Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Steel and synthetic types of fibre reinforced concrete exposed

to chemical erosion
B. Kim a,⇑, A.J. Boyd b,1, H.-S. Kim a,2, S.-H. Lee a,3
a
Building and Urban Research Institute, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering & Building Technology, Goyangdae-Ro, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Civil Engineering, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 2K6, Canada

h i g h l i g h t s

 Structural fibres were affected in durability performance under erosive environments.

 Fibres affect the movement of harmful materials into concrete matrix.
 Residual strength & toughness measurement distinguished fiber’s effect from environment.
 Steel fibre showed the best performance in transport properties as well as strength retention.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This research paper have evaluated the performance of durability of fibre-reinforced concrete through
Received 22 November 2014 various test methods exposed to pH 4.5 solutions for 27 months with uncracked and precracked beams.
Received in revised form 7 June 2015 The structural fibres used in this study were hooked end steel, polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl alcohol
Accepted 8 June 2015
(PVA) fibres and the strong acid solutions were simulated with acetic acid at the laboratory. The evalu-
Available online 3 July 2015
ation methods for durability performance subsequent to conditioning included ultrasonic pulse velocity
(UPV), carbonation, residual strength and toughness. The additional tests such as absorption, permeabil-
Keywords:
ity and diffusion for transport properties of harmful materials were performed. The experimental results
Fibre
Erosion
showed significant reductions in both residual strength and toughness were found against low pH solu-
Transport property tions, as well as the analysis of ultra-pulse velocity (UPV) and carbonation for all fibre mixtures.
Residual strength Consequently, in case of steel fibre-reinforced concrete indicating good resistance to the movement of
Toughness harmful materials into concrete have excellent durability performance and then PVA, PP fibres in
sequence.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction eventually the structural deformation of the concrete [1–2]. Such

When a concrete structure is exposed to the chemical erosive
environment (acid rain, seawater, underground water, industrial
wastewater, etc.) for a long period, the harmful chemical materials
will penetrate into the concrete. The chemical reaction between
the penetrated harmful ion and hardened cement paste results in
dissolution or weakening of hydration product or creation of
expandable material to cause the fracture and damage of concrete
due to the volumetric expansion of the hardened cement paste and
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 31 910 0515; fax: +82 31 910 0713.
E-mail addresses: bi-kim@kict.re.kr (B. Kim), andrew.boyd@mcgill.ca (A.J. Boyd),
bravo3po@kict.re.kr (H.-S. Kim), shlee@kict.re.kr (S.-H. Lee).
1
Tel.: +1 514 398 6967; fax: +1 514 398 7361.
2
Tel.: +82 31 910 0231; fax: +82 31 910 0713.
3
Tel.: +82 31 910 0365; fax: +82 31 910 0713.
change of internal and external concrete microstructure will lead
to the serious performance deterioration of the structure after a
long period.
The performance deterioration of a chemically eroded concrete
structure can be categorized into three types [3,4]. First, when it is
exposed to seawater, the harmful ions in the seawater penetrate
into the concrete structure through the internal pores of the hard-
ened cement paste. The salt content in the seawater is around and
consists of NaCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, CaSO4, and K2SO4. The erosion by
seawater occurs as the result of complex interaction of the chlorine
ion, sulfate ion, and magnesium ion with the hydration product.
Second, it is the chemical erosion by the sulfate ion (Na2SO4,
K2SO4, MgSO4, CaSO4) existing in the soil, underground water
and industrial waste. One form of sulfate attach involves the break-
down of C–S–H in the presence of sulfate ions, followed by the for-
mation of thaumasite, which has a crystal structure that is similar

