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Discussion of Aggregate and Concrete Water Absorption and Permeability

Testing Methodology

Conference Paper · September 2002

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João P. Castro-Gomes Luiz Antonio Pereira de Oliveira

Universidade da Beira Interior Centre of Materials and Building Technologies, Covilhã, Portugal
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 XXX IAHS
World Congress on Housing
Housing Construction – An Interdisciplinary Task
September 9-13, 2002, Coimbra, Portugal
Eds.: Oktay Ural, Vitor Abrantes, António Tadeu

Discussion of Aggregate and Concrete Water Absorption and

Permeability Testing Methodology

J. P. Castro-Gomes, L. A. Pereira de Oliveira and C. N. Gonilho-Pereira

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Beira Interior, Ed. Engenharias II, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
e-mail: castro.gomes@ubi.pt, luiz.oliveira@ubi.pt, cristiana.pereira@ubi.pt

F. M. Pacheco Torgal

Department of Civil Engineering

Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, 6000 Castelo Branco, Portugal
e-mail: fernandotorgal@est.ipcb.pt

Key words: aggregate, concrete, permeability, water absorption, durability

Abstract
This article presents the methodology used, in the Construction Laboratories, of Civil Engineering
Department, of University of Beira Interior, for the determination of water absorption, oxygen and
water permeability of concrete and aggregate. Aspects of samples preparation and of procedures of
these tests are discussed, demonstrating that these two aspects can affect, significantly, the results
obtained. It is also discussed here the significance of permeability determination when small
differences in the variables of the tests occur, namely the applied pressure. Some examples of water
absorption and of oxygen and water permeability obtained with different concrete types and different
types of aggregates are presented. It is also presented a typical relationship between water absorption
and oxygen permeability. Finally, it is concluded about the interest of the water absorption and
permeability tests as parameters to evaluate concrete durability.

1 Introduction

Coarse aggregates constitute 40% to 80% of concrete volume. Its mechanical properties are important
to define concrete strength and recent studies shown that its physical properties can affect concrete
durability parameters [1].
Concrete permeability can be determined on a concrete core specimen. Such type of specimens can
also be obtained from rocks that are used to produce aggregates. Thus, the methodology to measure
aggregate or concrete permeability can be the same in both cases.
 J.P. Castro Gomes, L.A. Pereira de Oliveira, C.N. Gonilho Pereira, F.M. Pacheco Torgal

2 Methodology of water absorption and permeability tests

2.1 Preparation of test specimens

For the oxygen and water permeability tests, cylindrical test specimens are prepared with 5cm of
diameter and about 4cm of height, as presented in Fig. 1. The dimensions of the permeability cells that
are used in these tests determine the form and dimension of the test specimens. However, these
permeability cells also allow test specimens with different dimensions, of 2.5cm and of 10cm of
diameter. The specimen can be of rock for aggregates or concrete.

Figure 1: Adequate shape and dimension of specimens for the water absorption and permeability tests

The shape and dimension of the test specimens are adequate, either for the oxygen and water
permeability test or for water absorption test, which facilitates the preparation of test specimens.
However, each test specimen should just be submitted to water absorption or to permeability test. This
is to guarantee that the results obtained with the permeability tests are not influenced by eventual
alterations of the structure of the test specimen when submitted to vacuum, during the water absorption
tests. Furthermore, in the adopted methodology, either for the oxygen permeability test or for the water
absorption test, specimens are first dried in oven at 110ºC, for 24 hours. This drying period, at this
temperature, will also be able, in some cases, to modify the specimen microstructure, what justifies
more that permeability and water absorption tests should not be carry out with the same test specimen.

2.2 Determination of water absorption

The method of determination aggregates or concrete water absorption is based on the principle of
vacuum saturation. The equipment apparatus is presented in Fig. 2.
The test to determine water absorption comprise two stages, the first consists on submitting the test
specimens to vacuum (about 0.7 mbar) for 3 hours being, after this period and in a second stage,
saturated in distilled water and submitted again to vacuum during another period of 3 hours. The
detailed experimental procedure is explained elsewhere [2].
The water absorption, also designated as open porosity, is determined as follows:

Wsat - Wdry
A(%) = ⋅ 100 (1)
Wsat - Wwat

being, A - water absorption, in percentage, Wsat - weigh of the saturated sample, Wdry - weigh of the
dry sample and Wwat - weigh of the saturated sample immersed in water.
 XXX IAHS, September 9-12, 2002, Coimbra, Portugal

Figure 2: Schematic representation and picture of water absorption test apparatus

2.3 Determination of oxygen permeability

For determination of aggregates or concrete oxygen permeability it is used the permeability cell
presented in Fig. 3. The permeability cell used was developed at the University of Leeds (U.K.) and it
has been used broadly to determine, either oxygen or water permeability of concretes and mortars
[3,4].

