Wear 241 2000. 4752 www.elsevier.

comrlocaterwear

Short-time cavitation erosion of concrete

Andreas W. Momber ),1
WOMA Apparatebau GmbH, PO Box 141820, D-47208 Duisburg, Germany Received 16 July 1999; received in revised form 20 January 2000; accepted 16 February 2000

Abstract The paper reviews the results of preliminary investigations into concrete specimens subjected to short-time cavitation at exposure times between 2 and 10 s. It is found that short-time cavitation erosion produces measurable mass loss and could therefore directly contribute to waterjet hydrodemolition processes. A very short exposure time 2 s. is still sufficient enough to modify the concrete surface profile. The materials behaviour during cavitation significantly depends on its capability to transfer local stresses and to locally deform. High stiffness and brittleness promote transgranular fracture. q 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Short-time cavitation erosion; Concrete; Transgranular fracture

1. Introduction The behaviour of concrete under long-time cavitation erosion several hours up to several years has been an issue since concrete is used for dams, spillways, channels and other hydraulic structures. Some classical investigations have been performed by Price and Wallace w9x; a general review about this problem is given by Graham et al. w2x. The results of these investigations can be summarised as follows: The cavitation resistance increases if the compressive strength increases. The cavitation resistance increases if the watercement ratio decreases. The cement type does not influence the cavitation resistance. Coarse aggregates are more easily plucked away due to cavitation than small aggregate. Therefore, a maximum aggregate size of 20 mm is recommended. The bond between cement matrix and aggregate grains plays a major role. The better the bond, the higher the cavitation resistance. The aggregate material hardness is not critical for the cavitation resistance.

Short-time cavitation erosion is defined here as cavitation acting over a maximum duration of 10 s. Short-time cavitation is a phenomena that could play a role during waterjet impact of solid materials. Especially in concrete hydrodemolition, which is one of the most important useful applications of waterjet erosion, short-time cavitation erosion may occur. Scheuer w11x investigated the influence of the surface profile and flow velocity on the introduction of cavitation on solid surfaces and found that, independent of the geometry, a disproportion 5 mm high introduces cavitation at a flow velocity as low as s 4.0 mrs. This velocity will reliably be reached in any jet flow that develops a stagnation pressure of p s 25 MPa on the solid surface w4x. Therefore, short-time cavitation erosion, as an additionally contributing failure mechanism, seems to be very likely in concrete hydrodemolition. Nevertheless, no investigation is known so far that deals with this very special issue. Moreover, short-time cavitation erosion is a promising method to study the material removal mechanisms acting in the early stage of cavitation.

2. Experimental set-up and procedure A preliminary study into the behaviour of two concrete mixtures under short-time cavitation has been performed. The major difference in the compositions was the use of different aggregate types concrete No. 1 contains round

) 1

Corresponding author. Habilitation-fellow of the German Research Association, Bonn.

0043-1648r00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 4 3 - 1 6 4 8 0 0 . 0 0 3 4 8 - 3

48 Table 1 Chemical composition of the cement Component CaO SiO4 Al 2 O 3 Fe 2 O 3 FeO. Mn 2 O 3 MnO. MgO SO 3 Others Content in mass% 64 20 5 2.5 0.1 1.5 2.5 4.4

A.W. Momberr Wear 241 (2000) 4752

quartz; whereas, concrete No. 2 contains broken limestone. The size distribution of both aggregate types followed the standard grading curve B8 in DIN 1045 with a maximum grain size of 8 mm. The cement used was a Portland cement PZ 35 F according to the German standard DIN 1164. The cement composition is given in Table 1. After 28 days, compressive strength and Youngs modulus have been estimated by standard procedures. Additionally, the stressstrain curves have been estimated. The strain energy absorbed during the compressive standard test has been calculated by integrating the stressstrain curve between zero and the ultimate strain. The mechanical properties of the concrete materials are listed in Table 2. The cavitation erosion experiments have been run in the cavitation chamber shown in Fig. 1, which basically consists of a water flow inlet, an outlet, weir, counterweir and specimen fixture. For all tests, the cavitation number was kept on a value of sC s 0.075. The water temperature in the cavitation chamber was 258C. The exposure time was tC s 10 s and tC s 2 s, respectively. Three specimens of each mixture have been tested for the two different exposure times. These specimens were cut away from standard cylinders by a diamond saw and had the following dimensions: 6 cm in length, 3 cm in width and 1 cm in height which is the dimension shown in Fig. 1.. After the cavitation tests, the mass loss was estimated by a precision balance "50 mg.. The mass was measured prior to the cavitation m1 . and after cavitation m 2 . on the saturated specimens in order to consider the mass of permeating water flow into the porous material during the cavitation test. Thus, the mass loss was calculated: D m s m1 y m 2

