Testing for chloride

permeability of concrete
The rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT) is an
alternative to ponding tests

BY BRUCE SUPRENANT

uilding a new concrete

B parking garage? Putting a

dense concrete overlay on
a bridge deck? Precasting
piles or piers for seawater? Because
concrete used in these applications
must be relatively impermeable,
contractors may be asked to pro-
vide test results on the permeability
of proposed concrete mix designs
and on in-place concrete. The rapid
chloride permeability test (RCPT)
determines chloride permeability
by measuring the number of
coulombs able to pass through a
sample. Specifications may call for
a concrete mix that averages 800
coulombs with no test result greater
than 1,000 coulombs.

What’s a coulomb?
A coulomb is an ampere-second;
that is, 1 ampere passed through the
concrete slice in 1 second is a Figure 1. To obtain
consistent chloride
coulomb, and the charge passed in
permeability values
60 seconds would be 60 coulombs. for a concrete batch
The more permeable the concrete, each slice is
the higher the coulombs; the less conditioned to start
permeable the concrete, the lower the test at the same
the coulombs. Most specifiers using moisture content.
the RCPT require the concrete to The 2-inch-thick
pass fewer than 1,000 coulombs. slice is placed under
a vacuum for 3
How the RCPT works hours, then covered
Based on research (Ref. 1) that with water under
vacuum for another
showed the RCPI correlated well
hour, and finally
with 90-day chloride pending tests, soaked in water for
the American Association of State 18 hours.
 (amperes) versus time (seconds),
the area under the curve can be
summed.

