Investigation of Tennessee bridge deck PCC surface resistivit

The ability to rapidly and effectively determine bridge deck portland cement concrete (PCC) resistance to penetrating chloride ions has led the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to fund an investigation of a new test method called Surface Resistivity (SR) which has been correlated with the results of the Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT). If SR proves to be a more effective test method and is adopted by agencies currently using the RCP test, the overall test time, resources required, cost, and manual labor could all be reduced. Second, the possibility of achieving a higher performance TDOT Class D PCC has led to the investigation of ternary mixtures for bridge deck PCCs. If proven a more effective bridge deck PCC and adopted by TDOT specifications, future bridge deck service lives could be prolonged. Lastly, 56 days of curing is the standard for classifying the performance of TDOT Class D PCC. The ability to predict the 56-day performance from the 28-day mark would prove very beneficial to TDOT. Through comparing the property predictability of two curing methods: normal and accelerated moist curing, the most effective procedure determined would then be recommended to reduce the age required for performance classification.;A total of 40 batches were produced of two different mixtures: 20 complying with the 2006 TDOT 604.03 specifications and 20 ternary batches containing portland cement (PC), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), and Class F fly ash respectively. The SR and the RCPT method comparison was conducted using the data gathered from the two PCCs. The plastic and hardened properties obtained from the two mixtures were used to compare and contrast the performance of the TDOT Class D and ternary PCC mixtures. The property predictability for the normal and accelerated moist curing methods was determined using the SR results on both PCCs at 28 days of accelerated curing and at 28, 56, and 91 days of normal curing.;The research concluded with the following: SR proved to be a more effective test method than the currently accepted RCPT. The ternary 50/35/15 PCC outperformed the Class D 80/20 PCC while complying with TDOT 604.03 performance specifications. Lastly, normal moist curing proved to be a more effective curing method for 56 and 91-day property prediction from 28 days than the accelerated curing method.