A probabilistic technique for entrained air void analysis in hardened concrete

Assessing the efficiency of entrained air voids for freeze-thaw durability through modeling

“…Since M is probabilistic, it is simply defined at a reasonably high confidence level. For a more detailed treatment of the model, refer to [17].…”

“…In [17], the authors introduced a technique to reconstruct the 3D size distribution of entrained air voids in hardened concrete from 2D digital images, and to interpret that size distribution in terms of a probabilistic maximum spacing between a random point in the hydrated cement paste and the periphery of the nearest entrained air void. First, samples of concrete are prepared for analysis.…”

“…For a detailed discussion of the stereological techniques used to obtain these parameters, the reader is referred to [17]. Note that ϕ air and ρ air are defined per unit volume of the union of the air voids with the hydrated cement paste matrix (i.e., excluding the volume of the aggregates, as the aggregates are here considered to play no role in the freeze-thaw resistance).…”

“…This section begins with an overview of the analytical model and its application to the entrained air void system proposed [17], including the spacing factor M, as a potential replacement to the ASTM C457 spacing factor, L [9]. Parameters which describe the size distribution are introduced.…”

“…A key finding of [8] was that the theoretical nearest-surface model by Lu and Torquato [16] had the potential to outperform existing statistics of the entrained air void system and spacing. In [17], Mayercsik et al argued that advances in technology and theory since the mid-twentieth century presented a potential opportunity to improve upon methods for assessing the quality of air entrainment in concrete. Drawing on the nearest-surface model, a novel spacing factor, M, was proposed.…”