Determinación de la porosidad y la permeabilidad del hormigón endurecido

The calculation of porosity and permeability on hardened concrete

The resistance of concrete is generally considered to be its most valuable quality given its easy determination and combination with other properties. When concrete is used for structures subjected to an aggresive environment or in hydraulic structures then this characteristic although very valuable ecomes of secondary importance. Those properties which determine the interaction of the concrete with the aggresive environment and which govern, to a greater or lesser extent, the durability of the concrete, grow in importance. In this article the national and international standards which govern the determination of the porosity and permeability of concretes are revised. Some modifications are proposed to the existing standards and later a method is put forward for their evaluation. The method to determine open porosity is based on the Standard RILEM CPC 11.3, certain variations are made in the methodology of the test, with the aim of obtaining the open porosity in the shortest possible time. The proposed method of determining the permeability of the concrete is based on measuring the permeability of the concrete to oxygen. A cell has been developed for the confinement of the sample as well as all the parameters that define the test. This is a quick non-destructive method that has been correlated with the permeability to water within the range of permeabilities for structural concretes.