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.06.023
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728
to that of ettringite (hydration product). It causes the change of
microstructure by formation of salt crystalloid by physical reaction
of sulfate ion and chemical reaction of sulfate ion with hydration
product [5]. Third, it is the performance degradation by chemical
erosion of the structure exposed to the acid rain, wastewater treat-
ment plant, and hot spring. Ca(OH)2, which is the hydration pro-
duct that takes up to 20–30% of the cement pool solid volume, is
alkalic and thus vulnerable to the acid rain. Moreover, the hydrau-
lic compounds C–A–H and C–S–H also react with acid and are
decomposed. The hydration ion will accelerate the leaching of cal-
cium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2 + 2H+ ? Ca2+ + 2H2O). If the ion is highly
concentrated, C–S–H may also be attacked, forming silica gel
(3CaO
2SiO2
3H2O + 6H+ ? 3Ca2+ + 2(SiO2
nH2O) + 6H2O) [5]. The
type of acids eroding the concrete includes the inorganic acids (sul-
furic acid, hydrochloric acid and acetic acid) and organic acids (lac-
tic acid and citric acid). Most concrete structures are eroded by
these acids.
Various types of fibres have been used to improve the perfor-
mance of concrete structures. They are added to the concrete to
enhance the brittle property by improving the control of cracking,
spalling, freeze–thawing, bending, etc. caused by drying shrinkage
and eventually to improve the durability of the concrete. Although
there have been many studies of evaluating the durability perfor-
mance worldwide, most them focused on exposure to salt attack
[6].
This study evaluated the durability performance through the
experimental observation of erosion resistance by fibre reinforce-
ment in cement pool by exposing the fibre reinforced concrete to
the acetic acid among the environmental factors exposed to chem-
ical erosion. For the experiment, steel fibre, PP (polypropylene)
fibre, and PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) fibre, which are widely used in
construction sites worldwide, were selected [7–9]. The several
kinds of methods were used to evaluate durability performance
of steel and synthetic fibres, which include fresh properties as well
as hardened properties of FRC. The fresh properties were evaluated
soon after fibres were added by measuring flow ability with
inverted slump cone and Vebe time tests. Hardened property’s
change of FRC were evaluated by performing flexural tests (resid-
ual strength and toughness after initiating concrete crack).
Additionally, to understand the effect of fibres for the movement
of harmful materials under environmental conditioning, transport
properties were measured with absorption, permeability and diffu-
sion tests. Finally, UPV and carbonation tests were used to evaluate
the damage degree of FRC exposed to environmental conditioning.
2. Experiment plan
2.1. Materials for experiment
This study used the Class 2 moderate heat Portland cement, river sand with 2.65
specific gravity and 2.39 fineness modulus as fine aggregates, and crushed aggre-
gates with 9.5 mm maximum size and 2.28 specific gravity as coarse aggregates.
The steel fibre used in the experiment was the collated hooked type with 30 mm
length, 560 lm diameter and 55 aspect ratio manufactured by a company B in
another country, which is the most widely used steel fibre in the steel fibre rein-
forced concrete. The steel fibre is vulnerable to alkalic and acid. The PP fibre was
the single fibre type with 30 mm length, 660 lm diameter and 45 aspect ratio man-
ufactured by a company K in another country. It is relative vulnerable to strong acid.
The PP and PVA fibres were developed by manufacturers to supplement and replace
the weakness of the structural steel fibre. Fig. 1 shows the type and shape of the
fibres. Table 1 shows the physical properties of the steel fibre, PP fibre and PVA fibre
used in this experiment.
2.2. Mix design and curing
Table 2 shows the mix design of each fibre. Each of 4.6 kg/m3 PP fibre (M2 and
M6), 9.7 kg/m3 PVA fibre (M3 and M7), and 70.8 kg/m3 was mixed steel fibre (M4
and M8) into two types of water-cement mix. For mixing the concrete, the fine
aggregates and coarse aggregates were poured into a forced pan type mixer first
and dry mixed for one minute. Then 50% water was added and mixed for one
721
minute again. Then the remaining cement and 50% water as well as the high perfor-
mance water-reducing agent were added and mixed for two minutes. The fibres
were added lastly. After the mixing, the soft concrete was deposited in the
200 mm  400 mm  600 mm wooden mold for even diffusion of the fibres. To fab-
ricate the test sample for the beam experiment, the concrete was deposited into the
100 mm  510 mm  360 mm steel mold and initially cured indoor at 23 ± 2 °C
temperature and 50 ± 2% relative humidity for 24 h. Then the mold was removed
and the concrete was cured at a damp curing room with 100% relative humidity
for 28 days. The cylindrical test sample with 10 mm diameter and 20 mm height
to measure the compressive strength was fabricated through coring on the 15th
day of damp curing while the test sample for bending stiffness was fabricated by
cutting the sample into 100 mm  100 mm  360 mm after damp curing was
completed.
3. Experiment
3.1. Workability test
When the fibres are added to the concrete, the flow ability is
degraded because of increased stiffening during mixing. The work-
ability can be increased by adding the conventional or high perfor-
mance water-reducing agent or changing the mix design. However,
the slump test used for conventional concrete will not accurately
measure the workability of fibre reinforced concrete. That is
because the loss of slump value and the loss of workability do
not match when the concrete is reinforced with fibre [3]. This
experiment observed the effect of flow ability change of each fibre
with the slump test, which is the general workability measurement
method, and the inverted slump cone test and Vebe test, which are
the plasticity property measurement method and then studied the
correlation with the slump test.
Fig. 2 shows a picture of an inverted slump cone test. To mea-
sure the workability of fibre reinforced concrete, the concrete
was fabricated according to the procedure specified in ASTM C
995 [10] and tested at the lab. A slump cone was fastened to a woo-
den frame upside down and placed at the top of a bucket so that
there was around 10 cm gap between the bottom surface of the
bucket and inverted slump cone. The inverted slump cone was
filled with the concrete in three times. Then the timer was pressed
as soon as the bottom plate was vibrated, and the time it took until
the inverted slump cone was fully drained of concrete to evaluate
the flow ability and consistency of the fibre reinforced concrete.
Because of the fibre used in the experiment, the workability and
flow ability of the concrete degraded significantly, and the fibre
reinforced concrete did not flow naturally as the bottom hole of
the slump cone was plugged by the fibre reinforced concrete.
Fig. 3 shows a picture of a Vebe test. The purpose of Vebe test is
to measure the consistency of the very dry concrete and specified
in ASTM C 1170 [11]. A slump cone was erected on a vibrating table
plate and filled with the concrete in three time. Then the slump
cone was removed, the top plastic plate was brought in contact
on top of the concrete surface, and a timer was pressed as soon
as it began vibrating. The time it took until the slump was com-
pletely collapsed was measured.
3.2. Compressive strength test
To evaluate the impact of contents and reinforcement effects in
the cement pool of steel fibre, PP fibre and PVA fibre on concrete
compressive strength, the compressive strength experiment was
conducted in accordance with ASTM C 39 [12]. The cylindrical sam-
ple of 100 mm diameter and 200 mm height was fabricated
through the coring during the curing process of the fibres evenly
diffused in the concrete for the experiment. After water curing
for 28 days, universal testing machine (UTM) with 2000 kN capac-
ity was used.
722 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728