Fig. 1. Basic structure of the cavitation chamber Institute of Materials Sciences, University of Hannover..

resistance, the reciprocal volume removal rate, VR , was used, which was calculated as follows: tC r M VR s 2. Dm The higher the reciprocal volume loss rate, the higher the cavitation resistance. The values of the target material density, r M , are listed in Table 2. The sections of the specimens exposed to cavitation were inspected by optical microscope with magnifications between 7 = and 80 = . Moreover, untreated surfaces and surfaces of specimens subjected at the very short exposure time tC s 2 s. were evaluated using a mechanical coordinate measurement device. The profile was measured by the use of a fully automated coordinate frame with a ball-shaped indenter. The step width was 1.0 mm in both the X- and Y-direction. The Z-direction was measured with an accuracy of 10 mm. 3. Experimental results and discussion 3.1. Volume loss rate The average mass loss after tC s 10 s was D m s 1.1 g for concrete 1 and D m s 0.3 g for the concrete 2. Fig. 2 shows the reciprocal volume loss rate for the two mixtures after tC s 10 s as a function of several mechanical properties. Generally, the concrete with the higher value of the mechanical properties exhibits a higher cavitation resistance. Fig. 2a illustrates the influence of the compressive strength. The cavitation resistance increases as the compressive strength increases. This is in agreement with experience from long-time cavitation experiments on concrete w9x. Fig. 2b shows the influence of the absorbed strain energy. This plot is based on a suggestion of Thiruvengadam w14x. The results confirm the experience from cavi-

1.

As the density of the samples was known, the volumetric loss could be calculated. To evaluate the cavitation erosion
Table 2 Mechanical properties of the concrete mixtures Parameter Compressive strength in MPa. Youngs modulus in MPa. Density in kgrm3 . Absorbed strain energy in MJrm3 . Concrete 1 21 19,930 2070 10.5 Concrete 2 39 25,463 2290 53.7

A.W. Momberr Wear 241 (2000) 4752

49

Fig. 2. Relation between mechanical properties and reciprocal volume removal rate.

tation erosion of metallic materials suggesting that the reciprocal of the volume loss rate linearly increases as the strain energy of a material increases w14x. The absorbed strain energy as defined in this paper is a measure of the energy absorbed by the material during the compressive test. Therefore, it is a macroscopic parameter. Originally, Thiruvengadams formulation was intended exclusively for ductile materials, which is a serious limitation. But it is nevertheless interesting to note that concrete, which is considered to be a quasi-brittle material with some capabil-

ity of absorbing fracture energy due to microcracking, crack branching, crack bridging, etc., shows the same general trend. More tests are required to further explore this interesting phenomena. It can also be noticed from Fig. 2b that the cavitation performance is not sensitive against small changes in the strain energy. Whereas, the cavitation resistance increases up to 370%, the corresponding change in the strain energy is up to 511%. Fig. 2c shows the relationship between the brittleness and the cavitation resistance. The brittleness is the inverse

50

A.W. Momberr Wear 241 (2000) 4752

brittleness. Therefore, the capability of the material to transfer local stresses and to locally deform plays a decisive role in cavitation erosion. 3.2. Material remoal features Two examples of eroded specimens illustrating the macroscopic features of the material erosion are shown in Fig. 3. It can be noticed that the cavitation damage in

Fig. 3. Macroscopic view on the cavitation damage for tC s10 s. Left: concrete 1. Right: concrete 2.

of the length of the fracture process zone in a quasi-brittle materials. An empirical formula is given by Momber w6x: Bs
0.3 1.67sC

0.25dA q 2

3.

