Permeability

Of concrete

Permeability

Permeability
Durability of concrete: ability to resist
weathering action, chemical attack,
abrasion, or any process of
deterioration

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water Causes
chemical processes of degradation
physical processes of degradation

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water Structure
The H-O-H molecule is covalent bonded. Due to
differences in the charge centers of hydrogen and oxygen,
the positively charged proton of the hydrogen ion
belonging to a water molecule attracts the negatively
charged electrons of the neighboring water molecules.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water Structure

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water Structure (ice)

In ice each molecule of water is
surrounded by four molecules
such that the group has one
molecule at the center and the
other four at the corners of a
tetrahedron. Ice melts at 0 C
when approximately 15 percent of
the hydrogen bonds break up. As
a result of the partial breakdown
in directionality of the tetrahedral
bond, each water molecule can
acquire more than four nearest
neighbors, the density thus rising
from 0.917 to 1.
P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water in Concrete
In concrete, water is a necessary ingredient for the
cement hydration reactions and an agent that facilitates
the mixing of the components of concrete, water is
present from the beginning.
Gradually, most of the evaporable water in concrete is
lost, leaving the pores empty or unsaturated.
Concrete will not be vulnerable to water-related
destructive phenomena if there is a little or no evaporable
water left after drying and provided that the subsequent
exposure of the concrete to the environment did not cause
to resaturation of the pores. The latter, to a large extent,
depends on the hydraulic conductivity, which is also
known as the coefficient of permeability (K).

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Water in the capillary

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Definition
Permeability is defined as the property that
governs the rate of flow of a fluid into a porous
solid.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Darcys law
For steady-state flow, the coefficient of
permeability K is determined from Darcy's
expression:
Dq/dt = K ( H A)/(L)

where Dq/dt is the rate of fluid flow, the viscosity of the fluid, H
the pressure gradient, A the surface area, and L the thickness of the solid.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability of the paste

the mixing water is indirectly responsible for permeability
of the hydrated cement paste because its content
determines first the total space and subsequently the
unfilled space after the water is consumed by either
cement hydration reactions or evaporation to the
environment.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability of Cement Paste

Age (days)

Permeability (cm/s 10 -11 )

Fresh

20,000,000

4,000

1,000

400

13

50

24

10

ultimate

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability

When porosity decreases from 40 to 30%, the

coefficient of permeability drops from 110 to 20 x 10-12 cm/sec.
and from a decrease in porosity from 30% to 20%
results in a small drop in permeability.

Reason: large pores are reduced in size and

number. and there is creation of tortuosity

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability of Aggregate
Compared to 30 to 40 percent capillary porosity of typical
cement pastes in hardened concrete, the volume of pores
in most natural aggregates is usually under 3 percent, and
it rarely exceeds 10 percent.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability of Aggregate
However, the coefficient of permeability of aggregates are
as variable as those of hydrated cement pastes of
water/cement ratios in the range 0.38 to 0.71

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Reason
The reason some aggregates give much higher
permeability than the cement paste is that the size of
capillary pores in aggregate is usually much larger.
Most of the capillary porosity in a mature cement paste
lies in the range 10 to 100 nm, while pore size in
aggregates are, on the average, larger than 10 microns.

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials

Permeability

Permeability of Aggregates
Type of Rock

permeability (cm/sec )

dense trap

2.47 x 10 -12

quartz diorite

8.24 x 10 -12

marble

2.39 x 10 -10

granite

5.35 x 10 -9

sandstone

1.23 x 10 -8

P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and Materials