Fig. 1. Fiber type.

Table 1 exposed to the atmosphere, the distance water moved per time
Physical property of fibre. was measured. The experiment related to the diffusional behavior
Property Steel PP PVA of chorine ion was conducted according to ASTM C 1556 [15] using
Density 7.85 0.9 1.3
three test samples. The samples were cut into 100 mm  100 mm
Diameter (lm) 560 430 660 pieces, and the surface except the exposed surface were coated
Length (mm) 30 39 30 with epoxy and immersed in the 16.5% sodium chloride solution
Aspect ratio (l/d) 55 90 45 indoor for a year. The solution was replaced every 5 weeks. After
Tensile strength (MPa) 1100 620 800
one year of immersion, the samples were cut in parallel to the
Elastic modulus (GPa) 200 9.5 29
Acid resistance Low High Low exposed surface then grinded into fine particles. The amount of
chlorine ion contained in a unit volume was measured. The diffu-
sion coefficient of chlorine ion was measured using Fick’s second
3.3. Harmful material transfer property test law of diffusion.

To measure the absorption through the pores of the capillary

tube, the mass increase per time was measured according to
ASTM C 1585 [13]. Absorption of the water per time was measured
using 3 100 mm  50 mm test samples. For the permeability test of
concrete, the experiment method suggested by Soongswang et al.
[14] was used. As the 275.8 kPa pressure was delivered to the
water stored in a small chamber surrounded by the plexiglass, a
specific pressure was transferred throughout the whole surface
of the test sample. Since the bottom of the test sample was

Table 2
Mix Proportions.

Mix type W/C (%) Unit weight (kg/m3)

W C S G Fiber* HWA**
M1 44 159 360 879 852 – 4.4
M2 44 159 360 879 840 0.5 4.4
M3 44 159 360 879 834 0.75 4.4
M4 44 164 444 879 830 1.0 4.4
M5 37 164 444 804 844 – 4.4
M6 37 164 444 804 832 0.5 4.4
M7 37 164 444 804 826 0.75 4.4
M8 37 164 444 804 822 1.0 4.4

Fiber⁄: fiber volume fractions.