In the equation, B is dimensionless, dA is the maximum aggregate size and sC is the compressive strength. Note that the cavitation resistance increases as the brittleness increases. This is in agreement with the results Momber w6x who observed an excellent relationship between the brittleness and concrete resistance against high-speed waterjet impact the higher the brittleness, the higher the impact resistance. A striking feature in Fig. 2c is that a comparatively small change in the brittleness 20%. results in a large variation in the cavitation resistance 370%.. Therefore, the cavitation performance is very sensitive to brittleness much more than to the absorbed strain energy.. Even small changes in the brittleness drastically affect the materials resistance against cavitation. Fig. 2d shows the relationship between cavitation resistance and stiffness. The stiffness is given by Ss E 1 y m2

4.

Here, E is Youngs modulus. For the Poissons ratio, m , standard values have been taken from Ref. w5x. The reciprocal volume removal rate increases with an increase in the stiffness. Similar to the situation in Fig. 2c, the cavitation performance is very sensitive to changes in the stiffness. A 20% increase in the stiffness leads to a 370% increase in the cavitation resistance. There is an additional interesting feature in Fig. 2ad the deviation in the reciprocal volume removal rate. Whereas, the deviation is "10% for concrete 1, it is "100% for concrete 2. Therefore, the cavitation regime in concrete 2 is much more sensitive to the local specimen structure. It seems from the previous discussion that this sensitivity is due to changes in the local stiffness and

Fig. 4. Optical micrographs of the cavitation damage for tC s10 s. a. Optical micrograph of concrete 1 1:7.. b. Optical micrograph of concrete 1 1:17.. c. Optical micrograph of concrete 2 1:7..

A.W. Momberr Wear 241 (2000) 4752

51

Fig. 5. Optical micrographs of secondary cracking in concrete 2 for tC s10 s. a. Magnification 1:26. b. Magnification 1:80.

concrete 2 right specimen. is focused on a limited section of the specimen surface; whereas, the damage is widely

spread over the specimen made from concrete 1 left specimen.. Fig. 4ac, which depicts optical micrographs with magnifications of 1:7 and 1:17, respectively, illustrates the damage mechanism of the cavitation erosion. It can clearly be seen that, predominantly, the hardened cement matrix is removed between the aggregate grains. As Fig. 4a and b shows, this process is very pronounced for concrete 1. As already mentioned for this material, the attack is not focused on a certain range of the specimen surface, but is distributed over its entire width. Generally, the failure starts at the interface between the cement matrix and aggregate grains, which is characterised by a high degree of porosity and microcracking as well. From these starting points, the cement matrix is removed. Small aggregate grains are pulled out as a certain amount of matrix is removed; large aggregate grains are undamaged. In contrast, concrete 2 shows features of transgranular cracking that is focused on a restricted area of the specimen. The cement matrix is removed as well, but large aggregates, even if they have been covered by a cement paste layer, are partially fractured as this layer was removed. This can be seen in Fig. 4c. Fig. 5 illustrates an interesting observation, which has been made on concrete 2: Cracks originating from the erosion site penetrate into the undamaged concrete structure. Fig. 5a shows a crack running around a large aggregate grain centre. and through a smaller aggregate grain very right.. In the higher magnification Fig. 5b., it can be seen that the crack originates from the cavity generated during the cavitation erosion. This cavity is shown at the top region of the photograph. This feature has not been observed at the concrete mixture 1. The different reaction of the two mixtures is most probably due to the different aggregate types. The broken, irregular limestone grains in concrete 2 improve the adhe-

Fig. 6. Comparative surface topography measurements concrete 2.. Left: prior to cavitation erosion. Right: after cavitation erosion tC s 2 s..

