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Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

Transportation Research Procedia 36 (2018) 586–590

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

Thirteenth International Conference on Organization and Traffic Safety Management in

Large Cities (SPbOTSIC 2018)

Methods
hods of road surface durability improvement
Tatiana Petrova, Eduard Chistyakov*, Yurij Makarov
Emperor Alexander I Saint Petersburg State Transport University, 9 Moskovsky Prosp., Saint Petersburg, 190031
190031, Russia

Abstract

The adopted state strategy for the development of the construction materials' industry pays much atten attention
tion to the development of
modern efficient transport infrastructure (Skvortsov, 20122012; Urmanov, 2013).. Performance of most roads in Russia does comply
with the requirements of international standards.
Currently, asphalt concretes are used in road construction ion in Russia. The standard service life of the asphalt concrete surface is
equal to approximately 10 years, however, under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors it can decrease. In foreign foreig
countries, the share of asphalt concrete roads constantly ntly decreases, and the share of cement concrete roads increases. Cement
concrete roads are becoming the fundamental type of arterials. Their share reaches 50% in some European countries and 60% in
the USA. In Russia, their share is so far no more than 2–3%. %.
In 2017, according to Decree No. 656 of the Government of the Russian Federation dd. 30.05.2017, a goal was set to increase tthe
repair period up to 12 years and the period between reconstructions — up to 24 years. Nowadays, asphalt
road surface inter-repair
concrete
oncrete surfaces require repair approximately once in 5 years. Not only cement concrete surfaces but also surfaces made of
alkali activated slag (cement-free)
free) concrete with higher durability can serve as an alternative to asphalt concrete surfaces (Petrova
Petrova
et al., 2017; Petrova and Prokofieva, 2015).
The purpose of the study is a comparative evaluation of the corrosion resistance of alkali activated slag concrete and that of o
Portland cement concrete in a corrosive oil-containing
containing medium.
It is demonstrated that, during five years of observation, the absorption of the corrosive medium by concrete on alkali activated
slag binder turned out to be 3.8 times lower than that by Portland cement concrete, which can be explained by the specifics ooff the
ed slag concrete structure. The resistance coefficient of alkali activated slag concrete in bending tests amounts to
alkali activated
1.15, whereas the resistance coefficient of Portland cement concrete in bending tests amounts to 0.82. Therefore, it is estab established
lished
that alkali
kali activated slag concretes have a higher durability in a corrosive oil
oil-containing medium.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
©2018 Theopen
This is an Authors.
accessPublished by Elsevier
article under the CC B.V.
BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This
Peer-review under responsibility of theCC
is an open access article under the BY-NC-ND
scientific ND licenseof
committee (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
the Thirteenth International Conference on Organization and
Traffic Safety Management in Large Cities (SPbOTSIC 2018).

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-000-000-0000 ; fax: +0-000-000

000-0000 .
E-mail: eduard_chistiakov@mail.ru

2352-1465© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Peer-review under
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses
responsibility of the scientific committee of the Thirteenth International Conference on Organization and Traffic Safety Mana
Management in
Large Cities (SPbOTSIC 2018).

2352-1465  2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Thirteenth International Conference on Organization and Traffic Safety
Management in Large Cities (SPbOTSIC 2018).
10.1016/j.trpro.2018.12.149
2 Tatiana Petrova, Eduard Chistyakov, Yurij Makarov/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Thirteenth International Conference on Organization and
Tatiana Petrova et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 36 (2018) 586–590 587
Traffic Safety Management in Large Cities (SPbOTSIC 2018).

Keywords: road surfaces; asphalt concrete; Portland cement concrete; alkali activated slag (cement-free) concrete; corrosion resistance;
durability.

1. Introduction

The corrosion resistance of concrete largely depends on its structure, energy of interaction between structure
components, their physical as well as physical and chemical properties (Petrova and Sorvacheva, 2017). In terms of
operating conditions, road surfaces are exposed not only to the impact of dynamic load and atmospheric factors but
also to the impact of corrosive media. As for their physical state, corrosive media are divided into gaseous, solid and
liquid. Road surfaces are exposed to the impact of gaseous medium in the form of polluted air, a solid medium in the
form of dust and dirt deposited on external surfaces, and a liquid medium in the form of atmospheric precipitation
polluted with corrosive substances in the air and in the ground. The corrosive power of gaseous media is affected by
emissions from motor vehicles (about 80%) and heat power facilities. The pollution level and intensity depend on
traffic intensity on arterials (Kerimov et al., 2017).
The corrosive power of liquid media is determined by their contact with such liquids as deicing salts, road
detergents and oil products — spills of liquid fuels and oils (Interim guidance on protection of concrete, 2002).

