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Effect of surface moisture on air-permeability kT and its correction

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Abstract

It is a well-known fact that moisture in the pores hinders the flow of gas through them, thus having a strong effect on the gas-permeability of concrete. Contrary to laboratory tests, where specimens can be preconditioned by drying, site air-permeability tests are normally conducted under the natural moisture conditions prevailing at the moment of the measurement. Swiss Standard SIA262/1-E: 2019 prescribes that the site air-permeability test (double vacuum cell or Torrent method) is applicable to measure the air-permeability coefficient, kT, only when the surface moisture content m does not exceed 5.5%, m measured with an electrical impedance-based instrument. This paper analyses 50 sets of parallel data of kT and m, recorded during different drying processes, originated from five independent investigations. The analysis confirms that a relation of the type \(kT = kT_{0} \cdot e^{ - \delta \cdot m}\) can be fitted to the large majority of the cases (\(\overline{R} = 0.95)\), with δ falling within 1.0–2.0 in 84% of the 50 cases analysed, with a median value of 1.45. This analysis allows the authors to propose a practical method to correct the effect of m on kT, the robustness of which is verified by a sensitive analysis. The correction is of little practical relevance for surface moistures between 4.5% and 5.5%. It is expected that this correction may be included in future versions of standards.

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Acknowledgement

The authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. Michael Romer for generously sharing the data described in Section 3.2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Advanced Services Sagl, 6877, Coldrerio, Switzerland

    Verónica Bueno

  2. Civil and Environmental Engineering Program, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8527, Japan

    Kenichiro Nakarai & May Huu Nguyen

  3. Department of Bridge and Tunnel, University of Transport Technology, 54 Trieu Khuc, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam

    May Huu Nguyen

  4. Materials Advanced Services SRL, C1425 ABV, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Roberto Juan Torrent

  5. Department of Engineering, Ehime University, 3 Bunkyo, Matsuyama, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan

    Isao Ujike

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  1. Verónica Bueno
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  2. Kenichiro Nakarai
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  4. Roberto Juan Torrent
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Correspondence to Kenichiro Nakarai.

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Bueno, V., Nakarai, K., Nguyen, M.H. et al. Effect of surface moisture on air-permeability kT and its correction. Mater Struct 54, 89 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-021-01666-1

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