Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352

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Construction and Building Materials

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Diffusion characteristics of OPC concrete of various grades under accelerated

test conditions
J. Prabakar a,*, P. Devadas Manoharan b, A. Chellappan a
a
Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), Taramani, Chennai 600113, India
b
Anna University, College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai 600025, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Concrete durability mainly depends on the diffusion characteristics of concrete. Chloride ion diffusion is
Received 11 August 2009 one of the main parameters affecting the durability of Reinforced Concrete Structures. The chloride ion
Accepted 12 August 2009 penetration is determined under accelerated diffusion test condition with 12 V (Norwegian method).
Available online 8 October 2009
Depending upon the concrete quality, the diffusion test duration will vary. Generally, high grade concrete
will have longer test duration as compared to lower grade concrete. In this paper, OPC concrete of M30,
Keywords: M40, M50, M60 and M75 grades were studied for diffusion properties under different voltages 12, 20, 30,
Concrete
40, 50 and 60 V. A comparative study was made with standard Rapid Chloride Permeability Test with
Chloride profile
Diffusion coefficient
respective voltages. It has been observed that chloride profile and diffusion coefficient were high in
Voltage low grade OPC concrete and low for high grade concrete. Minimum test duration was observed at higher
voltages. With the increased voltage, the chloride profile and diffusion coefficient were found to be high.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Generally, concrete is a very durable material and the envi-
ronmental factors such as weathering action, chemical attack,
abrasion and other deterioration process may change the proper-
ties of concrete with time [3,4]. The premature deterioration of
Reinforced Concrete Structures was mainly due to steel rein-
forcement corrosion. The major aggressive ion causing severe
reinforcement corrosion is the chloride ion [10]. The penetrated
chloride ion destroys the natural passivity of the surface of rein-
forcing steel and this leads to the corrosion of steel which causes
cracking and spalling of concrete. The resistance of steel corro-
sion is superior when the thickness of concrete cover is large
but too much a cover could result in larger and more cracks
allowing direct access of aggressive agents to steel reinforcement
[5]. The microstructure of concrete is strongly affected by several
Rapid Chloride Permeability Test gives the total electric charge
passed through the concrete specimen [13]. An accelerated stea-
dy state diffusion test gives the direct measure of chloride con-
centration with time [14–17]. It was reported that in accelerated
diffusion test, the applied voltage was increased from 6 V to 40 V
and thus the test duration was reduced from 25 days to 7 days
[10]. In this paper different grades of OPC concretes were stud-
ied under six different voltages namely, 12, 20, 30, 40, 50 and
60 V. Based on the test results, the chloride flux, diffusion coef-
ficient, RCPT values and initiation period were determined and
compared.
2. Methodology
The main objectives of the study are:

factors including chemical composition of cement, water cement

ratio, aggregate size and particle distribution. Appropriate mix
proportion should be selected for increasing the structure dura-
bility [3,7]. The impermeability of concrete can be represented
by the rate of flow of chloride ions through unit area of concrete
[2]. To determine the chloride penetration within a reasonable
time, a test method that accelerates the process was needed
[8]. The Rapid Chloride Permeability Test was the rapid qualita-
tive measure of chloride ion penetration of concrete [1,9]. The
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 24962099; fax: +91 44 22541508.
E-mail address: jpraba@yahoo.com (J. Prabakar).
 Determination of diffusion characteristics of OPC concrete of various grades
under accelerated test conditions.
 Estimation of test duration for OPC concrete of various grades.
 Estimation of initiation period from diffusion coefficient.
2.1. Materials preparation
Commercially available 53-grade Portland cement (Specific gravity 3.15), river
sand (Fineness modulus 2.79) and crushed granite aggregate (Fineness modulus
6.81) were used for preparing the mixes. Table 1 illustrates the engineering proper-
ties of these materials. Sulphonated naphthalene based super plasticizer was used
to obtain desired workability and the water used was the ordinary potable ground
water.

