Comprehensive Testing of Sulfate Erosion Damage of Concrete Structures and Analysis of Silane Coating Protection Effect

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Oct 20;22(20):7991. doi: 10.3390/s22207991.

Abstract

In order to study the protection performance of silane coating on in-service concrete structures in a sulfate environment, we collect concrete samples in the field to simulate the concrete erosion process by accelerated erosion with wetting-drying cycles. We place the samples into protected, exposed and control groups corresponding to a corrosive environment with silane protection, corrosive environment without protection and general environment for three different service conditions. A combination of ultrasonic velocimetry, CT (Computed Tomography) scan imaging, NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) pore structure analysis, strength testing and other methods are used to analyze the strength, ultrasonic wave velocity, pore structure and other characteristics of the specimens during sulfate erosion. Based on the test results, the protective effect of silane coating on concrete structures under sulfate attack is quantitatively analyzed, and an index for judging the damage rate of specimens is proposed to quantitatively analyze the protective effect of silane coating. The research results show that the damage of the concrete structure under silane protection in a sulfate-attack environment can be reduced by more than 50%; its integrity damage index and strength damage index are easily affected by the location of local defects, which leads to a decrease in the protection efficiency of the surface silane coating.

Keywords: CT scanning; damage analysis; silane protection; sulfate erosion; ultrasonic speed measurement.

Grants and funding

The research was funded by the Initiation fund for postdoctoral research of Central South University, grant number 228697.