2. Materials and methods

The studies involved Portland cement PTc-DO of 500 brand and alkali activated slag binder based on granulated
blast furnace slag ground to the specific surface Ssp = 320–340 м2/g. The slag lime factor amounted to М0 = 1.04.
Soluble glass with silica module was used as an alkali sealer. Siliceous sand with fineness modulus Мf = 2.3 was
used as an aggregate. The tests involved the use of standard bar samples with dimensions of 4 × 4 × 16 cm. The
corrosion resistance of concretes was evaluated by changes in the mass, as well as bending and compression
strength.
Oil products affect not only road surfaces but also surfaces of gas stations and adjacent territories, as well as
surfaces of road transport enterprises. Most damage and destruction of concretes is observed in those areas.
It is known that the strength of Portland cement concrete significantly decreases under the influence of oil
products. It has been established that light oil products (petrol) affect the concrete strength to a lesser extent, and
diesel fuel and oils — to a greater extent. The strength of concrete exposed to the influence of such medium can
decrease by 35–70% depending on the brand of concrete (Vasiliev, 1981). A lower density of concrete at a greater
water/cement ratio, the presence of microdefects cause a greater decrease in strength. For example, a combination of
vibration impacts and impacts of oil products increases the effect of strength decreasing due to intensive formation
of microdefects in the structure of concrete and penetration of oil products into those microdefects (Vorobyev and
Kazakov, 2006).
Alkali activated slag (cement-free) binders can serve as means to increase the performance and durability of
concrete road surfaces. They are obtained by gauging of ground granulated blast-furnace slags with solutions of
alkali metal compounds or by mixed grinding of slags with slightly hygroscopic compounds of these metals. The
structure of alkali activated slag stone is characterized by its porosity. At approximately the same total porosity, the
capillary porosity of alkali activated slag stone is lower than that of Portland cement concrete, whereas the
microporosity of slag-alkaline stone is higher. The volume of submicropores with a size of 8–30 nm in alkali
activated slag stone is 4–5 times larger than the volume of similar pores in cement stone. The data given provide for
high density of materials based on alkali activated slag binders. Their most important properties are water resistance
and frost resistance (Nedeljkovi´c et al., 2018).
Based on alkali activated slag binders, concretes with compression strength up to 140 MPa, frost resistance up to
F1300, high corrosion resistance in sulfate media, crack resistance, increased durability at dynamic loadings can be
obtained (Petrova et al., 2017; Neupane et al., 2018; Oh et al., 2010).
588 Tatiana Petrova et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 36 (2018) 586–590
Tatiana Petrova, Eduard Chistyakov, Yurij Makarov/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

During five years, we have been conducting studies on the corrosion resistance of alkali activated slag concrete
and Portland cement concrete by the method of full immersion of samples into the specially prepared corrosive
organic oil medium.

3. Research and results

Kinetics of the absorption of the organic oil medium by Portland cement concrete and concrete on alkali activated
slag binder gives evidence of its different volume and nature: the absorption by Portland cement concrete amounted
to 3.15% with a sharp leap at the age of concrete of 6–12 months; the absorption by concrete on alkali activated slag
binder amounted to 0.87%, i.e. was 3.6 times lower. The absorption curve is pretty smooth. Such difference is due to
the specifics of the pore structure of alkali activated slag concrete. The influence of a corrosive medium on the
concrete strength is not so unambiguous. The resistance coefficient (RC) of concretes in a corrosive medium was
determined by the ratio between the strength of the studied and the strength of the control samples of the same age,
kept under normal conditions. Throughout the entire period of observation, the resistance coefficient of the samples
tested for bending was higher than the resistance coefficient of the samples tested for compression, and this
difference was much more pronounced for alkali activated slag concrete (Figures 1, 2).

Fig. 1. Kinetics of the absorption of the organic oil medium: 1 — alkali activated slag concrete; 2 — Portland cement concrete.

Fig. 2. Kinetics of changes in the resistance of concrete regarding its strength upon bending (1, 3) and compression (2, 4): 1, 2 — alkali activated
slag concrete; 3, 4 — Portland cement concrete.

