CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS RESEARCH PROJECTS AT COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

 

 

COULOMB TEST                                                   Back to home page

 

Full Title:  Measurement of Chloride Transport in Concrete

Status:  This work was carried out by two PhD students.  The second student was funded by the EU Alban programme.

 

In this project, a test which uses an applied voltage to measure the ability of concrete to protect embedded reinforcement from chlorides, was analyzed in detail. By using numerical and analytical models, an understanding of the basic processes which take place during the test has been developed, and this was used to propose methods to make the test more effective.

 

The presentation below gives an explanation of how the modelling works.  Basic physics is used to show that the voltage fall across the sample does not remain linear during the test.  The computer programme calculates this distribution.  It is proposed that measuring the mid-point voltage during the test could greatly improve it as a predictor of durability.

 

Powerpoint presentation

 

 

 

The following files relate to our latest publication in Materials Chemistry and Physics and have been uploaded Summer 2009

 

This file is the procedure for running the Neural Network in MatLab:    Coulomb tests\tutorial ANNcoventry v2.0.doc

 

 

These 2 files are Excel spreadsheets for running the electrochemical model as visual basic macros

 

This file is for voltage control:   Coulomb tests\Voltage control CMS.xls

 

This file is for current control:  Coulomb tests\Current control CMS.xls