Permeability of high-performance concrete subjected to elevated

temperature (600 C)
Albert N. Noumowe
a
, Rafat Siddique
b,
*
, G. Debicki
c
a
L2MGC, University of Cergy-Pontoise, 5, Mail Gay Lussac, Neuville sur Oise, 95031 Cergy-Pontoise, France
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala 147 004, India
c
Unit de Recherche Gnie Civil Structures, INSA de Lyon, 20, Av. Albert Einstein, 69621 Villeurbanne, France
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 30 November 2007
Received in revised form 8 September 2008
Accepted 28 September 2008
Available online 8 November 2008
Keywords:
High-performance concrete
Permeability
Polypropylene bres
Strength
Temperature
Thermal gradient
a b s t r a c t
Permeability is one of the most important parameters to quantify the durability of high-performance
concrete. Permeability is closely related with the spalling phenomenon in concrete at elevated tempera-
ture. This parameter is commonly measured on non-thermally damaged specimens. This paper presents
the results of an experimental investigation carried out to study the effect of elevated temperature on the
permeability of high-performance concrete. For this purpose, three types of concrete mixtures were pre-
pared: (i) control high-performance concrete; (ii) high-performance concrete incorporating polypropyl-
ene bres; and (iii) high-performance concrete made with lightweight aggregates. A heatingcooling
cycle was applied on 160 320 mm, 110 220 mm, and 150 300 mm cylindrical specimens. The max-
imum test temperature was kept as either 200 or 600 C. After the thermal treatment, 65 mm thick slices
were cut from each cylinder and dried prior to being subjected to permeability test. Results of thermal
gradients in the concrete specimens during the heatingcooling cycles, compressive strength, and split-
ting tensile strength of concrete mixtures are also presented here. A relationship between the thermal
damage indicators and permeability is presented.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
High-performance concrete (HPC) has become an attractive op-
tion to normal-strength concrete (NSC). High-performance con-
crete (HPC) is a specialized concrete designed to provide several
benets in the construction of concrete structures. HPC offers high
strength, better durability properties, and good construction. High
strength is one of the important attributes of HPC. High strength
concrete, according to American Concrete Institute Committee
ACI 363 R [1], is the concrete which has specic compressive
strength of 41 MPa or more at 28 days. The HPC offers signicant
economic and architectural advantages over NSC in the correct sit-
uations, and is suited well for constructions that require high dura-
bility. High-performance concretes having strength in excess of
70 MPa are often used in a wide range of applications.
Studies by Lankard et al. [2], Khoury [3], Fukujiro et al. [4], and
Hsu and Hsu [5] have demonstrated that there are signicant dif-
ferences between the performance of HSC and NSC at elevated
temperatures. These include the differences in mechanical proper-
ties, and higher potential of HSC specimens to fail by explosive
spalling when subjected to rapid heating. In a concrete structure,
the material is prone to several types of damaging effect, such as
mechanical, hydrous, chemical, and thermal effects. These dam-
ages generally result in an overall increase in porosity of the con-
crete. This will in turn cause a decrease in the mechanical
properties of materials, i.e. compressive and tensile strength, while
transfer parameters such as permeability tend to increase [4,610].
Explosive spalling is known to occur in ordinary concrete and in
high-performance concrete. The risk of explosion seems to increase
with decreased permeability, increased moisture content, de-
creased tensile strength, and increased heating rate [6,7,1116].
Phan and Carino [17] presented compilation of experimental re-
sults on the mechanical properties of concrete exposed to rapid
heating as in case of re. The compilation revealed distinct differ-
ence in mechanical properties of normal-strength concrete (NSC)
and high strength concrete (HSC) in the range between room tem-
perature and approximately 450 C. The differences in mechanical
properties narrowed above 450 C.
Permeability is one of the most important parameter of measur-
ing the durability of concrete. There has not been much reporting
on the permeability of HSC. Table 1 summarizes the details of
the permeability results reported by Poon et al. [18,19] and Janotka
and Bagel [20]. Poon et al. [18] reported that all high strength
concrete specimens showed a very low permeability at 20 C. How-
ever, as the temperature was increased, a severe loss (25009000%
at 800 C) in impermeability was observed. Poon et al. [19] re-
ported loss of impermeability (200010,700%) and it was probably
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2008.09.023
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 175 2393027; fax: +91 175 2364498.
E-mail address: siddique_66@yahoo.com (R. Siddique).
Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861
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due to the internal cracking and pore structure coarsening of the
concrete at high temperatures. Janotka and Bagel [20] indicated
that permeability of concretes increased drastically with the in-
crease in the temperature.
Komonen and Penttala [21] reported that inclusion of PP bres
produced a ner residual capillary pore structure, decreased the
residual compressive strength and improved the residual exural
strength of Portland cement paste when temperature varied from
150 to 440 C. Poon et al. [22] reported that inclusion of PP bres
resulted in a quicker loss of the compressive strength and tough-
ness of concrete after exposure to elevated temperature up to
800 C. Chen and Liu [23] concluded that (i) addition of bres in
HSC can alleviate the deterioration of mechanical properties of
HSC exposure to high temperatures; and (ii) hybrid bres with
PP bres signicantly improved the properties of concrete at high
temperatures (800 C) because the high vapour pressure due to in-
ner moisture of concrete is released by micro-channels due to
melting of PP bre under high temperatures. Xiao and Falkner
[24] concluded that except for the mass loss, the addition of PP -
bres in HPCs had no negative effects on the residual compressive
and exural strengths of HPCs after exposure to high temperatures
(20900 C).
Hammer et al. [25], Justnes and Hansen [26], and Copier [27] re-
ported that main causes of spalling in lightweight aggregate con-
crete are (i) vapour pressure dependent on the moisture content
and the permeability; (ii) moisture clogging of capillary pores;
and (iii) initial compressive stresses in the exposed layer. To pre-
vent spalling in lightweight aggregate concrete, Hammer et al.
[25], Justnes and Hansen [26] suggested the impregnation of the
lightweight aggregates to prevent water suction during storage
or from the fresh concrete, and thereby reduce the moisture con-
tent of the hardened concrete.
Permeability is one of the main material properties inuencing
spalling during a re [2527]. Authors [25,27,33,34] claimed that
low permeability is exclusively negative with respect to the re
resistance. The low permeability led to the increased vapour pres-
sure during heating [25,27]. High strength lightweight aggregate
concrete has in general very low permeability, usually lower than
NDC at equal nominal W/C [25,33]. During re, permeability of a
concrete can be increased by using polypropylene (PP) bre
[26,2832]. PP bres have a melting point at about 170 C. The
melting of the polypropylene-bre creates realizing channels in
the hardened concrete where the vapour may evacuate. Light-
weight aggregate concrete insulates better than normal density
concrete due to low heat conductivity [28,3537].
2. Research signicance
There is a lack of information about the inuence of the aggre-
gate type and the effects of the addition of bres on the permeabil-
ity of high-performance concrete subjected to elevated
temperature. The aim of this work is to study the effect of aggre-
gate type and the effect of polypropylene bres on the permeabil-
ity of high-performance concrete exposed to elevated temperature
up to 600 C. Findings of this investigation will add to the knowl-
edge of the behaviour of concrete at elevated temperatures. Many
studies have shown that adding polypropylene bres is an efcient
solution to reduce the risk of spalling of concretes subjected to
high temperature. That explains the interest in studying the impact
of these bres on concrete permeability.
3. Experimental program
3.1. Materials
An ordinary Portland cement (French CPA CEM I 52.5) was used.
Its chemical composition is presented in Table 2. Silica fume was
used as a partial replacement for cement (10% of the weight of ce-
ment). Silica fume is an amorphous silicon dioxide with very small
size particles. Silico-calcareous sand with a maximum grain size of
5 mm was used as a ne aggregate. Coarse aggregate was either
crushed silico-calcareous of 20 mm maximum grain, or expanded
clay lightweight aggregate.
3.2. Concrete mixture proportions
Three concrete mixtures were made using Portland cement and
silica fume with a water/cementitious materials ratio of 0.30. Con-
trol mixture B2 was a high-performance concrete. Mixture B3 was
a high-performance concrete incorporating polypropylene bres.
Polypropylene bres were 13 mm long, 150 lm wide, and 50 lm
thick. Fibre dosage was 2 kg per cubic meter of concrete. In mixture
B4, an ordinary aggregate was replaced with expanded clay light-
weight aggregate by an equivalent volume. Details of the mixture
proportions are given in Table 3.
For each mixture, 160 320 mm, 110 220 mm, and 150
300 mm cylindrical specimens were cast. The concrete specimens
were cast in cardboard moulds and compacted with the aid of a
vibrating table. Plastic sheet covering the specimens in the card-
board mould prevented the concrete from drying during the curing
Table 1
Summary of permeability results of high strength/HPC concretes.