Figure 3: Oxygen and water permeability cells used in this work

This permeability cell allows submitting samples, with the referred dimensions, to a certain pressure,
guaranteeing that the flow of oxygen through the sample is uniaxial. After a certain period of time
elapsed during the test, the flow can be considered to be laminate. This way, the results obtained with
this equipment can be explained based on Darcy's law. However, the law of pressure variation inside a
body of rock or of concrete, when crossed by a non-compressible fluid (as for instance the water) is
practically unknown [5,6].
The intrinsic oxygen permeability (being η - oxygen dynamic viscosity = 2.02 x 10-5 N.s.m-2), can be
determined by:
 J.P. Castro Gomes, L.A. Pereira de Oliveira, C.N. Gonilho Pereira, F.M. Pacheco Torgal

−16
4.04 ⋅ R ⋅ L ⋅ 10
K=
( 2
A ⋅ P2 − 1 ) (2)

in what: K - Intrinsic oxygen permeability (m2), R – Oxygen flow through the specimen (cm3.s-1), L -
Thickness of the test specimen (m), A - Area of the section crossed by oxygen (m2), P2 – Oxygen
pressure at the forefront of specimen (bar), being the outlet pressure of 1 bar.
In what respects to the preparation of test specimens, after drying, in oven at 110ºC for 24 hours, these
are sidelong coated using a fine layer of silicon to, precisely, guarantee the uniaxial penetration,
starting from the forefront of the specimen. Therefore, the test specimens are placed on desiccators, for
some hours, to allow the hardening of the silicon. The procedure is described elsewhere [2].

2.4 Determination of water permeability

The water permeability test can take place after the oxygen permeability test, in a similar way and with
in the same specimen.
With the test specimens placed inside the permeability cell, the water is introduced on the top of the
cell and the pressure is applied in way to force the water to penetrate through the sample. The
measurement of the permeability is carried out by a method based on water penetration depth. It is
introduced water with a colour indicator that helps to determine the border of penetration depth. The
water permeability coefficient is determined then by the expression of Valenta [7], presented as
follows, that takes in consideration the penetration depth;

d p2 ⋅ δ
k = (3)
w 2⋅h ⋅ t

in that: kw – Water permeability coefficient (m.s-1), dp – Water penetration depth (m), d - water
absorption of the test specimen (open porosity), t - Time that took to penetrate to the depth dp, h -
Height of water column (m), 1 bar = 10.207 m of water column.
To convert the water permeability coefficient, expresses in m.s-1, in intrinsic permeability Kw,
expresses, in m2, which is independent of the properties of the liquid the following expression is used:

η
K =k ⋅ (4)
w w ρ⋅g

being: Kw – Water intrinsic permeability (m2), h - Viscosity of the solution, to 20ºC, ρ - Density of the
water (1 000 kg.m-3), g - Gravity (9.8 m.s-2).
In case that is just used water, the expression (4) becomes the expression (5) and, in the case of using a
phenolphthalein indicator (a mixture of 5ml of phenolphthalein in 500ml of ethanol with 500ml of
water) the expression becomes the expression (6). The expressions are different considering the
dynamic viscosity of the solution with the indicator.

−7
K = 1.02 ⋅ 10 ⋅k (5)
w w

−7
K = 1.3 ⋅ 10 ⋅k (6)
w w
 XXX IAHS, September 9-12, 2002, Coimbra, Portugal

3 Some results of water absorption and permeability

Some results of concrete and aggregate water absorption and oxygen permeability are presented
respectively in tab. 1 and tab. 2.

Table 1: Results of water absorption and oxygen permeability obtained for concrete (medium values of
testing six specimens) [8].
Concrete C 20/25 C 25/30 C 30/37
Type
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
Test
Water
absorption 15.3 13.5 13.5 12.2 12.8 10.5 11.9 12.0 10.1
(%)
Oxygen
permeability 5.5 4.4 3.8 3.0 2.7 1.4 2.4 2.5 2.2
-17 2
×10 (m )

C1 – w/c = 0.52, workability S3, exposition class 2a; C2 – w/c = 0.50, workability S3, exposition class
2a e 5b; C3 – w/c = 0.53, workability S3, exposition class 2a; C4 – w/c = 0.47, workability S3,
exposition class 2a; C5 – w/c = 0.47, workability S3, exposition class 2a e 5b; C6 – w/c = 0.46,
workability S2, exposition class 2a e 5a; C7 – w/c = 0.47, workability S3, exposition class 2a; C8 – w/c
= 0.42, workability S2, exposition class 2a; C9 – w/c = 0.42, workability S2, exposition class 2a e 5a.