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.08.027
 J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352
2.2. Preparation of test specimens
The ingredients were weighed according to the mix proportions. Initially aggre-
gate with one third of water were added to the mixer and allowed to mix for 60 s.
The fine aggregates (sand) and cement were added to the mixture and were mixed
for 60 s and the remaining two third of water mixed with chemical admixture
(Super plasticizer) was added to the mixer and mixed for another 90 s. The concrete
mix was removed from the mixer and placed in the molds (cube
150  150  150 mm and concrete cylinder of size 100 mm diameter  200 mm
height) in three layers placed on the vibrating table and each layer was vibrated
for 30 s. The next day, de-molding was done and the specimens were immersed
in saturated calcium hydroxide solution (2% by weight of water). After 28 days of
curing, each concrete cylinder was removed and sawed to three numbers of
100 mm diameter  50 mm height cylinder neglecting top 15 mm and bottom
35 mm of the cylinder [11].
2.3. Experimental program
The diffusion characteristics of concretes were studied by diffusion test (Norwe-
gian method) and the Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (ASTM-C-1202 method)
respectively. Concrete surface water permeability values were obtained using Ger-
manns Water Permeability Test apparatus.
2.3.1. Permeability test
The equipment used for this test is Germanns Water Permeability Test appara-
tus. The chamber is attached to the concrete surface and water is filled into the
pressure chamber. A specified water pressure is applied to the surface area (i.e.
3018 mm2). The pressure is kept constant using micro-meter gauge with attached
pin (10 mm diameter). The test can be made either on vertical or on horizontal
faces. ‘‘g1” is the initial micro-meter reading in mm and ‘‘g2” is the final micro-meter
gauge readings in mm after the test is performed in ‘‘t” seconds, ‘‘q” is the flux, ‘‘b” is
the percentage of the concrete cement matrix, and p is the pressure selected and ‘‘L”
is the pressure applied over 15 mm thickness of the pressure gasket. The surface
permeability (Kcp) can be assessed by the following Eqs. (1) and (2)
q
K cp ¼ ðmm=sÞ ð1Þ
ðbðDp=LÞÞ
Bðg 1  g 2 Þ
q¼ ðmm=sÞ ð2Þ
At
2
where B is the area of micro-meter gauge (78.57 mm ), A is the surface area of pres-
sure applied (3018 mm2), p is the pressure applied (4 kg/cm2) and L is the length of
pressure applied (15 mm).
2.3.2. Diffusion test
In this study, increasing the applied voltage from 12 V to 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 V
accelerated the diffusion test. The concrete specimen sized 100 mm diame-
ter  50 mm thick was fixed between two diffusion cells (anode: 0.25 N NaOH solu-
tion and cathode: 0.25 N NaCl solution) of 250 ml capacity, such that the top surface
of the specimen facing the upstream NaCl container as shown in Fig. 1. The cells
were connected to DC power supply and a constant voltage was maintained accord-
ing to the requirements. The quantity of chloride ions that migrate from cathode to
anode solution through the specimen was determined by measuring the concentra-
tion of the chloride ions in the anode solution periodically. This volumetric analysis
for determining chloride concentration was performed with 0.02 N silver nitrate
solution and ammonium ion (III) sulphate indicator against 0.02 N ammonium thio
cyanate solution. A data logger was used to record current and temperature for
downstream NaOH solution. The effective chloride ion diffusion coefficient was
determined from the chloride concentration flux using Eq. (3) [6].
300KT LV dc
Dc ¼ bo ðcm2 =sÞ ð3Þ
Zeo DW C o Ao dt
where bo is the correction factor for ionic interaction (1.46 for 0.25 M NaOH) (1.22–
1.70 for 0.1–0.5 M NaCl), Dc is the diffusion coefficient (cm2/s), K is the Boltzman
constant (1.38  1016 evrgs/K/ion), T is the temperature, 300 K (273 + 27 room
Table 1
Physical and engineering properties of raw materials.
Sl. No. Physical properties
1 Specific gravity
2 Bulk density (kg/m3)
3 Fineness modulus
4 Standard consistency (%)
5 Initial setting time in minute
6 Final setting time in minute
7 Compression strength of mortar cubes N/mm2
Source: CEL, SERC.
347
temp.), L is the specimen thickness (5 cm), V is the volume of chloride collecting cell
(250 cm3), Z is the ion valance in the testing chloride salt [1], eo is the charge of pro-
ton (4.8  1010 e.s.u.), w is the applied electric voltage (V), Co is the initial chloride
concentration in chloride source solution, Ao is the cross sectional area of specimen
(78.5 cm2), dc/dt is the steady state migration rate of chloride ions (m mol/cm2s).
2.3.3. Rapid Chloride Permeability Test
In this test, the concentration of the solution was 0.3 N NaOH and 3% NaCl
(ASTM-C-1202). Apart from the solution concentration the test setup and method
were same as diffusion test. The test was conducted for 6 h under various voltages
temperature and the current reading was monitored during the test. From the cur-
rent readings, total charge passed was calculated using the Eq. (4) [12]
Q ¼ 900ðI0 þ I360 þ 2ðI30 þ I60 þ    þ I300 þ I330 ÞÞ ð4Þ
where, Q is the charge passes (Coulomb), I0 the current (ampere) immediately after
