Internal frost resistance and salt frost scaling of self-compacting concrete

This article outlines laboratory and analytical studies of salt frost scaling and internal frost resistance of self-compacting concrete (SCC) that contains increased amount of filler, different air content, and dissimilar methods of casting. The results were compared with the corresponding properties of normal concrete (NC) with the same water-to-cement ratio (0.39) and air content (6%). The start of the testing was applied at ages of 28 and 90 days. The strength development of the concrete was followed in parallel. Six SCC and two NC were studied. The effects of normal and reversed order of mixing (filler last), increased amount of filler, fineness of filler, limestone powder, increased air content, and large hydrostatic concrete pressure were investigated. The results indicated a substantial improvement of the internal frost resistance of SCC as compared to NC. The salt frost scaling performed more or less in the same way in SCC and in NC. No relationship of frost resistance was found to the air-void structure of the concrete. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.