HWA⁄⁄: high range water reducing admixture. Fig. 2. Inverted slump cone test set-up.
 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728
Fig. 3. Vebe time test set-up.
3.4. Flexural strength test
The cured concrete slabs were cut to make 30 beam test sam-
ples for each mix. Cracks were generated on 10 of them in the
method described in ASTM C 1399 [16] and exposed to erosive
environment. A steel plate was inserted to the bottom plate of
the test sample and controlled the load so that around 0.05–
0.1 mm/min displacement was generated through the displace-
ment control. The load was continuously applied until the dis-
placement reached 0.5 mm from the center of the test sample. If
the crack was not generated up to that point, the experiment
was stopped and the test sample was replaced. The purpose of pro-
cess was to accelerate the erosion of the test sample exposed to the
erosive environment to the cracked part and determine the erosion
resistance of each fibre by comparing it with the test sample with-
out cracks. Two types of test samples were exposed to the erosive
environment, and the durability of the fibre reinforced concrete
was determined by evaluating the erosion resistance of the fibre
exposed to the erosive environment through the experiments of
residual strength [16] and bending stiffness [17].
3.5. Ultra pulse velocity
Using the ultra-pulse velocity (UPV) test method described in
ASTM C 597 [18], the moisture on the surface of the concrete test
sample was wiped out after the exposure to environment was
completed, and the time UP pass through both edges of the test
sample was measured. Total 5 times for each degraded specimens
were measured and average with three was determined after the
lowest and highest values were removed. The measured time
was divided by the length of the test sample to calculate the veloc-
ity of the sound wave through the test sample. Then the durability
deterioration of each test sample according to the fibre type and
mix strength was determined.
723
3.6. Carbonation
The depth of each test sample after erosion began was observed
by checking the color change by cutting the beam after the beam
experiment, cleaning its surface and then spraying the phenolph-
thalein solution on the destroyed area. Since the phenolphthalein
solution turns into violet color at pH of 9.0–9.5, the part of lower
acidity because of carbonation has no color change. The degree of
carbonation was devaluated by measuring with a micrometer the
depth of the part whose surface color did not change.
4. Exposure environment and duration
30 test samples were prepared for each mix. Among them, 20
test samples were for ASTM C 1399 experiments, and cracks were
applied on 10 of them. The remaining 10 test samples for beams
without cracks for ASTM C 1609 experiments were prepared. The
half 30 test samples were exposed to the pH 4.5 solution at 32 °C
for 21 months and then at 40 °C for 7 more months. As such, the
beam test sample was exposed to a strong acidic solution for total
of 27 months. To accelerated erosion of the concrete, the tempera-
ture was increased further. Moreover, 15 test samples were
immersed in the drinking water mixed of lime at the same temper-
ature for 27 months to compare.
5. Experiment results
5.1. Workability
Table 3 shows the detailed experiment result of workability of
fibre reinforced concrete. The mix without fibre reinforcement
showed the highest slump value, and adding the fibre significantly
lowered the slump value. Addition of steel fibre showed the lowest
slump value. However, as described above, the loss of slump does
not match the decrease of workability, and the inverted slumped
cone time and Vebe time can indicate more accurate flow ability
of workability loss. The controlled mixes without fibre reinforce-
ment (M1 and M5) had the smallest inverted slump time. That
indicates that the concrete filled in the inverted slump con few
fastest into the outside bucket. Adding the fibre significantly
increased the inverted slump cone time. Addition of PP fibre
showed the largest values in both mixes and the larges decreases
of both consistency and workability. Moreover, the time differ-
ences between fibre types were small in the mixes of 0.44 water
to cement ratio (M1–M4), but they were clearer in the mixes of
0.37 water to cement ratio (M5–M8). Comparison of Vebe time
measurement to each mix showed that the slump cone time
increased somewhat than the controlled mixed, but the difference
was not very clear. The result of Vebe time experiment indicates
that it would be more difficult to evaluate the workability change
than the inverted slump con time measurement.
Figs. 4–6 show the correlation among the slump, inverted
slump cone time and Vebe time. Fig. 4 shows the relation between
the slump value and Vebe time. It indicates the Vebe time gener-
ally decreases as the slump value increases. Fig. 5 shows the rela-
tion between the inverted slump time and slump value. It shows
the similar relation as Fig. 4. Fig. 5 shows the relation between
the Vebe time and inverted slump time. It shows the relatively lin-
ear relation. In conclusion, adding the fibres significantly degraded
the consistency and workability in different degrees according
to the type of fibre. In the workability experiment, measurement
of the inverted slump cone time showed the workability change
according to the fibre type the most clearly. In this experiment,
the PP fibre, which had the largest aspect ratio, had the biggest
impact on degradation of workability.
724 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728

