Alan D. Buck
Published: 1976
Total Pages: 73
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Specimens from 12 mortar mixtures and one concrete mixture were tested for frost resistance by acccelerated freezing-and-thawing tests and by dilation, for compressive strength, for freezable water (FW), and for weight changes after each of 8 different treatments. One variable of treatment was age of continuous moist curing; the other was age together with cyclic fluctuation of water pressure to simulate the conditions that would affect concrete at a low level in the Eisenhower Lock of the St. Lawrence Seaway among the results of these tests were: (1) Cyclic pressure treatment did not cause critical saturation to develop in most of the test specimens, including those most like the Eisenhower Lock concrete; (2) The concrete mixture which simulate the concrete in Eisenhower Lock with the large aggregate removed was frost resistant; (3) The usual relationships between frost resistance and variables of age, compressive strength, water cement (w/c) ratio, and air content were apparent; (4) The amount of air needed to obtain maximum frost resistance of the mortars increased with increasing w/c ratio to a maximum of about 9% air for a w/c ratio of 0.8 by weight; and (5) Data indicated that FW is not a useful index of frost resistance for air-entrained mortar or concrete mixtures.