52

A.W. Momberr Wear 241 (2000) 4752

sive bond between aggregate and cement matrix installing some type of homogenisation, which could be the reason for the higher stiffness and brittleness of concrete 2. There is certain evidence about this phenomena in the reference literature: It is known from mortars, that the critical strain-energy release rate increases with increasing angularity and surface texture of aggregate grains w1x. The fracture energy of the interface between cement matrix and a textured aggregate grain is about three times that of the interface between the matrix and a smooth aggregate grain w12x. The fracture toughness of the interface increases as limestone is used as an aggregate instead of quartz w16x. Additionally, the fracture toughness of the limestone material is lower than that of a quartz w15,16x, which further promotes homogenisation effects. It is well known from conventional concrete testing that any homogenisation of the concrete structure high-strength cement matrix, high interface adhesion, large aggregate grain size. increases the probability of transgranular fracture. This phenomena was also observed during other, highly dynamic types of loading, such as concrete impact testing w10x, hydroabrasive erosion of concrete w7x and concrete waterjet erosion w3,6x. This phenomenological model is supported by results from Price et al. w8x who observed that the bond strength between aggregate and cement matrix influences the cavitation resistance much more than the mechanical properties of the aggregate material. 3.3. Surface topography modifications For the specimens attacked with tC s 2 s, no mass loss could reliably be detected. But the comparative surface profiling carried out prior to and after the cavitation, respectively, shows significant changes in the surface profile due to cavitation. An example is shown in Fig. 6. Whereas, the regularly appearing saw-cut striations can clearly be seen on the surface prior to cavitation left., the surface texture is very irregular after the cavitation. These changes in the surface texture have not been analysed quantitatively. But they illustrate that in the first stage of the cavitation, the surface is microscopically modified. This initial roughness improves the condition for subsequent fluid flow cavitation as shown by Thiruvengadam w13x. 4. Summary The major conclusions from the study are as follows: Short-time cavitation erosion may be a considerable erosion phenomena that directly contributes to the material removal in concrete hydrodemolition processes. Even a very short exposure time tC s 2 s. is sufficient to modify the surface topography of the investigated specimens.

The materials behaviour during cavitation erosion significantly depends on its capability to transfer local stresses and to locally deform. High stiffness and brittleness promote transgranular fracture. The interfacial bond between aggregate and cement matrix is on decisive importance for the cavitation erosion resistance.

Acknowledgements The author is thankful to the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, for financial support. Thank is also addressed to the Institute of Materials Science, Universitat Hannover, Hannover, Germany, for the oppor tunity to use the cavitation chamber. References
w1x N. Alford, A.B. Poole, The effect of shape and surface texture on the fracture toughness of mortars, Cement and Concrete Research 9 1979. 583589. w2x J.R. Graham, W.S. Hamilton, J.G. Hendrickson, R.A. Kaden, J.E. McDonald, G.E. Noble, E.K. Schrader, Erosion of concrete in hydraulic structures, ACI Materials Journal 3r4 1987. 136157. w3x V. Kauw, Optimierung des Einsatzes von Hochdruck-WasserstrahlSystemen bei der Betonbearbeitung, PhD Thesis, RWTH Aachen, 1996. w4x W. Kleinbreuer, Werkstoffzerstorung durch Kavitation in olhydrau lischen Systemen, PhD Thesis, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, 1979. w5x S. Mindess, J.F. Young, Concrete, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1981. w6x A.W. Momber, Fluid jet erosion as a non-linear fracture process, 2000, in review. w7x A.W. Momber, R.S. Mohan, R. Kovacevic, On-line analysis of hydro-abrasive erosion of pre-cracked materials by acoustic emission, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics 31 1999. 117. w8x W.H. Price, J.C. Creskoff, W.T. McClenahan, H.F. Peckworth, A.M. Rawn, D.S. Walter, G. Wastlung, R.B. Young, Erosion resistance of concrete in hydraulic structures, Journal of the ACI 1955. 259271, Nov. w9x W.H. Price, G.B. Wallace, Resistance of concrete and protection coatings to forces of cavitation, Journal of the ACI 1949. 109120, Oct. w10x H.W. Reinhardt, Concrete under impact loading, tensile strength and bond, Heron 27 1982. 541. w11x L. Scheuer, Theoretische und experimentelle Untersuchungen zum Kavitationsbeginn an Oberflachenrauheiten, PhD Thesis, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, 1985. w12x U. Tende, O. Buyukozturk, Size effect and influence of aggregate roughness in interface fracture of concrete composites, ACI Materials Journal 67 1998. 331338. w13x A. Thiruvengadam, Cavitation damage of roughened concrete surfaces, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Journal of the Hydraulics Division HY4 1959. 127129. w14x A. Thiruvengadam, The concept of erosion strength. Erosion by cavitation and impingement, ASTM STP408 1967. 2241. w15x F.H. Wittmann, Structure of concrete with respect to crack formation, Developments in Civil Engineering 7 1983. 4374. w16x S. Ziegeldorf, Fracture mechanics parameters of hardened cement paste, aggregates and interfaces, in: F.H. Wittmann Ed.., Fracture Mechanics of Concrete, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1983, pp. 371409.