Table 3
Workability test results.

Mix type Fiber type Slump (mm) I.S.C.T* (s) Vebe time (s)
M1 – 146 15 2
M2 PP 25 99 7
M3 PVA 38 85 6
M4 Steel 19 87 9
M5 – 83 32 4
M6 PP 45 78 6
M7 PVA 70 67 4
M8 Steel 45 59 5
⁄
Inverted slump cone time.

Fig. 6. Vebe time vs. inverted slump cone time.

Table 4
Compressive strength results.

Mix type Fiber type Compressive strength (MPa)

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 Mean
M1 – 55.98 55.05 58.71 56.58
M2 PP 57.37 56.53 59.33 57.74
M3 PVA 56.88 58.68 56.96 57.74
M4 Steel 58.78 58.53 58.39 58.57
M5 – 63.52 68.10 68.22 66.61
M6 PP 68.66 67.07 70.59 68.78
Fig. 4. Vebe time vs. slump. M7 PVA 67.88 68.95 67.82 68.22
M8 Steel 66.29 68.32 67.41 67.34

Table 5
Transport properties of harmful materials.

Mix Fiber Absorption rate Coefficient of Coefficient of

type type permeability diffusion
2
(10 mm/s0.5) (10 13 m/s) (10 12 m2/s)
M1 – 1.45 3.01 16.83
M2 PP 1.81 3.09 17.57
M3 PVA 1.26 3.07 11.80
M4 Steel 1.39 2.39 6.23
M5 – 0.96 2.26 7.76
M6 PP 1.10 2.20 6.33
M7 PVA 0.93 1.92 6.99
M8 Steel 0.95 1.74 5.59

transport. PP fibre reinforcement particularly showed the

Fig. 5. Inverted slump cone time vs. slump.
5.2. Compressive strength
Table 4 shows the impact of mixing of fibres on compression
strength of the concrete. The experiment result shows that the
change of compression strengths by mixing of fibres was insignif-
icant. Although they increased somewhat, they were all less than
10%. The increases should be considered as the impact of concrete
parent body than the reinforcement effect of fibres.
5.3. Resistance of harmful material transport
Table 5 shows the resistance to transport of harmful materials
into the concrete. The experiment result indicates that the fibre
reinforcement did affect the resistance of harmful material
increased absorption in both mixes and no significant change in
permeability and chlorine ion diffusion coefficient. The PVA fibre
reinforcement showed lower absorption and permeation resis-
tance than the reference sample and clearly showed the resistance
to the chlorine ion diffusion coefficient particularly. Steel fibre
reinforcement showed the clear resistance in absorption, perme-
ation and chlorine ion diffusion coefficient. It also showed the most
outstanding transport resistance among the fibres used in this
experiment. It is the result of outstanding chemical reaction
between the steel fibre and cement pool as well as the physical
bonding by hydration reaction of concrete at the same time. The
result of PP fibre is attributed to its hydrophobic nature to block
chemical reaction with the cement pool. Based on the experiment
result of absorption force by capillary phenomenon, permeability
under the pressure, and diffusion of chlorine ion by composition
difference, The PP fibre reinforced test sample is expected to show
the quickest erosion and followed by PVA fibre and steel fibre in
 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728 725

that order when the beam test sample is exposed to the erosive
environment.

