Blowholes in concrete surfaces By M.S. Thompson, siscrac, MICE, John Laing Research & Development Ltd. ‘employment of correctly ti influencing whether or not blowholes would occur. so oO a ONE OF THE FIRST problems associated with any dis- cussion on the subject of blowholes is to find a suitable standard of reference against which different types and degrees of formation of blowholes may be compared, ‘and which may form a basis for specification. The failure to establish such a standard can lead to. much mis- understanding between architect and contractor. Ideally, the standard should take the form of a series of large panels, preferably full-sized sections of the structure under discussion. When this is impracticable, smaller panels may be adequate, and failing this, one-foot-square full-sized photographs may be used. A’ set of ten such photographs used by the writer is reproduced to a small scale in Figure J. When describing a quality of finish, the percentage area of the surface of the concrete covered by any one or more “degrees of blowholing’ is stated. ‘The method of using photographs as a standard has been adopted in preference to a number of more Figure Reference photographs used for comparing surface finishes REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHS FOR USE WHEN COMPARING OR. SPECIFYING BLOWHOLE FORMATION SCALE ONE FOOT Conerete February 1969sophisticated methods which were based on the measure- ment of diameters and areas of holes. It is much simpler, and is generally equally or more satisfactory than other methods. ‘When all parties are clear as to what is meant by a good, indifferent, or unacceptable finish, the way is clear to the discussion of other aspects of the problem. Blowholes are endemic in concrete, and a wise architect will avoid specifying finishes that are free of blowholes, unless he allows the holes to be filled in after the forms are removed, Often, the formation of a moderate number of holes is unobjeetionable, and the architect may even welcome their formation as being characteristic of the material with which he is working. Often, too, they are far less noticeable than the so-called ‘making-good” ‘which disfigures much exposed concrete Nevertheless, itis sometimes desirable, for example in the manufacture of precast or cast-in-situ walls or floors, hich are to be papered or painted without prior plaster ing, to keep the number of blowholes to the minimum at the casting stage, unless their infilling forms only a small part of the making-good necessitated by other defects such as honeycombing, grout runs, ridges and other shutter marks. Factors influencing the formation of blowholes Internal vibration Several factors influence the formation of blowholes, but by far the most outstanding appears to be the way’ in ‘which the conerete is placed and compacted. By carefully observing the details of these operations, it is possible to forecast the areas at which the incidence of blowholes will be greatest. In practice, when casting thin walls, itis often dificult for even the coneretor himself to see exactly how the vibrator is placed in relation to the conerete at any ‘given moment, and it is then that real skill is required to achieve the best results. ‘The generally-aceepted ‘correet’ method of compaction, whereby the immersion vibrators are kept a little distance below the surface of the conerete and both vibrators and, conerete are raised at the same time, is soundly based. Unfortunately, except when concreting columns or short walls, sufficient vibrators are rarely available to follow this practice, and spacers or other obstructions spanning, between the forms often necessitate the frequent with= drawal and reinsertion of vibrators. Inserting a vibrator into concrete that is only partially compacted tends to compact the upper layers first, making the egress of trapped air from below the surface more difficult, and. this operation, where necessary, should be done rapidly. Preferably, the vibrator should be inserted into concrete which has been previously compacted before fresh concrete is placed above it The optimum period of vibration depends very much on the type of vibrator, the mix characteristics, and the configurations of shutter and reinforcement. ‘The im- portant thing is to ensure that some areas of concrete are not over-vibrated at the expense of under-vibration elsewhere. One situation which must occur frequently is that illustrated in Figure 2. The vibrator is shown immersed ‘well down in a large heap of concrete, having been placed in that position either before or after the heap was deposited. It is left until the level of the concrete assumes the position shown by the broken line, and is then withdrawn vertically and relatively quickly. In flowing Concrete February 1968 Blowholes in concrete surfaces from left to right the concrete at A will have expelled uch of the trapped air and will be found to be relatively free of surface holes when stripped, while at 2, where there has been less lateral flow of eonerete, air rising in the vicinity of the vibrator has tended to accumulate and be trapped, or may even have been drawn in from above, and blowholes will be more severe at this point. They could have been greatly reduced by moving the vibrator over ‘that area at a small angle to the horizontal. ‘A similar movement of the vibrator will eliminate air which frequently collects in the top six inches of concrete ina wall. This layer not only collects air rising from below but, because it is usually the wettest part of the casting and appears to reach a satisfactory state of compaction sore quickly than the lower layers, often gets the least amount of vibration. It may easily be imagined how conerete of medium ‘workability can fall ina shutter in such a way as to tr Jarge amounts of air. This may be missed by the vibrator and so give rise fo other concentrations of blowholes. Workability Provided that sufficient vibration is applied to compact the concrete, the actual degree of workability itself, as measured by the usual tests, appears to have no influence fon the incidence of blowholes. However, under a given degree of vibration, a mix having a high workability will clearly reach a given minimum aireontent more quickly than will a less-workable one, and the weight of the concrete itself may contribute significantly to the process of compaction. This may at least partly explain why concrete which is placed quickly in large quantities, rather than in thin layers, sometimes gives satisfactory results Itis important to realize, however, that when concrete with a high workability is being placed, a poker vibrator may merely level out the conerete surface without necessarily removing entrapped air. To be sure that the air, which will give rise to blowholes, is being removed, bubbles must be seen bursting on the surface of the ‘concrete. If