Investigation of erosive wear effect on concrete water structures: the case of Porsuk Dam, Turkey

Abstract

Water structures usually consist of concrete surfaces. The concrete surfaces are subjected to erosive wear under the flow of water containing suspended sediment in high concentrations. Such flow-induced erosion is a significant problem for aging structures because it can shorten their service lives. In this study, Bohme, ASTM C 1138 and newly developed Sand-Water Jet abrasion test methods were used to determine the abrasion behavior of different concrete types. Various mineral additives such as fly ash (FA) and blast furnace slag (GBFS) were used to improve the wear resistance of the concrete specimens. In the study, the spillway of the Porsuk Dam from Turkey was chosen as a case study. By taking the spillway concrete recipe of this dam as a reference, its abrasion resistance was analyzed with different mineral-added concrete recipes. According to the results of the study, it was observed that the mixtures using 10% FA and GBFS considerably improved the resistance to abrasion.