Analyzing the Relationship between Chemicaland Biological-Based Degradation of Concretewith Sulfate-Resisting Cement

Abstract

External sulfate attack is detected on concrete construction exposed to soils, groundwater, seawater, or wastewater, and leads to serious damage to concrete elements. This paper describes an investigation of acidic corrosion caused by artificial sulphuric acid and biogenic sulphuric acid. The concrete prisms prepared from concrete-containing sulfate-resisting cement were exposed to an acid environment of different origin over a period of 3 months. The concentration of basic chemical elements such as calcium, silicon, iron, and aluminium were measured in liquid phases. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate dependencies and trends of leached-out amounts in these concentrations. Based on correlation coefficient, the intensity of dependency of the leaching trend was determined. A higher aggressiveness of sulfuric acid produced by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria was confirmed in terms of main concrete components' leaching.