Investigating porous concrete with improved strength: Testing at different scales

Ayda S. Agar-Ozbek*, Jaap Weerheijm, Erik Schlangen, Klaas Van Breugel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

102 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Porous concrete incorporates a high percentage of meso-size air voids that makes its mechanical characteristics remarkably different from normal concrete. A research project was undertaken to design a special type of porous concrete, that fractures into small fragments when exposed to impact loading while having sufficient static strength, to be used in protective structures such as safety walls or storages for explosives. In the concretes designed, while a sufficient static strength was required, high porosity was essential to facilitate the formation of multiple cracks and the subsequent fracturing. Production of porous concretes having improved static compressive strengths was accomplished by modifying the mixture design and the compaction technique; while the design procedure was supported by macro and meso-scale mechanical testing, computed tomography, microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)480-490
Number of pages11
JournalConstruction and Building Materials
Volume41
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This project was funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Defence. Dr. Oguzhan Copuroglu is acknowledged for the helpful discussions on the ITZ results. The authors also acknowledge Ger Nagtegaal and Gerard Timmers for their contributions to establishing the test setups and Arjan Thijssen for conducting the computed tomography scans. Dr. Orhan Yavuz from Istanbul Technical University is also acknowledged for the mineralogical analysis of the gravel.

FundersFunder number
Netherlands Ministry of Defence

    Keywords

    • Aggregate properties
    • Compaction
    • Computed tomography
    • Interfacial transition zone
    • Macro-scale testing
    • Meso-scale testing
    • Porous concrete

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