Alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) can cause distributed
cracking and premature deterioration in concrete
structures. It is highly desirable to determine
whether impact-echo testing may be applied to
detect and quantify the amount of ASR damage in
concrete specimens. To address this issue, all
efforts were concentrated on monitoring the
evolution of ASR damage in concrete using
transient stress waves. Impact-echo testing was
applied on concrete specimens affected by ASR
and the corresponding results were analyzed to
test the parameters sensitive to ASR. In this study
two sets of experiments were used to accelerate
ASR in concrete. First, three reactive concrete
mixtures were cast using different percentages of
silicate aggregates. Concrete specimens were kept
at 80 °C (353.15 K) in a 1 mol–1 sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) solution. The results were obtained
through consequent tests over eight months. In
addition, other experiments were performed for
three different mixtures, which were synthesized
by using different types of silicate aggregates, as
well as one mixture including non-reactive aggregates.
All these mixtures were investigated six
months after fabrication, and these specimens
were kept at 38 °C (311.15 K) in a 1 mol–1 NaOH
solution. The applied technique, which is classified
as a nondestructive testing (NDT) technique based
on the impact-echo technique, may have the
capability to inspect the development of ASR in
concrete structures. Based on the observations in
this study, petrographic inspection confirms that
the damage was associated with ASR.
ASTM, ASTM C1293, Standard Test Method for Determination of Length
Change of Concrete Due to Alkali-Silica Reaction, Annual Book of ASTM
Standards, Vol. 04.02, 2005.
ASTM, ASTM C1383, Standard Test Method for Measuring the P-Wave
Speed and Thickness of Concrete Plates Using the Impact-Echo Method,
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.02, 2010.
Carino, N. J., “The Impact-echo Method: an Overview,” Structures
Congress & Exposition, Proceedings, American Society of Civil Engineers,
21–23 May 2001, Washington, D.C, pp. 1–18.
Carino, N. J. and M. Sansalone, “Impact-echo: A New Method for
Inspecting Construction Materials,” Proceedings of Nondestructive Testing
and Evaluation of Materials for Construction, University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, 1988.
Carino, N. J., M. Sansalone and N. N. Hsu, “Flaw Detection in Concrete by
Frequency Spectrum Analysis of Impact-echo Waveforms,” 12th ed., International
Advances in Nondestructive Testing, Gordon & Breach Science
Publishers, New York, New York, 1986, pp. 117–146.
CMC, “Petrographic Examination of Three Saw Cut Concrete Prism of
Seymareh Concrete Dam,” Report No. 0305134, Construction Materials
Consultants, Inc., Greenburg, Pennsylvania, 2007.
CMI, “Evaluation of Potential Alkali Reactivity of Delayed Reactive Aggregate
– Seymareh Concrete Dam,” Report No. 8308161, Construction Materials
Institute, 2005.
Concrete Society, Alkali-silica Reaction: New Structures – Specifying the
Answer, Existing Structures – Diagnosis and Assessment: Papers for a One-day
Conference, Concrete Society, Kensington, London, U.K., 1985.
Del Rio, L. M., A. Jimenez, F. Lopez, F. J. Rosa, M. M. Rufo and J. M.
Paniagua, “Characterization and Hardening of Concrete With Ultrasonic
Testing,” Vol. 42, Nos. 1–9, Ultrasonics, 2004, pp. 527–530.
Gaydecki, P. A., F. M. Burdekin, W. Damaj and D. G. John, “The Propagation
and Attenuation of Medium-frequency Ultrasonic Waves in Concrete:
A Signal Analytical Approach,” Vol. 3, No. 1, Measurement Science and
Technology, 1992, pp. 126–134.
Grosse, C. U., R. Beutel, H. W. Reinhardt and M. Kruger, “Impact-echo
Techniques for Non-destructive Inspection of Concrete Structures,”
Proceedings of the International Conference on Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation
and Retrofitting, Cape Town, South Africa, November 2005, pp. 174–176.
Hsiao, C., Y. Lin and C. Chang, “Nondestructive Evaluation of Concrete
Quality and Integrity in Composite Columns,” Vol. 32, No. 7, NDT&E
International, 1999, pp. 375–382.
Imai, H., T. Yamasaki, H. Maehara and T. Miyagawa, “The Deterioration
by Alkali- silica Reaction in Hanshin Express-way Concrete Structures:
Investigation and Repair,” Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on
Concrete Alkali-Aggregate Reaction, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Noyes Publications,
New Jersey, 1986, pp. 131–135.
