RATE OF ABSORPTION OF WATER BY LITECRETE LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE AND NORMAL CONCRETE

ACCORDING TO THE ASTM C1585 - 04

AUCKLAND UNISERVICES LIMITED a wholly owned company of THE UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND

Prepared for: Litecrete (NZ) Ltd PO Box 272 1386 Papakura Date: 30 October 2006

Consultants: Mark Byrami Senior Technician Civil and Environmental Engineering The University of Auckland Our Ref: 10646.04

Reports from Auckland UniServices Limited should only be used for the purposes for which they were commissioned. If it is proposed to use a report prepared by Auckland UniServices Limited for a different purpose or in a different context from that intended at the time of commissioning the work, then UniServices should be consulted to verify whether the report is being correctly interpreted. In particular it is requested that, where quoted, conclusions given in UniServices reports should be stated in full.

Table of Contents

page

List of Tables, Figures and Photos Method of testing Specimens Results and Calculations

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Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Photo 1: Photo 2: Photo 3: Photo 4:

Properties of both types of concrete used in the test. Specimen properties. Absorption test results of both types of samples. Schematic of testing procedure. Initial Rate of Water Absorption for both types of concrete. Secondary Rate of Water Absorption of normal concrete. Secondary Rate of Water Absorption of lightweight concrete Normal concrete sample after four hours. Normal precast concrete sample after one day. Lightweight concrete sample after one day. Lightweight concrete sample after three days.

Method of Testing: The test method used was ASTM C1585 04: Measurement of Rate of Absorption of Water by Hydraulic Cement Concrete. This test method determines the rate of absorption (i.e. sorptivity) of water by hydraulic cement concrete by measuring the increase in the mass of a specimen resulting from absorption of water as a function of time when only one surface of the specimen is exposed to water. The exposed surface is immersed in water (the water depth is 1 to 3 mm only) and water ingress of unsaturated concrete dominated by capillary suction during initial contact with water.

Treating and Conditioning the Specimens: The standard method is to cure the specimens in an oven for three days, at a temperature of 50C and relative humidity of 80%. The relative humidity is achieved using potassium bromide. As an alternative to the standard test method, potassium bromide was not used. The specimens - three samples each of normal concrete and lightweight concrete were cured in the oven for three days at a temperature of 50C. All of the samples

were kept in the same environmental condition in the laboratory during the period of the testing programme. Figure (1) show the schematic of the testing procedure.

Specimens: Both sets of samples (normal concrete and lightweight concrete) were each aged 28 days and supplied by Litecrete (NZ) Ltd. The properties of each are shown in Table(1). Lightweight concrete samples mix consist of: cement, coarse pumice, fine

pumice, polypropylene fibre, water and admixture. Normal concrete samples mix consist of: cement, sand, coarse aggregate (greywacke) and water.

Type of concrete

Strength, MPa

Density, kg/m3

Lightweight concrete (average for three samples) Normal concrete (average)

13.3 28.6

1235 2341

Table (1): Properties of both concrete mixes used in the test.

Specimen properties

Lightweight concrete

Normal concrete

Diameter (mm) Thickness (mm) Water temperature C Mass before sealing (grams) Mass after sealing (grams)

101.8 51 18 536.6 544.8

100 51 18 915.3 921.6

Table (2): Average sample, dimensions and mass.

Pan

Plastic sheet

Sealing material

Specimen
1-3 mm water depth
Exposed surface
Water

50 mm depth of the sample

Supports

Figure (1) Schematic of the testing procedure.

Test Results and Calculations: In table (3) the readings of the test and the value of the Absorption (I) is found using the following equation:

I = mt / (a* d)

where mt = the change in mass in grams, at different time (t) a = exposed area of the specimen, mm. d = density of water in g/mm.

Figure (2), (3) and (4) below show the Absorption (I) plotted to the square root of the time and from the developed curve the Initial and Secondary Rate of Water Absorption can be determined.

Initial and Secondary Rate of Water Absorption: The Initial Rate of Water Absorption is defined as the slope of the line, which is drawn using least squares, linear regression analysis, to fit the curve of Absorption (I) plotted against the square root of time. The points plotted were from one minute to six hours. Secondary Rate of Water Absorption is calculated in the same manner, with the points of time plotted from one day to seven days.