they are not, it may safely be assumed that either the vibrator is immersed too deeply or that it is Unsuitable for the work in hand. Mix proportions Concrete mixes that are richer in cement tend to show rather fewer ‘pinholes’ than do leaner mixes of the same workability, but the effect of the cement content on a mix Figure2 Diagram showseffectof placing heap of concrete in wal, before and after vibrating. Blowholes wll occur at BhutnotatA,Blowholes in concrete surfaces ‘made with a well-graded aggregate appears to be neglig- ible. Ifthe constituents of a mix are proportioned to give the best results from a normal standpoint, itis probable that no adjustments will further reduce the formation of blowholes. However, many mixes which are adequate to ‘meet the specification can be improved by an experienced six designer. Itis well known to designers that a change of as little as three per cent in the sand content often notice- ably improves @ mix, and such a change can assist in reducing blowholes under a given set of circumstances. Formwork Provided that the shutters are clean and smooth, and, with a few exceptions, are treated with a reliable make of mould oil, any influence that they may have appears to be a very secondary one. A shutter lining which is really absorbent at the time of casting will clearly reduce the size and number of holes and may completely remove them, but such linings are normally expensive or im- practicable to use on large contracts. Release agents Mould-release agents often give different results according to the thickness of application, and different agents can give somewhat different appearances of finish. However, laboratory tests, in which the opposite faces of a mould were treated with different oils, have indicated that the type of release agent generally has little or no influence con the incidence of blowholes in concrete cast at normal temperatures. Field reports have sometimes suggested otherwise, but it is probable that other factors were present in such cases. If, as is possible, an oil or the combination of oil and shutter does allow a somewhat better-than-average movement of air pockets up the shutter face, the effect in practice may simply be to coalesce the smaller bubbles and so leave them as larger ones above areas which are relatively free of blowholes. ‘Some shutter materials and release agents may produce what is apparently a better finish by permitting a thin film of grout to conceal the blowholes, but this film is easily broken and may be removed by weathering. Temperature It is of interest to note here that the temperature of a shutter can have a marked effect on the concrete finish. The casting of concrete of high or medium workability behind a thin shutter which is exposed to the cold can result in the formation of small water-runs, as seen in the upper half of photograph 5 in Figure J. The lower surface temperature delays the setting of the conerete and inereases the plastic settlement and accompanying segregation of water from solids, and any water vapour present in the concrete condenses more on the colder surface, so increasing the liquid-water content. If the shutter were sufficiently insulated this effect might be avoided. Sometimes, either with drier concretes or higher ambient temperatures, the pattern of water-runs does not emerge completely, and the only visible effect, is higher incidence of pinholes. However, temperature, either of the mass of concrete or of the surface, appears to have a negligible effect on the incidence of blowholes proper. External vibration As is apparent from theoretical considerations, external vibration of the right frequency, amplitude and distribu- tion, depending on the mix characteristics of the concrete and the design of the formwork, is particularly effective in reducing blowholes, when applied in conjunction with internal vibration. However, placing costs are probably increased, and increased vibration of any kind may necessitate the provision of stronger shutters to resist the increased pressure exerted by the plastic eonerete. Lightweight-aggregate concrete Coneretes made with lightweight aggregates having high water absorption present additional problems. Experi- ments have shown that if the aggregate is fairly dry when mixed, air within the aggregate particles can be displaced by water shortly after casting, causing more blowholes than would occur in concrete of the same workability made with fully-saturated aggregate. It is normally impracticable to saturate stockpiles, but the use of good placing techniques will usually ensure acceptable finishes. Some lightweight-ageregate coneretes may also_have theological characteristics which reduce the effective range of a vibrator more than comparable gravel con- cretes. This may be expected if the Vebe/slump ratio of a lightweight concrete is less than that of the equivalent normal-weight concrete, but again, ifa little more atten- tion is given to placing and vibration, satisfactory results ‘will usually be obtained. Conclusions To summarize, whilst no magical solution to the problem, of the formation of blowholes has yet been discovered, and whilst both architect and contractor would be unwise to expect the production of concrete surfaces which are completely free from blowholes, well-trained and experienced concretors can usually achieve acceptable finishes which may sometimes even approach perfection. ‘The author acknowledges the help of men on the job who talked frankly about the problem, and who were willing to do a litle experimenting. World precast concrete congress ‘The programme for the sixth inter- national congress of the precast con: crete industry (rimw—the Bureau International du Béton Manufacturé), which is being held in Amsterdam from May 17 to 23, 1969, has now been published. Copies are available from the British Precast Conerete Federation, 9 Catherine Place, London SWI. The closing date for registra tion is March 1, 1969. At least 2,000 delegates will be attending. 6 The congress will be divided into five working sessions, as follows: quality; organization, “mechanization and automation; structural lightweight concrete; national reports on oUt standing aspects of the manufacture and application of precast concrete; and the construction of bridges with prefabricated elements, Including the national reviews, about two dozen papers will be presented for discussion at the congress. There will be a national review from Britain, but only fone other British paper, viz. “The importance of quality control for the precast conerete industry’, by Dr. A. R. Collins. There és an extensive pro: gramme of technical visits, a ladies’ programme and a number of social funetions, There will also be an exhibition of precast concrete, machinery and other products associated with the manufacture of precast concrete? Concrete February 1969,