This study aims to evaluate the effects of alkali silica reaction (ASR) on mechanical behaviour of cement based materials. Two mortars are fabricated respectively with reactive and non-reactive aggregates. After a maturation period of 28 days, triaxial compression tests with…
This study aims to evaluate the effects of alkali silica reaction (ASR) on mechanical behaviour of cement based materials. Two mortars are fabricated respectively with reactive and non-reactive aggregates. After a maturation period of 28 days, triaxial compression tests with confining pressures of 0, 5 and 15MPa and bending tests are performed on a part of the samples in order to obtain a reference state as the sound material. The other part of samples is subjected to a controlled environment with temperature of 60°C and relative humidity of 95% for ASR development, and the axial expansion of the two mortars is monitored. It is observed that after storage period of samples in controlled environment, the triaxial compressive strength increase of the reactive mortar is more significant than that of the non-reactive one. According to the results of microstructural analyses, this can be attributed to the more compact microstructure of the reactive mortar compared with the non-reactive one. However, the ASR process leads to the deterioration of the Young’s modulus and bending strength of the reactive mortar. Therefore, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus are more significantly affected by the ASR induced damage than the compressive strength.