Research
reported by
Test methods used Concrete materials used Compressive
strength, MPa
Permeability
Poon et al.
[18]
Rapid chloride permeability test
(ASTM C 1202-94)
OPC, conventional aggregate, y ash
(FA), GGBS, silica fume (SF)
91.3115.5 HSC-OPC, total charge passed 941 C at 20 C to
23,396 C at 800 C
HSC-SF, total charge passed 285 C at 20 C to 25,170 C
at 800 C
HSC-FA, total charge passed 369 C at 20 C to 11,625 C
at 800 C
HSC-GGBS, total charge passed 245 C at 20 C to
11,044 C at 800 C
Poon et al.
[19]
Rapid chloride permeability test
(ASTM C 1202-94)
OPC, conventional aggregate, silica fume
(SF), metakaolin (MK)
82.7131.3 HSC-OPC, total charge passed 1200 C at 20 C to
23,200 C at 800 C
HSC-MK, total charge passed 300 C at 20 C to
32,000 C at 800 C
HSC-SF, total charge passed 400 C at 20 C to 25,600 C
at 800 C
Janotka and
Bagel [20]
Permeability coefcient (K) based
on empirical formula
Blast furnace slag cement 49.452.3
(71637584)
Permeability coefcient (K), 0.87 10
10
m/s at 20 C
to 89.30 10
10
m/s at 800 C
1856 A.N. Noumowe et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861
period. The specimens stayed in a wet chamber until the date of
test at temperature of 20 2 C, RH 50% 5%. After this period,
the specimens were subjected to a heatingcooling cycle described
below. The tests were performed 90 days after the concrete had
been moulded.
3.3. Testing procedure
3.3.1. Heatingcooling tests
After demoulding, the specimens were subjected to heating
cooling cycles (see Fig. 1). Heatingcooling was done as per RILEM
recommendations [38]. The maximum temperature of the cycle
was kept as either 200 or 600 C. The thermocouples, which pro-
vided the control temperature, were positioned at the surface of
the specimens. As per the RILEM recommendations [38], the heat-
ing rate was kept at 1 C/min and the dwell duration at maximum
temperature was 1 h. After the maximum temperature was
reached, the oven was turned off. Specimens were allowed to cool
down inside the oven in order to prevent thermal shock. The cool-
ing was not controlled, but measured. The average cooling rate was
about 1 C/min for all the tests. After the heating, prior to testing,
specimens were stored at the temperature of 20 C and at 50% RH.
3.3.2. Permeability tests
The water vapour permeability was measured using 150 mm
diameter and 65 mm thick concrete samples. Dry concrete cylin-
ders were cut using a diamond blade saw to obtain 65 mm thick
discs as shown in Fig. 2. For each test, samples were cut from the
upper, middle, and lower part of the 150 300 mm specimens in
order to take into account differences in compaction, which may
have occurred during the casting of the specimens. After cutting,
surfaces of the discs were smoothened and cleaned in order to ob-
tain two parallel plane faces. The precision on the thickness was
about 0.2 mm. Before the permeability tests were performed, spec-
imens were oven dried at 105 C to a constant weight in order to
determine the initial specimen water content and to have a dry
structure of the specimen. The rate of thermal loading used was
same as that shown in Fig. 1, but limited to 105 C as a maximum
temperature. Then, the specimens were cooled in dry air. This led
to the escape of the free water contained in the pores of the
concrete.
3.3.3. Permeability facility and test protocol
To investigate the water vapour permeability into high-perfor-
mance concretes the effect of different applied hydrostatic pres-
sures was considered. Five different applied hydrostatic relative
pressures (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 bars) were considered (increments
above local atmospheric pressure) in order to study their effect on
the coefcient of permeability, but results with only one pressure,
i.e. 1.5 bars are presented in this paper as there was not much dif-
ference in the permeability results. The neutral permeant used was
nitrogen. The intrinsic permeability results took into account the
temperature and the atmospheric pressure in the test room. After
initiating the percolation of nitrogen through a sample at a given
applied hydrostatic pressure, sufcient time is provided for the
establishment of steady state ow before an actual measurement
is taken.
