Long‐Term Compressive Strength of Silica‐Fume Concrete

Abstract

The long‐term compressive strength of silica‐fume concrete has been recently questioned by some researchers. This paper reports the results of compressive strength data on 4‐ to 6‐year‐old cores obtained from well‐documented field experiments where both silica‐fume and nonsilica‐fume concrete mixtures were used. All concretes were exposed to freeze/thaw and thawing cycles and heavy deicing salt applications. The 1988 core results clearly show that the silica‐fume field concretes have not experienced any strength loss, compared to the nonsilica‐fume concretes. Moreover, the compressive strength results obtained on concrete cores taken after a 4‐year period from an experimental column built with a very high‐strength concrete also confirmed that there was no tendency for strength loss in silica‐fume concretes.