Kesner, K., M. J. Sansalone and R. W. Poston, “Detection and Quantification
of Distributed Damage in Concrete Using Transient Stress Waves,”
Vol. 10, Materials Journal, American Concrete Institute, 2004,
pp. 318–328.
Kim, Y. H., S. Lee and H. C. Kim, “Attenuation and Dispersion of Elastic
Waves in Multi-phase Materials,” Vol. 24, No. 10, Journal of Physics, D:
Applied Physics, 1991, pp. 1722–1728.
Krautkramer, J. and H. Krautkramer, Ultrasonic Testing of Materials, 4th ed.,
Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 1990.
Layssi, H., M. Shekarchi, M. Abbasi and H. Eftekhar, “Evaluation of the
Alkali-silica Reactivity of Rocks from Iran, Aras Region,” 13th International
Conference on Alkali-aggregate Reaction in Concrete, Trondheim, Norway,
2008.
Liang, M. T. and P. J. Su, “Detection of the Corrosion Damage of Rebar in
Concrete Using Impact-echo Method,” Vol. 31, No. 10, Cement and
Concrete Research, 2001, pp. 1427–1436.
Lin, Y., M. Sansalone and N. J. Carino, “Impact-echo Response of
Concrete Shafts,” Vol. 14, No. 2, Journal of Geotechnical Testing, American
Society of Testing and Materials, 1991, pp. 121–137.
Narayan Swamy, R. and M. M Al-Asali, “Expansion of Concrete due to
Alkali-silica Reaction,” Vol. 85, No. 1, Materials Journal, American
Concrete Institute, 1988, pp. 33–40.
Narayan Swamy, R. and W. M. R. Wan, “Use of Dynamic Nondestructive
Test Methods to Monitor Concrete Deterioration Due to Alkali-silica
Reaction,” Vol. 15, No. 1, Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, 1993,
pp. 39–49.
Sadri, M. R., F. Mahmoudzadeh, H. Taghados, M. Shekarchi and A.
Fakher, “Studying the Relation of P-wave Velocity and Compressive
Strength of RCC Specimens using a Neuro-fuzzy Method,” 7th International
Conference on Concrete Technology in Developing Countries, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004, pp. 213–224.
Saint-Pierre, F., P. Rivard and G. Ballivy, “Measurement of Alkali-silica
Reaction Progression by Ultrasonic Waves Attenuation,” Vol. 37, No. 6,
Cement and Concrete Research, Elsevier, 2007, pp. 948–956.
Sansalone, M. and N. J. Carino, “Detecting Delamination in Concrete
Slabs With and Without Overlays Using the Impact-echo Method,”
Vol. 86, No. 2, Materials Journal, American Concrete Institute, 1989,
pp. 175–184.
Sansalone, M., Y. Lin, D. Pratt, C. C. Cheng, “Advancements and New
Applications in Impact-echo Testing,” Vol. 128, Special Publication,
American Concrete Institute, 1992, pp. 135–151.
Sansalone, M. and W. B. Streett, Impact-echo: Nondestructive Testing of
Concrete and Masonry, Bullbrier Press, Jersey shore, Pennsylvania, 1997.
Sharma, P. V., Geophysical Methods in Geology (Methods in Geochemistry
and Geophysics), Elsevier Science, Ltd., 1976, pp. 442.
Shekarchi, M., F. Mahmoudzadeh, H. Taghados, M. R. Sadri and M.
Fazlavi, “Estimating Concrete Strength with Impact Echo System Using a
Neuro-fuzzy Method,” 43rd Annual Conference of the British Institute of
Non-destructive Testing, Torquay, U.K., 2004.
Shekarchi, M., M. Kashi, M. Nemati Chari, H. Dormohammadi, M.
Hosseini and H. Layssi, “Aggregate Sweetening and Pozzolans as Remedy
to ASR,” 7th CANMET/ACI International Conference on Durability of
Concrete, Montreal, QC, Canada, 2006, pp. 465–473.
Tesfamariam, S., M. Thomas and A. Sadri, “The Use of Stress-waves to
Evaluate Concrete Affected by Alkali-silica Reaction,” Proceedings of Structural
Faults + Repair: Extending the Life of Brides, Civil + Building Structures,
Commonwealth Institute, London, U.K., 1999.