The RC values obtained in bending tests shall be considered more indicative as, during compression tests, the
surface lubricating film reduces friction, therefore, it reduces the strength to a greater extent. It is interesting that by
the age of five years alkali activated slag concrete had the RC of 1.15 during bending tests, i.е. the strength during
bending increased by 15%, and the RC of Portland cement concrete was equal to 0.8, i.e. its strength decreased by
20%. It should be noted that, during the experiments, concretes were placed in more severe conditions than road
surface structures since the samples were fully immersed in the corrosive medium. A decrease in the resistance
 Tatiana Petrova et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 36 (2018) 586–590 589
4 Tatiana Petrova, Eduard Chistyakov, Yurij Makarov/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

coefficient should be attributed to the fact that surface-active agents, penetrating the microdefects and pores of
concrete, cause an adsorption decrease in its strength and a wedge effect, which also reduces the strength. Alkali
activated slag concrete has a greater structural homogeneity and fewer open pores, therefore, it has a higher value of
the resistance coefficient.
Experiments have proved that the strongest impact by oil products is exerted on the contact zone of the mortar
phase of concrete with a large-size aggregate. The increased strength in the contact zone of alkali activated slag
concrete with an aggregate serves as an additional positive factor affecting its behavior in a corrosive medium.
According to the results obtained earlier, the resistance of alkali activated slag concrete in sulfur-bearing oil and
mineral oil after two years of storage was three times higher than that of Portland cement concrete, and acidic slag
compositions with М0< 1, made by gauging with soluble glass with М0 = 1.0–2.0 proved to have the highest
resistance (Kuvshinov et al., 1990).
In this connection, the data on the effect of pH = 5–6 and the minimum in the pH range = 12–13 are of great
interest (Figure 3). The minimum values of interfacial tension can reach ultra-low values of 0.01–0.001 mN/m and
sometimes be accompanied by spontaneous emulsification of oil, which contributes to the displacement of oil from
the capillary-porous medium. The maximum on the curves can be explained by the presence of natural cationic,
anionic and amphoteric surface-active agents in oil. The value of interfacial tension at the minimum level is affected
by the properties of oil or oil products (contents of resins and asphaltenes, viscosity) and the water medium
(composition and ionic strength), phase contact time, temperature. A decrease in interfacial tension upon pH shift to
the alkaline side is associated with the neutralization of carboxylic and phenolic groups of anionic surface-active
agents. A double ionic electric layer emerges on the phase boundary between the oil product and alkaline solution. It
is believed that the form of the dependence of oil interfacial tension on the pH value is due to the amphotericity of
the adsorption mixed layer of natural surface-active agents and related to electrochemical properties of the
oil/solution boundary. This boundary has properties of a liquid ion-exchange membrane with a hydrogen function.
Thus, due to a sharp drop of oil products' surface tension in an alkaline medium, an inhibition energy barrier is
formed upon the contact of oil and an alkaline and gaseous medium, preventing the penetration of the corrosive
medium into the body of concrete. The density of the adsorption layer will be lower than the density of the
corresponding liquid concentration in the concrete structure. This effect will be less pronounced for Portland cement
concrete, which, alongside with a different character of porosity, explains a greater possibility of penetration of a
corrosive medium into its structure, and, consequently, a greater decrease in strength.

Fig. 3.A dependence of oil interfacial tension δ (mN/m) on the pH value of the aqueous phase. Ionic strength (kmol/m3): 1 — 0.2; 2 — 0.5; 3 —
1.0; 4 — 4.0; 5 — 6.0.
590 Tatiana Petrova et al. / Transportation Research Procedia 36 (2018) 586–590
Tatiana Petrova, Eduard Chistyakov, Yurij Makarov/ Transportation Research Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

4. Discussion and conclusions

The main advantages of cement concrete road surfaces in comparison with asphalt concrete road surfaces are a
much longer service life and a higher level of performance.
Road surfaces based on alkali-activated slag (cement-free) concrete can serve as an alternative to road surfaces
based on Portland cement.
It has been established that, during five years, when the samples were immersed in a corrosive oil-containing
medium, the absorption of concrete on alkali-activated slag binder was 3.85 times lower than that of concrete on
Portland cement.
The resistance coefficient in bending tests was 1.15 for alkali-activated slag concrete and 0.8 for Portland cement
concrete, which confirms the higher durability of alkali-activated slag concrete under the conditions of its exposure
to a corrosive oil-containing medium. This can be explained by the specifics of the alkali-activated slag concrete
structure.

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