5.4. Residual strength and toughness change

Fig. 7 is a picture comparing the surface condition of the refer-

ence test sample after the exposure to the environment and a test
sample exposed to the strong acidic solution. The reference test
sample, which was added of lime powder and exposed for
27 months had no clear change. However the test sample exposed
to pH 4.5 for a long period showed the serious erosion on the sur-
face. Particularly, the cross section of cut slab showed the complete
erosion of the coarse aggregates to create empty hole, and the rust
by erosion of the steel fibre turned the whole sample red. Fig. 8
shows the beam experiment setting. The test sample was sup-
ported with a yoke, and the deflection was measured at the center
of the test sample.
Figs. 9–11 show the deflection curve to bending load. This paper
presents the load–deflection curve of M1-4. M5-8 were omitted as
they had the similar load–deflection relation as M1-4. Figs. 9 and Fig. 9. Test results for precracked beam.
10 show the result of measurement of residual strengths of fibres
by destroying the concrete matrix with the steel plate on the test
sample bottom and then reapplying the load. Fig. 9 shows the
residual strength of the test sample cracked before it is exposed
to the environment while Fig. 10 shows the result of the test sam-
ple cracked after the exposure to the environment. The experiment
result shows that, regardless of the crack and fibre type, the test
sample exposed to the strong acid rapidly decreased the maximum
load and low result in residual load compared to the reference test
sample. Fig. 11 shows the result of ASTM C 1609 experiment. It is

Fig. 10. Test results for uncracked beam (residual strength).

the load–deflection curve indicating the crack resistance of the

Fig. 7. Specimens comparison after conditioning.
Fig. 8. Flexural test set-up.
fibre when the concrete matrix was cracked while the load was
continuously applied to the test sample. The decrease of bending
stiffness and toughness due to the erosion by exposure to environ-
ment shows the similar trend as Figs. 12 and 13. The steel fibre
showed that it could maintain the highest load and the most out-
standing resistance to growth of cracks among the fibres. Table 6
shows the change of the residual change to cracks and exposure
environment.
Fig. 12 shows the residual strength reduction rate of reference
test sample under the acidic solution after it was exposed to the
environment for 27 months. It indicates that the residual strength
of precracked test sample decreased in larger percentage than the
uncracked test sample and that the M6-8 with higher concrete
strength had relatively smaller reduction rate. Among the fibres,
PVA (M3) showed the largest decrease regardless of the crack but
still had the most outstanding residual strength in stronger M7
(PVA). The reason The steel fibre reinforcement at high strength
mix (M8) showed the largest difference of residual strength
according to the crack, and it is attributed by the fact that, unlike
other fibres, the erosion quickly grew in the cracked area as the test
sample was exposed to the environment after the crack and thus
the resistance significantly decreased as the crack grew. Fig. 13
726 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728

Fig. 12. Residual strength reduction percent between limewater and pH 4.5
Fig. 11. Test results for uncracked beam (toughness). solutions.

shows the change of toughness according to the fibre type and mix
ratio. It indicates that erosion under the strong acid caused the
lower toughness than the reference test sample and that the steel
fibre had the most outstanding toughness regardless of the
exposed environment.
5.5. Ultrasonic pulse velocity
Fig. 14 shows the result of ultrasonic pulse measured before the
beam sample was destroyed. For the test samples exposed to the
same environment, the difference of ultrasonic pulse speed by
the crack was not large. However, the test sample exposed to the
acidic solution showed 20–25% lower speed than the reference test
sample. That is attributed to the deterioration of durability due to
the decrease of dynamic property of the beam test sample by ero-
sion of the surface [19]. PP and PVA fibre reinforced test samples
generally had the low UPV while the steel fibre reinforced test
sample had the high UPV. Because of the change of UPV, the
decrease of durability performance of the beam test sample
showed the similar trend as the change of residual strength and
toughness.

Table 6
Residual strength results.

