The cement manufacturing process accounts for about 5% CO2 (carbon dioxide) released into the atmosphere. However, during its life cycle, concrete may capture CO2 through carbonation, in order to, partially, offset the impact of its production. Thus, this paper aims at studying the CO2 uptake potential of the Itaipu Dam due to concrete carbonation of such material. So, 155 cores were extracted from the concrete dam in different points to measure carbonation depth. In order to evaluate its influence on carbonation, the measurement of internal moisture distribution in concrete was also carried out. The results have shown that carbonation takes part of the whole dam area, indicating CO2 uptake potential. Up to the present moment, 13,384 tons of CO2 have been absorbed by concrete carbonation of the Itaipu Dam
Pull-out tests combined with an in situ radiographic movie are presented in order to investigate bond properties between steel rebar and concrete during tests on concrete reinforcement samples. Rebar relative displacement and other theoretically anticipated properties during the loading process, such as regions inside the concrete with maximum compression and longitudinal cracks, could be visualised and detected. Future studies on corrosion of reinforcement using such a combined technique are envisaged.
The new generation of innovative projects has led to the use of greater amounts of reinforcement and the development of concrete with specific characteristics. It is necessary to use a material that ensures the uniformity of the cross section, as well as the adherence of the existing reinforcement, and due to this, the self-consolidating concrete becomes an technique alternative has great potential to achieve these properties. The aim of this paper is to analyze the bond behavior of self-consolidating concrete that was obtained by means of the Beam Test performed within a large experimental campaign of characterization. Four types of SCC were studied with two strength levels (40 MPa and 60MPa) and two different types of granular skeletons, using two specimens at each age (3, 7, and 28 days). All specimens were tested with a corrugated steel bar 10 mm in diameter. The results show that the adhesion tension independently of resistance presents a rapidly evolving at 7 days reached 95% of the total adhesion by 28 days.