voltage is adapted and I360 is the current (ampere) at t min after voltage is applied.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Chloride profile under steady state condition
The chloride ion concentration determined using volumetric
analysis was plotted against time. Fig. 2 shows a typical chloride
profile of M40 grade OPC concrete under 40 V. For a constant volt-
age, the chloride concentration of the anode sodium hydroxide
(NaOH 0.25 N) solution increases gradually with time. After few
hours, the chloride concentrations were observed to be increasing
linearly from 2.6 m mol/cc to 13.6 m mol/cc. In the steady state
condition, it was observed that the top specimen of the cylinder
has higher chloride concentration when compared to middle and
bottom specimen of the same cylinder. The bottom specimen of
the cylinder has lesser chloride concentration due to proper mate-
rial distribution and impermeability and moreover higher compac-
tion of the bottom specimen leads to dense microstructure with
lesser pores than middle or top specimens. The chloride flux (dc/
dt) was calculated only from the steady state chloride profile.
The calculated chloride flux was used to determine the steady state
diffusion coefficient.
3.2. Effect of voltage on chloride profile
The diffusion test was conducted for various voltages from 12 V
to 60 V and the influence of voltage on the chloride concentration
profile was plotted against the test duration. Typically, the chloride
concentration of M40 grade OPC concrete under 12 V, 20 V, 30 V,
40 V, 50 V and 60 V is represented in Fig. 3. Under steady state con-
dition, it has been noticed that the chloride profile was increased
from 1.5 m mol/cc to 3 m mol/cc for the applied voltage of 12 V
and from 1.5 m mol/cc to 13 m mol/cc for 60 V power supply,
which indicates that the steady state chloride profile was achieved
within a short test period for higher voltages. The steady state con-
dition was achieved within 20 h for 60 V power supply and 80 h for
12 V power supply for M40 OPC concrete. The test duration de-
pends on the time period for attaining the steady state chloride
flux. In M40 OPC concrete, the steady state chloride flux was ob-
served at 6, 16, 22, 36, 54 and 72 h when the specimens were set
Cement Sand Aggregate
3.15 2.68 2.69
1440 1700 1550
– 2.79 6.81
31.0 – –
110 – –
224 – –
53.22 – –
348
(+)
(+)
NaOH
under 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 and 12 V respectively. Similar trends were
obtained for all other grades of concretes. In general, it was also ob-
served that the time taken to achieve the steady state condition for
M75 OPC concrete was higher than that of M60 and M40 OPC
concrete.
3.3. Effect of voltage on temperature
The temperature variations of the concrete specimens set under
various voltages for diffusion test was represented in Fig. 4. For a
constant power supply, the solution temperature was increased
with the increased test duration. Maximum temperature was ob-
served when the test was performed at 60 V. During the test, the
maximum temperature attained was 37 oC for M30 OPC concrete
and it was 1.20 times higher than M75 OPC concrete. As reported
by the various researchers, the maximum temperature obtained
was within the limits, which indicates that the test can be carried
out with 60 V.
3.4. Effect of voltage on diffusion test duration
The duration of the test conducted to obtain diffusion coeffi-
cient of various grades of concretes under different voltages are
represented in Fig. 5. It was observed that the test duration was en-
hanced when it was tested at 12 V and at 60 V, it was determined
16
Chloride concentration in m mol / cc
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 10
J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352
DATA LOGGER
(-) PERSONAL
COMPUTER
(-)
DIFFUSION CELL
SETUP
PRINTER
NaCl
Fig. 1. Layout diagram of diffusion and RCPT setup.
at short duration. In general, it was observed that the test duration
was increased when the grade of concrete was enhanced. The test
duration was 1.5 times more for M75 of OPC when compared to
M40 of OPC. With the increased voltage 12–60 V, the test duration
was reduced to 3.5, 2.2 and 2 times for M40, M60 and M75 of OPC
concretes.
3.5. Effect of concrete grades on diffusion coefficient
The diffusion coefficient was calculated from the steady state
chloride flux for all specimens varying voltages. The calculated
chloride diffusion coefficient was plotted against the applied volt-
ages. Fig. 6 represents the diffusion coefficient of OPC concretes of
M30, M40, M50, M60 and M75 observed under various voltages. It
was seen that the Diffusion coefficient of M30 grade concrete was
higher than other concrete grades for all the voltages. Lesser diffu-
sion coefficient was observed when the concrete grade was en-
hanced. The graph also shows that the Diffusion coefficient of
concrete increases for the higher voltages. The Dc of M40 OPC in-
creases from 4.59E13 to 1.72E12 m2/s for 12 V and 60 V respec-
tively. Similarly the Dc of M60 concrete increases from 1.11E13
to 6.459E13 m2/s for 12 V and 60 V respectively. The Dc of M75
concrete was very less when compared to the lower grade con-
cretes and it was lowered 10 times than M40 of OPC.
TOP
MID
BOT
20 30 40 50
Time in hr
Fig. 2. Chloride profile of M40 grade OPC concrete under 40 V.
 J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352 349