The apparent permeability of concrete was measured. Intrinsic
permeability k
v
can be obtained by considering the relation sug-
gested by Klinkenberg which takes into account the slip of the
gas molecules on the concrete pores and cracks walls
k
v
k 1
b

P

with k
v
: intrinsic permeability (m
2
) and k: apparent permeability
(m
2
); b
*
: slope at the curve origin; and P: average pressure (Pa).
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Strength properties
The mechanical properties of the concrete mixtures are pre-
sented in Table 4. It is evident from this table that polypropylene
bres (0.2%) did not have any signicant effect on the strength of
the high-performance concrete (B2). These ndings are in line with
those reported by Poon et al. [22], Xiao and Falkner [24].
Replacement of ordinary aggregate with lightweight aggregate
decreased the compressive strength of the concrete by 36%. Simi-
larly, inclusion of polypropylene bres also did not affect the split-
ting tensile strength of control high-performance concrete (B2).
Table 2
Chemical composition of the ordinary Portland cement used.
Oxides % Bogue potential compound Composition, %
Silicon dioxide, SiO
2
20.65 C
3
S 54.8
Calcium oxide, CaO 63.15 C
2
S 17.0
Aluminium trioxide, Al
2
O
3
4.75 C
3
A 8.3
Ferric oxide, Fe
2
O
3
3.05 C
4
AF 8.2
Magnesium oxide, MgO 3.55
Sulphur trioxide, SO
3
2.53
Sodium oxide, Na
2
O 0.13
Potassium oxide, K
2
O 0.74
Titanium oxide, TiO
2
0.20
Loss on ignition, LOI 1.10
Table 3
Mix proportions of the concrete mixtures per cubic meter.
Control
concrete, B2
Concrete
containing
bres, B3
Lightweight
concrete, B4
Coarse aggregate 8/20, kg 815 815
Medium aggregate 4/10, kg 318 318
Lightweight aggregates, kg 494
Sand 0/5, kg 782 782 782
Cement CEM II 52.5, kg 450 450 450
Silica fume, kg 45 45 45
Water, kg 150 150 150
Superplasticiser, kg 12 12 12
Polypropylene bres, kg 2
Water/cementitious materials 0.30 0.30 0.30
Weight, kg/m
3
2569 2571 1930
Fig. 1. Heatingcooling cycles chosen according to RILEM recommendations [28].
A.N. Noumowe et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861 1857
However, replacement of ordinary aggregate with lightweight
aggregated decreased the splitting tensile strength by 38%. The
ndings of this paper are very much in line with those published
by Ramakrishnan et al. [39], Zhang and Gjorv [40], and Hoff [41].
4.2. Thermal gradients in the tested concretes during the heating
cooling cycles
The temperatures in the centre and also at the surface of the
specimens were monitored during the heatingcooling cycles for
the 160 320 mm specimens as shown in Fig. 3. Each curve pre-
sents the average temperature obtained from the three specimens
of each of the concrete mixtures. Concrete mixture B3 was heated
twice. The second heatingcooling cycle was denoted as B3-bis.
The temperature at the surface of the specimens was denoted as
Surf. The results showed that during heating, the thermal gradient
was greater in lightweight aggregate concrete than in normal
weight aggregate concrete (Fig. 4). During cooling, the thermal gra-
dient of the specimens was similar in the three tested concrete.
Fig. 2. Concrete samples, B2, B3, and B4 subjected to elevated temperature before permeability test.
Table 4
Mechanical properties of the three tested concretes.
Type of concrete mixture Compressive strength,
MPa
Splitting tensile strength,
MPa
Control concrete, B2 70 4.8
Concrete containing bres,
B3
72 4.9
Lightweight concrete, B4 45 3.0
Fig. 3. Temperature at the centre and at the surface of the specimens during the
heatingcooling cycle.
1858 A.N. Noumowe et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861
4.3. Thermal stability of the tested concretes
Two 160 320 mm specimens of lightweight aggregate con-
crete, B4, spalled during the heating phase. The explosion took
place when the temperature at the surface of the specimens was
between 290 and 430 C (Fig. 5). Explosive spalling occurred only
in lightweight aggregate concrete and not in the two other tested
concrete (control high-performance concrete and high-perfor-
mance concrete incorporating polypropylene bres). When the
spalling took place, high thermal gradient was recorded in the con-
crete specimen. So, the induced stresses were maximum. Further-
more, the permeability test showed also low concrete
permeability. A combination of high thermal gradient (which in-
duces high thermal stresses) and low permeability (which induces
high vapour pressure) is of concern in the concrete spalling at high
temperature. Three 160 320 mm and six 110 220 mm speci-
mens of lightweight aggregate concrete tested in the same condi-
tion did not spall.
