Accelerated protocol for measurement of carbonation through a crack surface

This paper introduces a method for accelerating experiments to quantify gaseous carbonation of cementitious materials through a sheltered crack surface. To date the majority of measurements of carbonation have focused upon the determination of the carbonation reaction through an open material face with no restriction to gaseous exposure. Experiments to determine the extent of carbonation through a crack surface can verify the extent to which restrictions of gaseous exposure can alter rates of carbonation into the crack surface as well as the depth into the crack to which the reaction occurs.The paper demonstrates that with experimental data the accelerated protocol can produce differences in outcomes in time intervals that are short relative to those in which the reaction occurs naturally. The experiment conducted to demonstrate the viability of the accelerated protocol involved measuring differences in the penetration of carbonation into the crack surface that resulted from differences in crack width. A byproduct of this experiment was a measurement of the depth into the crack (from the material face) to which carbonation occurs. It is not the intent of the paper to develop a theory of rates of carbonation, but rather to demonstrate that statistical differences are obtainable with the accelerated protocol.