Influence of Coarse Aggregate Parameters and Mechanical Properties on the Abrasion Resistance of Concrete in Hydraulic Structures

Abstract

The objective of this experimental investigation is to use the ASTM C1138 (underwater) test method to investigate the influence of the quantity and type of coarse aggregates on the hydrodynamic abrasion resistance of concrete. Thereafter, relationships between the abrasion resistance of concrete with its principal mechanical properties are comparatively examined. It is found that the use of natural coarse aggregates to replace fine aggregates by up to 25% does not significantly affect concrete abrasion performance, but the use of recycled tire rubber aggregates with aspect ratios of ∼4 to replace 25% of natural coarse aggregates increases the abrasion resistance by up to 64% depending on the test duration. Further, concretes produced with natural rounded coarse aggregates of 10 mm significantly outperformed those with angular 20 mm maximum particle size at all test durations by up to 57%. Finally, for the concrete mixtures tested, results indicate that tensile splitting strength is a superior parameter to compressive strength for predicting the concrete abrasion resistance in the ASTM C1138 test and the relations developed for the concretes tested predicted percentage abrasion loss within the margin of ±0.5%.