Table 2: Results of water absorption and oxygen permeability for different types of rocks, of the
Centre Region of Portugal (medium values results of testing at least six specimens).
Rock type
Granites Calcareous
Test G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 C1 C2
Water absorption
0.72 0.88 0 0.48 0.62 0.084 0.0018
(%)
Oxygen permeability
Imp. 0.3 Imp. Imp. 1.9 Imp. Imp.
×10-17 (m2)
Imp. - Impermeable

G1 - Granite of Alpalhão, fine granulated and of homogeneous grey colour; G2 - Granite of Capinha,
medium/fine granulated; G3 - Gabrodiorite of Crato - Alter Pedroso, granular texture and very fine
grain, with very dark grey coloration; G4 - Granite of Évora,, medium/fine granulated; G5 -
Granodiorite of Covilhã, medium/fine texture; C1 - Calcareous of Cantanhede - Portunhos, light
colour, white-yellowish, very fine granulated, compact and homogeneous and C2 - Calcareous of
Condeixa-a-Velha, beige-brownish, very fine and compact granulated.

4 Discussion of the influence of both water absorption and permeability

tests done with the same concrete specimen

As referred in point 2.1, each sample should just be submitted to one of the tests, water absorption or
permeability, guaranteeing that the results obtained for oxygen permeability are not influenced by
eventual alterations of the microstructure of the test specimen.
 J.P. Castro Gomes, L.A. Pereira de Oliveira, C.N. Gonilho Pereira, F.M. Pacheco Torgal

In tab. 1 and tab. 3, results of oxygen permeability obtained with two different procedures are
presented. The results on tab. 3 were obtained using the same sample in tests, first water absorption
and afterwards oxygen permeability. The results on tab. 1 were obtained for different specimens.

Table 3: Results of water absorption and oxygen permeability, using the same specimen (medium
values results of testing at least six specimens).
Concrete C 20/25 C 25/30 C 30/37
Class
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
Test
Water
absorption 15.3 13.5 13.5 12.2 12.8 10.5 11.9 12.0 10.1
(%)
Oxygen
Permeability 7.5 4.9 6.5 4.4 6.2 5.3 4.7 5.3 4.8
-17 2
×e (m )

The differences obtained are significant; being verified that, in the second case, when the same sample
is used in both tests, higher values of oxygen permeability are obtained.
The vacuum period, in the water absorption test, and the dry period afterwards, inside oven at 110ºC
for 24 hours, can change the microstructure significantly, influencing the results obtained with the
oxygen permeability test.

5 Permeability test significance

Different results obtained in the permeability test may also occur due to incorrect readings of sample
specimens’ dimensions, of pressure or flow measure. An incorrect reading of the flow measurements
can be minimized guaranteeing that the time of a soap bubble course, in pipette, is higher than 60
seconds. The pipette diameter should be changed to guarantee this course time.
Laboratory equipment should be precise and technical staff should be well trained.

4
C1
3,5 C2
C3
Pressure (bar)

C4
3
C5
C6
2,5 C7
C8
2 C9

1,5
0,00E+00 5,00E-17 1,00E-16 1,50E-16 2,00E-16
Oxygen Permeability (m2)

Figure 4: Permeability test significance analysis when small differences in the applied pressure occur.

However, the factor that can influence greatly the error is the pressure reading since an exponent of 2,
in the intrinsic permeability determination formula, affects P. Therefore, when small differences in the
 XXX IAHS, September 9-12, 2002, Coimbra, Portugal

applied pressure are imposed, maintaining all the other parameters constant, oxygen permeability
varies in a significant way. Fig. 4 shows the influence that different values of pressure have in the test
results.
The values used for graph of fig. 4 were obtained using parameters relative to the concrete mixes
which results are presented in tab. 1.
When analysing Fig. 4, it is verified that as the oxygen permeability decreases, the influence of the
pressure change on the results obtained, also decreases. For example, in the case of concrete C2, that
presents higher values of oxygen permeability, a pressure mistake reading from 3 to 3.5 bar gives a
permeability decrease of 1.58e-17 m2. If the same mistake were done for the case of C8, that has lower
values of oxygen permeability than C2, would give a permeability decrease of 6.4e-18 m2.

