Fracture Behavior of Concrete under Chlorine Salt Attack Exposed to Freeze–Thaw Cycles Environment

Abstract

Fracture behavior is one of the key properties to study concrete cracking under sodium chloride attack exposed to the freeze–thaw cycles environment, which is frequently neglected. In this paper, 24 single edge notch beam specimens and 24 cubes were poured. The corresponding freeze–thaw cycles test in sodium chloride solution, standard cube compressive strength of concrete test, and three-point-bending tests were carried out. The research revealed that the fracture toughness, fracture energy, relative dynamic modulus of elasticity, and standard cube compressive strength were decreased by increasing freeze–thaw cycles under sodium chloride attack, and the damage degree of concrete caused by sodium chloride solution was deeper than that of pure water. In particular, there existed good linear correlation between the fracture behavior and imposed freeze–thaw damage for various solution. Accordingly, a more reliable damage model using fracture control parameters as damage factors was proposed.