Cure for 28 days before testing

Figure 3 shows that the chloride
permeability decreases the longer
concrete cures. To avoid the sug-
gested 28-day cure time, some test-
ing laboratories are using accelerat-
ed cure methods on the concrete
specimens. Although accelerated
curing methods may produce
equivalent strengths, they do not
Figure 2. The rapid chloride permeability test measures the charge passed produce the same hydration prod-
through the concrete slice when one side of the specimen is in contact with a ucts or porosity as a 28-day moist
sodium chloride solution and the other side is in contact with a sodium hydroxide cure at 73° F.
solution. The amount of electrical current passed through the 2-inch-thick slice in
For example, one testing laborato-
6 hours under 60 volts DC is the coulomb rating.
ry reported a coulomb value of 3,300
for a concrete mix with 7 sacks of ce-
Highway and Transportation Offi- for 18 hours. Finally, the technician
ment, 8% silica fume, and a water-
cials (AASHTO) issued a test stan- removes the spec-
dard in 1983, “Rapid Determination imen, blots off ex-
of the Chloride Permeability of Con- cess water, and
c re t e” (Ref. 2). The AASHTO Stan- stores the speci-
dard provides relative data on the men in a sealed
number of coulombs passed in 6 container.
hours for different concrete mixes Test procedure.
(Table 1). The valuable feature of the The technician
RCPT is that it can be done quickly, connects the con-
and thus it can be incorporated as a crete slice to an
standard when evaluating new mix applied voltage
designs. cell where one
ASTM has proposed a similar test side of the speci-
that is currently being reviewed as a men is in contact
standard. with a sodium
The rapid chloride permeability chloride solution
test consists of two parts: and the other side
• Conditioning the concrete slice is in contact with
Figure 3. When testing for acceptance or rejection make
• Monitoring the amount of elec- a sodium hydrox- sure the specimen has cured for 28 days. Test results on
trical current passing through ide solution. After specimens that have been subjected to accelerated curing
the slice connecting the don’t yield equivalent 28-day chloride permeability (Ref. 3).
Conditioning. The testing lab voltage cell to a
technician uses a diamond saw to 60-volt direct cur-
cut a 2-inch slice from a nominal 4- rent power sup-
inch-diameter core. The technician ply, the techni-
allows the concrete slice to dry for 1 cian turns on the
hour then covers the cylindrical sur- power supply and
face with epoxy. After the epoxy is monitors the
tack free, the concrete slice is placed amount of electri-
into a vacuum desiccator and vacu- cal current
um is maintained for 3 hours. With passed through
the vacuum pump still running, the the 2-inch-thick
technician fills the desiccator with slice in 6 hours
de-aerated water to cover the speci- ( Fi g u re 2). By
men (Figure 1). Vacuum is main- drawing a smooth
tained for another hour, then it is curve through a
shut off and the concrete slice soaks plot of current
cement ratio of 0.4. The
coulomb value for this con-
crete should have been be-
tween 500 and 1,000. The lab
attempted to accelerate the
test by boiling the concrete
specimen in water but failed
to mention that when it re-
ported the surprisingly high
coulomb test value.
Cu r re n t l y, there are no
test results that indicate
how to accelerate concrete
curing to obtain the same
coulomb value as for a 28-
day moist-cured specimen.
Contractors and ready mix
producers should be cau-
tious of test results that are
provided before the con-
crete is 28 days old. Ne ve r
base acceptance or rejec-
tion on concrete specimens
that are subjected to accel-
erated curing.
Construction affects
chloride permeability
Construction workers can
significantly influence the
final coulomb value for a
concrete specimen. Retem-
pering, poor consolidation,
and poor curing increase
concrete permeability and
increase the coulombs pass-
ing through the concrete.
Retempering. Don’t add
water to the concrete at the
site. Adding water might im-
prove placing and finishing
but it increases the perme-
ability of the hardened con-
c re t e. Retempering latex-
modified concrete increases
the coulombs passed by a
factor of 2 to 3. Retempering
superplasticized, dense con-
crete; low-slump concrete;
and conventional portland-
cement concrete increases
the coulomb value about
50% (Ref. 4).
Consolidation. Air-en-
trained concrete that is 100%
consolidated has a unit
weight of about 140 pounds
per cubic foot. If it were
98% consolidated it would
weigh about 137 pounds
per cubic foot.
This 2% reduction in con-
solidation results in about
a 30% increase in chloride
permeability. Don’t misuse
vibrators; train the workers
to attain complete consoli-
dation.
In a test, six different
conventional portland ce-
ment concrete mixes were
subjected to different levels
of consolidation. RCPTs
were performed. As Figure
4 shows, a l0% decrease in
consolidation can cause a
100% increase in chloride
permeability.
Curing. Using a 1-day
moist cure instead of a 7-
day moist cure can in-
crease chloride permeabil-
ity by about 30% (Figure 5).
Longer moist curing is es-
pecially beneficial for con-
cretes with high water-ce-
Figure 4. Contractors can significantly change the chloride ment ratios. The test
permeability of the mix by not consolidating completely. A results in Figure 5 are for
10% decrease in consolidation increases chloride
conventional portland ce-
permeability by 100%. Make sure workers are trained to
use vibrators (Ref. 5). ment concretes initially
moist cured for 1 or 7 days,
allowed to dry, and then
tested at 90 days.
Acceptance
or rejection?
Federal Highway Ad-
ministration (FHWA) tests
have shown that signifi-
cantly different coulomb
test results are obtained at
the top and bottom of a
cylinder (Ref. 7). A con-
crete slice from the bottom
of the cylinder always
yields a lower coulomb
value than a concrete slice
removed from the top of
the cylinder. Because two
test results conducted by
the same operator on a
Figure 5. Using a 7-day moist cure instead of a 1-day moist single batch of concrete
cure can decrease chloride permeability by about 30%. can vary by as much as
Longer moist curing is especially beneficial for concretes 35%, use the average of
with high water- cement ratios (Ref. 6).
three specimens to obtain a repre-
sentative value.
Read the specifications carefully
to determine if the RCPT is to be
used for acceptance and rejection
c ri t e ria. If it is, make sure that the
specifications indicate how the
specimen is to be made (field or lab-
oratory), the type and length of cur-
ing, and provisions for a retest. For
contractors working with specialty
concrete mixes, the RCPT needs to
be treated with the same respect as
the strength test.
References
1. David Whiting, “Rapid Determina-
tion of the Chloride Permeability of
Concrete,” Report No. FHWA/RD-
81/119, August 1981, Federal High-
way Administration, Office of Research
& Development, Washington, DC
20590.
2. “Standard Method of Test for Rapid
Determination of the Chloride Perme-
ability of Concrete,” AASHTO T 277-
89, American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials,
444 N. Capitol St., NW, Washington,
DC 20001.
3. P. Plante and A. Bilodeau, “Rapid
Chloride Ion Permeability Test Data on
Concrete Incorporating Supplemen-
tary Cementing Materials,” Fly Ash,
Silica Fume, Slag, and Natural Poz-
zolans in Concrete, SP-114, Proceed-
ings Third International Conference,
Trondheim, Norway, 1989, American
Concrete Institute, P.O. Box 19150,
Detroit, Ml 48219.
4. D. Whiting and L. Kuhlmann, “Cur-
ing and Chloride Permeability,” Con-
crete International, April 1987, ACI.
5. D. Whiting, G. W. Seegebrecht, and
S. Tayabji, “Effect of Degree of Con-
solidation on Some Important Proper-
ties of Concrete,” Consolidation of
Concrete, SP-96, 1987, ACI.
6. D. Whiting, “Permeability of Select-
ed Concretes,” Permeability of Con-
crete, SP-108, 1988, ACI.
7. B. Mobasher and T. M. Mitchell,
“Laboratory Experience with the Rapid
Chloride Permeability Test,” Perme-
ability of Concrete, SP-108, 1988, ACI.
Bruce A. Suprenant is a consulting
engineer, an adjunct associate pro-
fessor at the University of Colorado
at Boulder, and a contributing writer
to this magazine.
Publication # C910531
Copyright © 1991, The Aberdeen
Group. All rights reserved