Some of the B3 and B4 concrete specimens were subjected to
two heatingcooling cycles. No specimens exploded during the
second heatingcooling cycle. It was noticed that the thermal gra-
dient in the concrete was signicantly lower during the second
heatingcooling cycle than that during the rst heatingcooling
cycle. There was no peak of temperature difference during the sec-
ond heatingcooling cycle (see B3-bis curve in Fig. 6). During heat-
ing, the centre of the specimen is cooler than the surface. The
temperature difference on Figs. 4 and 6 is the difference between
the temperature at the surface T
s
and the temperature at the centre
of the specimen (T
s
T
c
); during heating, T
s
T
c
> 0 and during
cooling, T
s
T
c
< 0.
The spike around 300 C in Figs. 4 and 6 is a consequence of the
latent heat of the concrete. Many reactions in the concrete at high
temperature are endothermic (water vaporization, decomposition
of hydrated CSH gel). They consume heat. So, there is a delay
in the heat transfer from the surface to the centre of the specimen.
This creates high temperature difference between the surface and
the centre of the specimen. More the concrete specic heat is high,
more the temperature difference is high, and more the spike is
high.
4.4. Permeability of the tested concrete
The concrete permeability was measured before and after the
heatingcooling cycle. The reference gas pressure (1.5 bars) was
used to compare the results. The residual apparent permeability
in reference to the test temperature for a pressure of 1.5 bars is
presented in Table 5 and shown in Fig. 7.
From the Table 5, it can be seen that there was severe loss in the
permeability of HPC with normal aggregates from 1.5 10
16
m
2
at 20 C to 5.5 10
16
m
2
at 200 C and 3600 10
16
m
2
at
800 C, which is 2400% loss, and it was possibly due to the internal
cracking and pore structure coarsening of the HPC at high temper-
atures. Similar results were reported by Poon et al. [18,19] and Jan-
otka and Bagel [20].
Under the same thermal treatment at 200 C, the permeability
of the bre reinforced high-performance concrete was greater than
that of the control high-performance concrete; the percentage in-
crease being 85%. This was possibly due to the bre melting during
heating up as melting temperature for PP bres is around 170 C.
Fig. 4. Temperature difference between the centre and the surface of the specimens
during the heatingcooling cycle in function of the surface temperature.
Fig. 5. Explosive spalling of two lightweight aggregate concrete specimens.
Fig. 6. Thermal gradient during the second heatingcooling cycle (B3-bis) is lower
than that during the rst heatingcooling cycle.
Table 5
Permeability of the tested high-performance concretes at the test pressure of 1.5 bars.
Test
temperature, C
Control
concrete, B2
Permeability, m
2
Concrete containing
bres, B3
Lightweight
concrete, B4
20 1.5 10
16
1.3 10
16
3.3 10
16
200 5.5 10
16
10.2 10
16
3.0 10
16
600 3600 10
16
2890 10
16
174 10
16
A.N. Noumowe et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861 1859
Now, when the temperature crosses this limit, PP bres may start
melting, creating additional porosity in the concrete matrix, result-
ing in increased permeability. After thermal treatment up to
600 C, the permeability of the bre reinforced high-performance
concrete was even 20% less than that of the control high-perfor-
mance concrete. This was due to the fact that the effect of bre
melting was not signicant in comparison to the decomposition
of the hydrated products. In the case of normal HPC, the increased
vapour stresses cannot be realized and therefore cause extensive
cracks in the concrete matrix. These cracks result to the increase
of porosity much more the melting bres do, thereby increasing
the permeability.
Under the thermal treatment at either 200 C or at 600 C, the
permeability of lightweight aggregate concrete was lower than
that of the control high-performance concrete. These results were
similar to the ones reported by Hammer et al. [25] and Jahren [33],
wherein they concluded that high strength lightweight aggregate
concrete has in general very low permeability, usually lower than
NDC at equal nominal W/C. This was probably because of the lower
paste aggregates incompatibility due to the lower rigidity of light-
weight aggregates. During the heating phase of normal aggregate
concretes, paste shrinking and aggregates swelling induce incom-
patibilities, and micro-cracks and as consequence permeability in-
crease. This incompatibility could be lower in case of lightweight
aggregate concrete because surface porosity of the light weight
aggregate improves the binder hydration at the paste/aggregate.
