• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.59-67
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• 2016

Concrete is a very useful construction material for the sealing disposal of hazardous substances. In general, mass concrete is applied to these structures. And, the mineral admixtures are recommended for the long term performance. Calcium leaching could be happened due to the contact with pure water in underground structures. Thus, it is needed to evaluate the resistance of calcium leaching for concrete mixed with mineral admixtures. From the test results, the mineral admixtures are effective to the improvement of long term compressive strength and chloride diffusion coefficient in concrete members. When calcium leaching is happened, however, the reduction of compressive strength and chloride penetration resistance is severe than OPC case, the micro pore distribution is adversely affected. Consequently, when the mineral admixtures are applied to underground structures which is exposed to calcium leaching environment, it is desirable to reduce water-to-binder ratio, to expose after the sufficient pozolanic reaction, and to use BFS than FA.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.315-325
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• 2023

Calcium leaching is one of the main deterioration factors in concrete structures contact with water, such as dams, water treatment structures, and radioactive waste structures. It causes a porous microstructure and may be coupled with various harmful factors resulting in mechanical degradation of concrete. Several numerical modeling studies focused on the calcium leaching depth prediction. However, these required a lot of cost and time for many experiments and analyses. This study presents an artificial neural network (ANN) approach to predict the leaching depth quickly and accurately. Totally 132 experimental data are collected for model training and validation. An optimal ANN model was proposed by ANN topology. Results indicate that the model can be applied to estimate the calcium leaching depth, showing the determination coefficient of 0.91. It might be used as a simulation tool for engineering problems focused on durability.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.507-515
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• 2021

To evaluate the influence of slag on the alkalinity of pore solution and microstructure of concrete, this paper performs a leaching experiment on hardened cement-slag pastes (HCSP) slice specimens with different slag content in purified water. The pH value of pore solution, average porosity, morphology, phase composition and Ca/Si of HCSP specimens in the leaching process are measured by solid-liquid extraction, saturated-dried weighing, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results shows that the addition of slag can mitigate an increase in porosity and a decrease in Ca/Si of HCSP in the leaching process. Besides, an appropriate slag content can improve the microstructure so as to obtain the optimum leaching resistance of HCSP, which can guarantee the suitable alkalinity of pore solution to prevent a premature corrosion of reinforced bar. The optimum slag content is 40% in HCSP with a water-binder ratio of 0.45, and an excessive slag causes a significant decrease in the alkalinity of pore solution, resulting in a loss of protection on reinforced bar in HCSP.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.533-544
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• 2015

Unlike the concrete structure built on land, that exposed to the marine environment is greatly degraded in durability due to the exposure to not only the physical action caused by sea wind, tide, and wave, but also the harsh conditions, including the chemical erosion and freeze-thaw which result from $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $Cl^-$ and $Mg^{2+}$ ions in seawater. In the process of the large scaled construction of submerged concrete structures, of course environmental hazardous substance, such as alkaline (pH) and heavy metals, may be leached. Thus, this issue needs to be adequately reviewed and studied. Therefore, this study attempted to develop a CSA (Calcium Sulfo Aluminate) activator using electric arc furnace reducing slags, as well as the eco-friendly concrete for artificial reefs using electric arc furnace oxidizing slag as aggregate for concrete. The strength properties of the eco-friendly concrete exposed to the marine environment were lower than those of the normal concrete by curing 28 days. This suggest that additional studies are needed to improve the early strength of the eco-friendly concrete. With respect to seawater resistance of the eco-friendly concrete, the average strength loss against 1 year of curing days reached 8-9%. the eco-friendly concrete using high volume of ground granulated blast furnace slags and high specific gravity of electronic arc furnace oxidizing slag demonstrated the sufficient usability as a freeze-thaw resistant material. With respect to heavy metal leaching properties of the eco-friendly concrete, heavy metal substances were immobilized by chemical bonding in the curing process through the hydration of concrete. Thus, heavy metal substances were neither identified at or below environmental hazard criteria nor detected, suggesting that the eco-friendly concrete is safe in terms of leaching of hazardous substances.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.200-207
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• 2019

Cement is one of the most commonly used materials in the construction and civil engineering industry. However, emissions of carbon dioxide generated during the production of cement have been linked to climate change and environment pollutants. In order to replace cement, many studies have been actively performed research to utilizing Blast Furnace Slag(BFS), which is a byproduct of the steel industry. This study aims to investigate the physiochemical properties of the BFS powder based grout to determine whether it can be used as an environment-friendly grout material. As a fine powder, BSF can be used instead of cement grout due to its potential hydraulic property. BSF has also been known for its ability to strengthen materials long-term and to densify the internal structure of concrete. In order to investigate the physicochemical properties of the BFS powder based grout as a grout material, in this study assessment tests were performed through a gel-time measurement, uniaxial compressive strength, and chemical resistance tests, and heavy-metal leaching test. Characteristics and advantages of the slag were studied by comparing slag and cement in various methods.