18

Chloride concentration in m mol / cc

12V
16 20V

14 30V
40V
12 50V

10 60V

8
6
4
2
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time in hr

Fig. 3. Influence of voltage on chloride profile of M40 grade OPC concrete.

3.6. Concrete surface water permeability perature variations of concretes during RCPT was measured and
found to be within the limits.
The permeability test results of OPC concretes are 1.30E7,
1.21E6, 1.10E6, 9.86E7 and 7.23E7 mm/s for M30, M40, 3.8. Effect of voltage on current flow of RCPT
M50, M60 and M75 respectively as shown in Fig. 7 (Source: CEL,
SERC). From results, it was observed that the permeability value The observed 6 h current flow for the varied voltages was plot-
of low grade concrete was maximum as when compared to high ted against time for various grades of concretes as shown in
grade of concrete. Fig. 9. From the study, it has been seen that M30 grade concrete
has higher current flow when compared to other higher grade con-
cretes. It was also noticed that when the voltage was reduced the
3.7. Effect of concrete grades on RCPT current values also reduced linearly. From the observed current
flow the total charge passed Q in coulomb was calculated using
The standard Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT) was con- ASTM Eq. (4). The calculated Q values were plotted against the ap-
ducted for 6 h for various grades of concretes Fig. 8 represents the plied voltages.
RCPT results for M30, M40, M50, M60 and M75 grade of OPC con-
crete with 60 V and lowered voltages. The RCPT value had de- 3.9. Comparison between charge passed and diffusion coefficient of
creased with higher grade of concrete. The coulomb of M30 OPC OPC concretes
concrete was 2164 coulomb and for M75 grade concrete it was re-
duced to 892. The standard 60 V was reduced to 50, 40, 30, 20 and The relation between Diffusion coefficient (12 V) and the RCPT
12 V. The RCPT value, Q for each grade of concrete was observed to values (60 V) for different grades of OPC concrete was plotted in
be decreasing with lesser voltage and for M30 grade OPC concrete Fig. 10. The diffusion coefficient was observed to increase linearly
Q decreases from 2164 to 418 for 60 V and 12 V respectively. Sim- with the increase in Q values. This plot can be used only for those
ilar trend was observed for all other grade of OPC concretes. Tem- concretes having RCPT values ranging from 800 to 2200 coulomb.

