This experimental study is aimed at evaluating the hydrodynamic abrasion resistance of concrete produced with recycled waste glass as coarse aggregates. The underwater (ASTM C1138) method is used to test concretes containing 0%, 12.5%, 25%, 50% and 100% glass aggregates as replacement for natural coarse aggregates. To benchmark performance, the abrasion resistance of glass-aggregate concretes is compared with that of a high-strength concrete mixture typically used in coastal defences where abrasion resistance is critical. Further comparison is made with a general application concrete mixture containing crushed limestone coarse aggregates. At 95% confidence, results of the Kruskal-Wallis test show that the use of recycled waste glass as coarse aggregates in concrete at contents of up to 25% does not significantly affect its abrasion resistance. When compared with the typical highstrength mixture with proven field performance, the results of the Kruskal-Wallis test at 95% confidence indicated that abrasion resistance at glass aggregate replacement levels of up to 25% was not significantly different. Concrete produced with 100% recycled waste glass coarse aggregates had comparable abrasion resistance with that produced with 100% crushed limestone coarse aggregates.Additionally, there was a stronger and significant dependence of the abrasion resistance of glassaggregate concretes on tensile splitting strength in comparison to both compressive strength and modulus of elasticity.

In hydraulic structures, abrasion resistance can be a significant driver in concrete specification. Basalt micro-fibres represent a potentially sustainable construction product and have been shown to provide various benefits in concrete, however the implications for hydrodynamic abrasion resistance are to date unclear. This paper is the first investigation of its kind to examine the abrasion resistance of basalt fibre-reinforced (BFR) concretes using the ASTM C1138 underwater test method. Towards this, concretes incorporating fibre dosages of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 3 kg/m3 were tested. The relationships between concrete abrasion and its fundamental mechanical properties are evaluated. For the particular concretes examined, it is found that based on the Shapiro-Wilks tests at 95% confidence, abrasion loss in BFR concretes followed a normal distribution; the use of basalt fibre in contents of up to 3 kg/m3 did not have a significant effect on abrasion resistance, compressive and tensile splitting strengths, as well as modulus of elasticity. It can be concluded that basalt micro-fibre can be used for their other attributes such as controlling bleeding, shrinkage and plastic cracking in concrete hydraulic structures without deleterious effects on abrasion resistance. The regression models proposed to predict concrete abrasion loss from its mechanical properties were found to be only significant at 48 h for compressive strength and 24 h for both tensile splitting strength and modulus of elasticity.

The objective of this experimental investigation is to use the ASTM C1138 (underwater) test method to investigate the influence of the quantity and type of coarse aggregates on the hydrodynamic abrasion resistance of concrete. Thereafter, relationships between the abrasion resistance of concrete with its principal mechanical properties are comparatively examined. It is found that the use of natural coarse aggregates to replace fine aggregates by up to 25% does not significantly affect concrete abrasion performance but the use of recycled tyre rubber aggregates with aspect ratios of ~ 4 to replace 25% of natural coarse aggregates increases abrasion resistance by up to 64% depending on the test duration.Further, concretes produced with natural rounded coarse aggregates of 10 mm significantly outperformed those with angular 20 mm maximum particle size at all test durations by up to 57%.Finally, for the concrete mixtures tested, results indicate that tensile splitting strength is a superior parameter to compressive strength for prediction of concrete abrasion resistance in the ASTM C1138 test and the relations developed for the concretes tested predicted percentage abrasion loss within the margin of ±0.5%.

Although concrete abrasion damage is a major maintenance challenge for coastal structures fronted by beaches with hard coarse sediments, there are no readily available field studies that have measured abrasion damage of known concrete mixtures under defined exposure conditions. The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the abrasive exposure conditions of the concrete revetment armour units at Cleveleys on the Fylde coast of the U.K. and examine the feasibility of using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to measure concrete abrasion damage in field conditions. It was found that the concrete elements at Cleveleys are exposed to a macro-tidal environment, which experiences significant wave heights that vary from 0.42 to 1.92 m, whilst the peak wave periods range from 3.7 to 6.5 s. The beach sediments have a mean size of 26 mm and are moderately sorted. TLS provides a dense point cloud of abraded surfaces suitable for quantitative assessment of concrete abrasion in the field. Based on the measured abrasion depths and exposure durations, the peak concrete abrasion rates at the site varied from 3.5 to 4.5 mm/year, and severe abrasion was concentrated in the region between mean high-water springs and mean high-water neaps, wherein the highest beach levels were also found during the survey. Finally, the abraded surfaces exhibited a polished texture with no visible craters; thus, the mechanism of concrete material loss was by grinding/polishing due to rolling/sliding sediments.