Influence of self-compacting concrete composition on sulfuric acid attack

Sulfuric acid attack on concrete has been reported for over a century. Many scientific papers deal with the issue of concrete damage due to sulfate and sulfuric attack. The introduction of self-compacting concrete introduces new questions related to the behaviour of powder-rich mixtures in a sulfate environment. This paper describes a simple testing method to investigate the influence of the concrete composition on the sulfuric acid attack. Concrete samples have been submerged in a sulfate solution, with a pH varying between 1.7 and 2.0. The mass variation has been recorded during 26 weeks, and the compressive strength of the submerged samples has been compared with reference samples at an age of 6, 13 and 26 weeks. Results indicate that SCC with limestone filler shows a significantly higher resistance against sulphuric acid attack, compared with SCC with fly ash and quartz filler and compared with traditional concrete. The type of superplasticizer does not have a significant influence