38
M30
37 M40
36 M50
Temperature in oC

35 M60
M75
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Applied Voltage in V

Fig. 4. Effect of voltage on temperature during diffusion test.

350 J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352

180
M30
160 M40
140 M50
M60
120
Time in hr M75
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Applied Voltage in V

Fig. 5. Effect of voltage on diffusion test duration.

3.0E-12
M30
M40
2.5E-12
Diffusion coefficient, Dc

M50
M60
2.0E-12 M75
in m2/sec

1.5E-12

1.0E-12

5.0E-13

0.0E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Applied Voltage in V
Fig. 6. Effect of voltage on diffusion coefficient of OPC concretes.

1.40E-06
Surface water Permeability

1.20E-06

1.00E-06
in mm / sec

8.00E-07

6.00E-07

4.00E-07

2.00E-07

0.00E+00
30
40 S1
50
60
Concrete grade 75

Fig. 7. Concrete water surface permeability.

 J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352 351

2500
M30

Charge Passed, Q in Coulomb

M40
2000 M50
M60
M75
1500

1000

500

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Applied Voltage in V

Fig. 8. Effect of voltage and grade on RCPT.

100
M75-OPC-12V
90
M75-OPC-20V
80 M75-OPC-30V
70 M75-OPC-40V
Current in mA

M75-OPC-50V
60
M75-OPC-60V
50
40
30

20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Time in hr

Fig. 9. Effect of voltage on current flow of RCPT.

9.00E-13
y = 5E-16x - 4E-13
8.00E-13
Diffusion coefficient (Dc), m /sec

7.00E-13
2

6.00E-13

5.00E-13

4.00E-13

3.00E-13

2.00E-13

1.00E-13

0.00E+00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Charge passed (Q), coulombs

Fig. 10. Comparison between charge passed and diffusion coefficient of OPC concrete.
352 J. Prabakar et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 346–352
3.10. Initiation period based on diffusion coefficient
The initiation period (to) was calculated from Diffusion coeffi-
cients using Eq. (5). The Dc (mm2/year) and chloride concentration
obtained at 24 h under a constant 12 V power supply was used. The
value of ‘X’ was determined using the error function chart. The ini-
tiation period of M30, M40, M50, M60 and M75 grade OPC concrete
was 7, 14, 24, 55 and 122 years respectively, The value of initiation
period depends on the Diffusion coefficient of the respective grade
and type of concrete and the Dc of M75 OPC grade concrete was
very high when compared to M30 OPC concrete. Similar variation
was observed in initiation period also.
L2
to ¼
4  Dc  X 2
4. Conclusion
The chloride concentration was high for low grade concrete and
low for the high grade concrete. The chloride concentration profile
was high when subjected to higher voltage and vice versa. The
steady state was attained at earlier test period with higher voltages
and the test period was prolonged under lower voltage. Tempera-
ture variation during the test period was observed to be within the
limits. The diffusion coefficient was high for low grade concrete
and low for the high grade concrete. For all grade of concretes,
the diffusion coefficient was high when it was subjected to higher
voltage, vice versa. The RCPT value, Q was high for low grade con-
crete and low for the high grade concrete. In RCP test the Q value
decreases with the decrease in voltages. The time for initiation, cal-
culated from Dc, indicates that the lower grade concrete has min-
imum initiation period and the higher grade concrete have higher
initiation period. From the above study, it was concluded that by
increasing the resistivity of concrete using higher grade concretes,
the durability of concrete was enhanced. In general, the diffusion
coefficient value of concrete was studied with 12 V for lower resis-
tivity of concrete. Concrete having higher resistivity required long-
er test duration. Therefore, by increasing the voltage the Dc can be
determined within the reasonable time.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the Director Structural Engineering
Research Centre (SERC), Chennai for his valuable support and per-
mission for publishing this paper. The authors are also acknowl-
edge the help and support rendered by the staff of Construction
Engineering Lab (CEL) of SERC.
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