There was a signicant effect of the aggregate type on the per-
meability of high-performance concrete subjected to elevated tem-
perature. It was noticed that when lightweight aggregates were
used as replacement for normal weight aggregates, the increase
in concrete permeability from 200 to 600 C was low. The effect
of aggregate type on concrete permeability can be explained
through physical mechanisms. In concrete, the cement paste envel-
ops the aggregates particles. Thus, for normal weight aggregates
that have very low permeability, it was the permeability of the
paste and the interface that has the greatest inuence on the per-
meability of the concrete. This logic is in line with the one reported
by Salih [42] where in he mentioned that aggregates may inuence
the permeability in two ways; the paste/aggregate interface has a
higher permeability than the bulk paste, and the aggregate itself
has lower permeability than the paste.
At ambient temperature, in lightweight aggregate concrete, the
lightweight aggregate had signicantly higher permeability than
the paste, while the interface had lower permeability compared
to that of the normal weight concrete (Table 5). Similar research
was reported by Hammer et al. [43]. This is because cement paste
inltrates the surface pores of the lightweight aggregate to some
depth. The presence of surface pores provides the interlocking site
for cement paste to form a better interfacial bond at the IZ. More-
over, it reduces the porosity and thus the Wall Effect at the IZ. This
explains the formation of a smaller IZ of LWC than the NWC. It is
formed partly due to the lack of wall effect at the IZ and partly
due to the interlocking of the cement paste onto the rough surface
pores of the lightweight aggregate [44]. Reduction in ITZ in light-
weight aggregates has also been reported [45,46].
At high temperatures, lightweight aggregate concrete had less
permeability than normal aggregate concrete because of the dehy-
dration of cement paste and porosity increase, which results in dis-
ruption in the connectivity of the pores. Furthermore, the
lightweight aggregate may contribute to a lower permeability be-
cause the paste/aggregate interface is denser than that of the nor-
mal weight concrete [4447].
For the thermal loading, there seems to be a threshold starting
from which the gas ow across the sample grows up signicantly.
This threshold should corresponds to the decomposition of hy-
drated products (escape of physically bound water) or formation
of micro-cracks, which do not close down completely once the
samples are cooled down. The consequence is then an increase in
concrete permeability. According to these tests, the threshold cor-
responds to a temperature between 200 and 600 C.
Another possible explanation of the lower permeability of light-
weight aggregate concrete determined at 600 C can be found. Per-
meability of lightweight aggregate concrete at 600 C could be
lower than for normal aggregate concrete because of the lower
paste aggregates incompatibility due to the lower rigidity of light-
weight aggregates. It is known that during the heating phase of
normal aggregate concretes, paste shrinking and aggregates swell-
ing induce incompatibilities, and micro-cracks and as consequence
permeability increase. This incompatibility could be lower in case
of lightweight aggregate concrete.
5. Conclusions
The following conclusions are drawn from this investigation:
1. The addition of 2% of polypropylene bres (by mass) to high-
performance concrete did not have signicant effect on the
compressive and splitting tensile strength of concrete.
2. Replacement of ordinary aggregate with lightweight aggregate
decreased the compressive strength of concrete by 36% and
splitting tensile strength by 38%.
3. Explosive spalling occurred in lightweight aggregate concrete.
High thermal gradient was observed at the time of occurrence
of spalling in the concrete specimen. The test showed also
low concrete permeability. A combination of high thermal gra-
dient (high thermal stresses) and low permeability (high vapour
pressure) is of concern in the concrete spalling at high
temperature.
4. Thermal loading increased the permeability of concrete. The
increase in permeability was directly related to the maximum
test temperature.
5. Under the thermal treatment at 200 C, the permeability of the
bre reinforced high-performance concrete was greater than
that of the control high-performance concrete because of the
bre melting during heating up.
6. Under the thermal treatment at 600 C, the permeability of the
bre reinforced high-performance concrete was equal to that of
the control high-performance concrete due to the same
hydrated products decomposition that make the concrete per-
meability increase.
Fig. 7. Increase of permeability of three tested concretes in reference to the test
temperature.
1860 A.N. Noumowe et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 18551861
Under a same thermal treatment at 200 C or at 600 C, the per-
meability of lightweight aggregate concrete was lower than that of
the control high-performance concrete.
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