Insights in the chemical fundamentals of ASR and the role of calcium in the early stage based on a 3D reactive transport model

Prediction of alkali silica reaction is still difficult due to the lack of a comprehensive understanding of its chemical fundamentals. In-site experimentally revealing the fundamentals is not realistic as ASR shows over several years or even decades and is affected by many factors. In this paper, by utilizing a 3D reactive-transport simulation model at microscale, we have numerically explored the fundamentals of ASR in the early stage under the influence of reactive silica fraction, alkali concentration, silica disorder degree and aggregate porosity. Based on the simulation results, the chemical sequences of ASR, the initial location of ASR products, the mechanism behind and the role of calcium under the influence of the above factors are elaborated. Furthermore, a comprehensive mechanism to explain the pessimum reactive aggregate content is derived. The results of this paper give some insights about ASR in the early stage such as the initial expansion locations.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Materials and Environmen