6 Typical relationship between water absorption and oxygen permeability

Oxygen Permeability x10-17

6
0,23x
5 y = 0,16e
2
R = 0,84
4
(m )
2

3
2
1
0
0 4 8 12 16 20
Absorption (%)

Figure 5: Typical relationship between water absorption and oxygen permeability.

A typical relationship between water absorption (A) and oxygen permeability (K) was obtained for the
concrete mixes and respective results presented in tab. 1, as showed below:

ln K = -1.83 + 0.23 A (7)

Other authors have found similar correlations for concrete. Such correlations were obtained for a quite
large number of different concrete mixes and curing conditions, for water absorption values between 7
and 15% and oxygen permeability between 5.5 x 10-18 e 2.6 x 10-16, as presented:

ln K = -43.1 + 0.48 A ; Gaffar [9]

ln K = -18.8 + 0.22 A ; Cabrera et al. [10]

7 Conclusions

Methods of water absorption and permeability tests are of importance either to study aggregate
characteristics or concrete properties.
 J.P. Castro Gomes, L.A. Pereira de Oliveira, C.N. Gonilho Pereira, F.M. Pacheco Torgal

The methodology is simple and the results obtained are highly repeatable. However special attentions
should be given to basic procedures reading values during testing, since it can affect significantly the
results obtained.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the financing grant by the Foundation for the Science and Technology in Program
POCTI'S ambit, for Project 36027/99 “Influence of Physical Properties and Morphological Parameters
of Granites and Calcareous Aggregates on the Permeability of Concrete”.

References

[1] Pacheco Torgal, F., Castro Gomes, J.P. and Lopes, S.M.R., Experimental Study of Concrete
Durability Parameters produced with Different Types of Aggregates, in XXX IAHS, September
9-12, 2002, Coimbra, Portugal.
[2] Castro Gomes, J.P., Pereira de Oliveira, L.A., Gonilho Pereira, C.N. and Pacheco Torgal, F.,
Absorption and Permeability tests of Aggregates «only available in Portuguese», in 10th
Portuguese National Congress of Geotecnics, April, 2002, Lisbon, Portugal.
[3] Cabrera, J.G.; Gowripalan, N. and Wainwright, P.J., An Assessment of Concrete Curing
Efficiency Using Gas Permeability, Magazine of Concrete Research 41, (149) (1989) 193-198.
[4] Cabrera J.G. and Lynsdale, C.J., A New Gas Pemeameter for Measuring the Permeability of
Mortar and Concrete, Magazine of Concrete Research. 40, (144) (1988) 177-182.
[5] Permeability Testing of Site Concrete: A Review of Methods and Experience, in ‘Permeability of
Concrete and its Control’, Papers of a one-day Conference, London, Dec. 1985 (The Concrete
Society, London, 1985).
[6] Grube, H. and Lawrence, C.D., Permeability of Concrete to Oxygen, in ‘Durability of Concrete
Structures Under Normal Outdoor Exposure’, Proceedings of an International Seminar,
Hanover, 1984 (Rilem Seminar, University of Hanover, Institute fur Baustoffkunde und
Materialprufung, 1984) 68-79.
[7] Valenta, O., The permeability of concrete in aggressive conditions, in ‘Large Dams’,
Proceedings of 10th International Congress, Montreal, 103-117.
[8] Castro Gomes, J.P.; Pereira de Oliveira, L.A.; Gonilho Pereira, C.N. and Torgal, F.M.A.S.P.,
Absorption and Permeability of Inert as Parameter of Evaluation of the Durability of the
Concrete «only available in Portuguese», Engenharias 2001, Universidade da Beira Interior,
Covilhã, Novembro, pp. 315-321.
[9] B.A. Gaffar, The Effect of Environmental Curing Condition on the Gas and Water Permeability
of Concrete, unpublished PhD Thesis, Civil Engineering Department, the University of Leeds,
UK, 1995.
[10] J.G. Cabrera, A.R. Cusens and C.J. Lynsdale, Porosity and Permeability as Indicators of
Concrete Performance, Durability of Structures, International Association for Bridge and
Structural Engineering, IABSE Symposium, Lisbon, Sept. 1989.

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