Hollow cylinder dynamic pressurization and radial flow through permeability tests for cementitous materials

Abstract

Saturated permeability is likely a good method for characterizing the susceptibility of portland cement concrete to various forms of degradation; although no widely accepted test exists to measure this property. The hollow cylinder dynamic pressurization test is a potential solution for measuring concrete permeability. The hollow cylinder dynamic pressurization (HDP) test is compared with the radial flow through (RFT) test and the solid cylinder dynamic pressurization (SDP) test to assess the accuracy and reliability of the HDP test. The three test methods, mentioned above, were used to measure the permeability of Vycor glass and portland cement paste and the results of the HDP test were compared with the results from the SDP and RFT tests. When the HDP and RFT test results were compared, the measured difference between the mean values of the two tests was 40% for Vycor glass and 47% for cement paste. When the HDP and SDP tests results were compared, the measured difference with Vycor glass was 53%. The cement paste permeability values could not be compared in the same manner since they were tested at various ages to show the time dependency of permeability in cement paste. The results suggest good correlation between the HDP test and both the SDP and RFT tests. Furthermore, good repeatability was shown with low coefficients of variation in all test permutations. Both of these factors suggest that the new HDP test is a valid tool for measuring the permeability of concrete materials.