Mix type Exposure conditioning Residual load (kN) Residual strength (MPa) Specimen condition
0.5 mm 0.77 mm 1 mm 0.13 mm
M1 Limewater – – – – – Precracked beam
pH 4.5 – – – – –
M2 Limewater 7.11 7.86 8.02 8.0 2.15
pH 4.5 2.75 3.04 3.22 3.32 0.90
M3 Limewater 10.01 10.46 8.72 6.17 2.50
pH 4.5 2.32 2.57 2.73 2.87 0.74
M4 Limewater 20.84 19.22 17.90 16.48 5.31
pH 4.5 8.84 8.56 8.29 8.04 2.36
M5 Limewater – – – – –
pH 4.5 – – – – –
M6 Limewater 5.85 6.20 8.94 8.86 2.39
pH 4.5 3.50 3.92 4.20 4.35 1.13
M7 Limewater 7.98 8.68 8.17 6.44 2.22
pH 4.5 4.94 5.50 5.88 5.96 1.57
M8 Limewater 23.29 21.64 20.32 19.25 5.84
pH 4.5 9.56 9.31 8.98 8.43 2.58
M1 Limewater – – – – – Uncracked beam
pH 4.5 – – – – –
M2 Limewater 5.09 5.38 5.56 5.63 1.72
pH 4.5 3.36 3.56 3.24 3.82 0.89
M3 Limewater 8.21 9.16 9.33 8.71 2.73
pH 4.5 2.65 2.93 3.05 3.09 0.81
M4 Limewater 18.38 17.32 15.80 14.33 4.65
pH 4.5 9.45 9.40 9.30 8.79 2.63
M5 Limewater – – – – –
pH 4.5 – – – – –
M6 Limewater 5.85 6.20 6.35 6.34 1.73
pH 4.5 3.69 3.96 4.15 4.30 1.15
M7 Limewater 6.03 6.49 6.68 6.03 1.84
pH 4.5 3.87 430 4.67 4.98 1.28
M8 Limewater 21.70 20.72 19.16 18.21 3.68
pH 4.5 14.09 14.08 13.84 13.47 2.50
 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728
Fig. 13. Toughness results.
Fig. 14. Ultrasonic pulse velocity results.
5.6. Carbonation depth
After the beam experiment was completed, the carbonation
depth of each test sample was measured. Fig. 15 shows the vertical
Fig. 15. Carbonation depth measurement.
727
Fig. 16. Carbonation depth results.
and corner cross section of the test sample. The visual inspection of
the cutting plane indicates the serious corrosion at the edge of the
surface. The phenolphthalein solution was sprayed on the surface,
and the color change was observed. That the carbonation depth
was measured using a micrometer. Fig. 16 shows the carbonation
depth according to mixing and cracks on the test sample. There
was no carbonation on the reference test sample, but the car-
bonization was observed on the test sample exposed to the acidic
solution. There was no large difference in carbonation depth
according to the crack. In the test samples without cracks, the PP
fibre showed relatively faster carbonation in the high strength
mixing while the steel fibre showed slower carbonation. That is
consistent to the expected result of harmful material transport
characteristics.
6. Conclusions
This study evaluated the durability performance of the beam
test samples reinforced with PP, PVA and steel fibres, which are
widely used structural reinforcing fibres in the construction sites,
and exposed to pH 4.5 solutions for 27 months. For the experiment,
the transport capability of the harmful material was studied first,
and the change of residual strength and toughness, change of
UPV, and carbonation depth were measured to evaluate the ero-
sion resistance of fibre reinforced test sample under the acidic
728 B. Kim et al. / Construction and Building Materials 93 (2015) 720–728
environment. The result of this study can be summarized as
follows:
(1) The fibre reinforcement considerably deteriorated the work-
ability. Measurement of inverted slump cone time was
judged to be the most appropriate.
(2) In evaluation of resistance of transport capability of harmful
material, the steel fibre was the most outstanding followed
by PVA fibre and PP fibre in that order.
(3) In the residual strength evaluation, the beam test samples
cracked before the exposure had rapidly lower resistance
to the acidic solution than the test samples without the
crack.
(4) The toughness change showed a large decrease like the
residual strength. The most outstanding toughness was
maintained by steel reinforcement. Compared to the refer-
ence test sample, the decrease rate of toughness was the
smallest by the PVA fibre.
(5) The change of durability performance of UPV showed the
similar trend as the change of residual strength and tough-
ness. The mix reinforced with steel fibre maintained the out-
standing durability performance.
(6) Carbonation depth showed some level of carbonation in all
test samples and generally occurred more quickly with PP
fibre and slowly with steel fibre in the high strength mix.
(7) In conclusion, reinforcing the concrete with the steel fibre
improved the resistance to transport capability of harmful
material and maintained the high residual strength and
toughness even under the erosive environment for a long
time. It was judged to be followed by PVA fibre and PP fibre
in that order.
Funding
The continued financial and technical support of the FDOT
(Florida Department of Transportation), Grant No. (BD545-41) is
greatly appreciated.
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