ASR related service life estimation for concrete pavements

Abstract

In a 5 years study on behalf of the German federal highway research institute (BASt), 71 pavement concretes from 53 highway sections across Germany were examined among other things regarding their residual potential for an alkali-silica reaction (ASR). An empirical approach could be derived for predicting the remaining service life of the concretes. By using earlier correlation data for the climate simulation concrete prism test (CS-CPT) compared to field performance, a translation of the testing period into service life was possible by using a fitted natural exponential function. In the result, the service life of all the pavement concretes could be estimated, ranging from 11 to 51 years, depending on the ASR potential of the concrete mixes with external alkali supply by NaCl de-icer solution. A first agreement between the prediction and the field performance could be found. Further monitoring is supposed to verify and improve the prediction.