National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

In the past, achieving high strength was considered by TxDOT as the main design criteria to formulate high performance concrete. TxDOT considers mix design options 1-4 in item 421 as high performance concrete (HPC) and these options were developed for ASR mitigation and not for other durability aspects. Very little work has been done to determine if these options are adequate to provide long-term durability often needed when HPC is specified. The main objective of this study is to develop performance specification for high performance concrete in order to ensure high performance in terms of durability. The researcher team will conduct a combination of both field investigation and laboratory study in order to achieve this objective. The researcher team will use both conventional and innovative new lab testing methods to determine the key performance characteristics (i.e., prescribing acceptable limits of permeability, shrinkage, surface resistivity, and chloride ingress - basis for developing performance specification) followed by developing specific prescriptive requirements in order to formulate wide varieties of prescriptive mixes that can meet the durability requirements matching with different exposure conditions.