Note: To achieve the initial or secondary rate of water absorption using this method there should be a correlation coefficient of more than 0.98. This is calculated using a spreadsheet programme:

Initial Rate of Water Absorption for lightweight concrete = 107 x 10-4 mm/sec. R = 0.99.

Initial Rate of Water Absorption for normal concrete = 215 x 10-4 mm/sec. R=0.99.

Secondary Rate of Water Absorption for lightweight concrete = 29 x 10-4 mm/sec. R=0.98.

Secondary Rate of Water Absorption for the normal concrete = 4 x 10-4 mm/sec. R=0.98.

Test Data:

Lightweight concrete Testing time, (Sec)

60 300 600 1200 1800 3600 7200 10800 14400 18000 21600 86400 172800 266400 345600 604800 691200

Normal concrete

Time, (Sec1/2)
7.7 17.3 24.5 34.6 42.4 60.0 84.9 103.9 120.0 134.2 147.0 293.9 415.7 516.1 587.9 777.7 831.4

m, (gram)
1.10 2.33 3.21 4.30 5.05 6.63 8.70 10.27 11.53 12.57 13.54 19.71 23.82 26.60 28.54 32.13 33.12

I, (mm)
0.14 0.29 0.39 0.53 0.62 0.81 1.07 1.26 1.42 1.55 1.67 2.36 2.85 3.18 3.41 3.84 3.96

m (gram)
2.65 5.15 6.73 8.66 10.22 13.35 17.59 20.59 22.98 24.88 26.48 40.12 40.81 41.23 41.49 41.99 42.13

I, (mm)
0.34 0.66 0.86 1.10 1.30 1.70 2.24 2.62 2.92 3.16 3.37 5.10 5.19 5.24 5.28 5.34 5.36

Table (3): Average absorption of normal concrete and lightweight concrete samples.

Initial rate of water absorption

4.000 y = 0.0215x + 0.3231 2 R = 0.9944

3.500

3.000

Initial Rate of Water absorption: Litecrete = 10.7E-3 Normal concrete = 21.5E-3

Absorption, I, mm

2.500 Litecrete Normal Concrete Linear (Normal Concrete) Linear (Litecrete)

2.000

y = 0.0107x + 0.1265 2 R = 0.9952

1.500

1.000

0.500

0.000 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 160.0 SQRT Time, (sec)^0.5

Figure (2): The absorption plotted against square root of time, for both concrete types, plotted from one minute to six hours.

Secondary Rate of Water Absorption, Litecrete

4.500

4.000

Absorption I, (mm)

3.500 y = 0.0029x + 1.6104 2 R = 0.9829 3.000

2.500

2.000 200.0

300.0

400.0

500.0

600.0

700.0

800.0

900.0

Square Root time (sec^0.5)

Figure (3): the absorption plotted against square root of time, for lightweight concrete specimens, plotted from one day to eight days. 10

Secondary Rate of Water Absorption Normal Concrete

5.380 5.360 5.340 5.320 5.300 I , (mm) 5.280 5.260 5.240 5.220 5.200 5.180 300.0

y = 0.0004x + 5.0363 2 R = 0.9883

400.0

500.0

600.0 SQRT time (s^0.5)

700.0

800.0

900.0

Figure (4): the absorption plotted against square root of time, for normal concrete specimens, plotted from one day to eight days.

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Water Ponding The tests results showed that the water penetrated through the samples, ponding on the top surface at varying volumes for each type of concrete. Water penetration was evident by ponding on the surface of the normal concrete in less than five hours, whereas for the lightweight concrete samples this ponding phenomenon was not evident until after three days. Photos (1) and (2) show the amount of water on top of each sample of normal concrete and photos (3) and (4) show the results for the lightweight concrete.

Photo (1): Normal concrete sample shows traces of water saturating 25% of the surface area after less than five hours from the start of the test.

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Photo (2): Normal concrete sample after one day; the top surface area is fully saturated.

Photo (3): Lightweight concrete sample after one days testing shows no trace of water on the top surface.

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Photo (4): Lightweight concrete sample after three days from the start of the test, showing 10% saturation of the top surface area.

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