m] < 0.1 0.1 - 0.5 0.5 - 2.5 2.5 - 12.5 > 12.5

kT [10-16 m] < 0.01 0.01 - 0.1 0.1 - 1 1 - 10 > 10

Quality Excellent Very Good Medium Poor Very Poor

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Table II - Main Characteristics of the Concretes Investigated Bzberg Tunnel Deck Ordinary Portland (CEM I 42.5) 325 kg/m3 0.45 1.2 % 0.3 % 2.7 % 45 mm 1.25 2410 kg/m3 50.5 MPa Schaffhausen Bridge Deck Pylon Ordinary Portland High-Strength (CEM I 42.5) (CEM II/A-D 52.5) 325 kg/m3 325 kg/m3 0.46 0.45 1.2 % 1.8 % 0.3 % 0.3 % 3.8 % --1.15 2420 kg/m3 50.0 MPa 2.2 % --1.10 2457 kg/m3 75.5 MPa

Cement Type Cement Content w/c Ratio HRWR AEA Air Content Slump DIN Compacting Factor Unit Weight Mean Cube Strength at 28 days

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Table III - Properties of the Concrete for Bzberg Tunnel, measured in the laboratory and on site Concrete Delivery No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean Std. Dev. C.o.V. (%) Laboratory fc kT (MPa) (10-16 m) 46.4 0.042 48.2 0.027 50.1 0.109 50.3 0.037 50.5 0.083 51.8 0.041 50.7 0.017 51.3 0.081 52.4 0.016 53.0 0.030 50.5 0.048 2.0 0.032 4.0 66.7 On Site kO (10-16 m) 0.185 0.119 0.229 0.177 0.142 0.173 0.161 0.357 0.156 0.126 0.183 0.069 37.7 kT (10-16 m) ------0.133 0.154 --0.066 0.111 0.019 0.045 0.088 0.053 60.2 kO (10-16 m) ------0.374 0.321 --0.260 --0.161 --0.279 0.091 32.6

Table IV - Durability-related Properties of the Concretes for Schaffhausen Bridge, measured on the Laboratory Slabs, on the Cubes and on the Structure Deck kT (10-16m) 0.046 0.076 0.204 kO (10-16m) 0.172 0.230 --Pylon kT (10-16m) 0.003 0.024 0.051 kO (10-16m) 0.071 0.125 ---

Slabs 1m Cubes Structure

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2,5

Pressure 1,0 Regulator Druckregler

Manometer Druckmesser Bubble

Q
Specimen Sauerstoff- Betonprobe Oxygen in Cell Flasche = 150 Bottle o =mm h 50
mm

DurchflussFlowmeter

messer

Vacuum Pump Red Cock Pressure Regulator (pi=pe)

pe pi

Blue Cock

Microprocessor & Data-logger

1 2 1 : to PC or Printer 2 : Wenner input

2-Chamber Cell i e Rubber Rings Concrete

i : inner chamber e : outer chamber

Fig. 1: A sketch of the Cembureau Method for Oxygen Permeability. Fig. 2: A sketch of the Torrent Method for Air - Permeability.

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10 Laboratory Tunnel Bridge Deck Pylon 28-day kO [E-16 m]

0.1

0.01 10

20

30

40 50 60 70 28-day Cube Strength (MPa)

.

80

90

Cubes moist cured for 28 days for strength, slabs cured for 7 days, followed by 21 days in dry room, for kO

100

10 Laboratory kT [E-16 m] 1 Tunnel Bridge Deck 0.1 Pylon 0.01

0.001 0.01

0.1

1 kO [E-16 m]
.

10

100

Fig. 3: Correlation between kO and compressive strength: position of the results of the three concretes investigated. Fig. 4: Correlation between kT and kO: position of the results of the three concretes investigated.

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0.5

Laboratory Gas-Permeability (E-16 m)

0.4

Site Concrete

kT

kO

0.3

0.2

0.1

10

Delivery Number

0.3 Slab 0.25 Gas-Permeability (E-16 m) Cube Structure

kT
0.2 0.15

kO

0.1

0.05

0 Deck Pylon Deck Pylon

Fig. 5: Comparison of gas-permeability measured on slabs cured in the laboratory and on the site concrete. Bzberg Tunnel. Fig. 6: Comparison of gas-permeability measured and slabs cured in the laboratory and on the site concrete. Schaffhausen Bridge.

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0.5

CQI:
Laboratory Slab Site Concrete

3
Air-Permeability kT (E-16 m)
0.1 0.05

2
0.01

0.005

1
0.001

Tunnel Deck

Bridge Deck

Pylon

70

1
60 50

1 : Pylon 2 : 1 m - Cube Mean Air T: 4C

Temperature [C]

40

30

20

10

-10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Time [days]

Fig. 7: Comparison of air-permeability measured on slabs cured in the laboratory and on the site concrete. Fig. 8: Evolution of temperature in the centre of the pylon and in the centre of the companion cube, site cured (Schaffhausen Bridge).

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