Effects of aggregate size and alkali content on ASR expansion

Attempts to model ASR expansion are usually limited by the difficulty of taking into account the heterogeneous nature and size range of reactive aggregates. This work is a part of an overall project aimed at developing models to predict the potential expansion of concrete containing alkali-reactive aggregates. The paper gives measurements in order to provide experimental data concerning the effect of particle size of an alkali-reactive siliceous limestone on mortar expansion. Results show that no expansion was measured on the mortars using small particles (under 80 µm) while the coarse particles (0.63–1.25 mm) gave the largest expansions (0.33%). When two sizes of aggregate were used, ASR-expansions decreased with the proportion of small particles. Models are proposed to study correlations between the measured expansions and parameters such as the size of aggregates and the alkali and reactive silica contents. The pessimum effect of reactive aggregate size is assessed and the consequences on accelerated laboratory tests are discussed.