ML20027A500

Forwards Dh Campbell & Lm Meyer Repts W/Results of Petrographic Examination,Compressive Strengths & Chem Analysis of Concrete Cylinders & Other Samples.Basemat Concrete Probably Exceeds 5000 Psi Strength Requirement

ML20027A500
Person / Time
Site:	Wolf Creek
Issue date:	04/19/1978
From:	Shideler J PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION
To:	Charles Phillips DANIEL INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SUBS. OF FLUOR CORP.)
Shared Package
ML20027A495	List: ML20027A494 ML20027A496 ML20027A497 ML20027A498 ML20027A499 ML20027A500 ML20027A501
References
NUDOCS 7812110279
Download: ML20027A500 (8)

Text

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This letter and report were trans6itte by telecopier to you on 4/20/78 and te

,.o w.,% roattso cte.itur anoci4nou Mr.. Bernie Meyers at BechtelPower Corp on 4/20/78.

Copy is also being r. nile @

. April 19, 1978 to Mr. Meyers.

4/24/78 J. J. Shideler Mr. Chris L. Phillips Project Civil Enginecr' Daniel International Corporation P.O. Box 146 Strawn, Kansas 6G839 Re: Reactor Basement Concrete D

wo2f Creek Generating Station Mr. Phillips:

Attached are reports by D.

H. Campbell and L. M. Meyer,giving results of petrographic examination, compressive strengths and chemical analysis of concrcte. cylinders and other samples -

covered by your Purchace. Order 7158-NS-00417 dated 3/27/74i.

Thesei reports will confirm information diccessed with you at our meeting on April 6 and in subsequent telephone conversatit I beliebe the reports are complete and self-explanatory, but ylease consider them.tontative at thic time.

It is our opinion that the concrete in the "basemat', as repr sented by the comples tested, is of high quality and most lik exceeds the 5000 psi stren'gth requirement of the specificatic

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It would appear to us that the disparity betwe.:n the 90--day "basemat" and the more recent comparati strength data for the sers.es with PCA may have been due to improved maintenance of '

the testing equipment, and tecting proced'uies by Daniel.

Sincercly yours, n

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'h J.

eler, Director i

Administrative & Technical Services I

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1g Cd O407 Copy to -

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Kunre E. Hognestad

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I L. M. Meyer D.

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Campbell 78121102 19

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April 19, 1978 Subicer:

Wolf Creek Generating Station (Daniel International Corp.)

This report concerns petrographic examination, air content, and compressive-s trength tests.

Eleven compression-tested 6x12" concrete cylinders, and.sar.ples of coarse and fine aggregates, cement, and admixtures were received (late March) from Mr. Chris L.

Phillips of Daniel International for study relating to reported loss of strength-at 90 days.

The samples represent materials reportedly used in the Wolf Creek Reactor Basemat.

In addition, 20 previously untested Gx12" cylinders and 32 remnants of broken (compression =

fr tested) cylinders were received,on April 13, 1978, for further testing Pctrographic examination and' air content, determinations were performed on the following cylinders:

~90 Day comeressive st/eneth cylinder No.

(psi, Danici cata) 6503 4190 6444 4640 6784 4780 6850 6640 Conclusions Microscopic analysis reveal's no evidence which could conceif-ably cause 'significant strength reduction at 90 days.

Cylinder strength may have been affected slightly by minor differences in air content und water-ccment ratio.

The concrete appears to be of high quality, with strengths apparently well above the 5000 psi specification at 90 days.

PCA determined compressive strengths on 2x2" cubes cut from previously tested cylinders representing the December 12-13 pour.

The average comprescive strength of these cubes was 5970 psi with a minimum value of 5060.

These values are 80 percent of the actual test values to correct for the differen=e between cylinder and cube strengths.

In a series to' determine the comparability of the Daniel testing procedures with those of PCA, twenty companion cylinders' cast about January 14 (from the power block) were tested both by Daniel and PCA.

There is remarkable aggreement between the two sets of test data.

cyline der fracture patterns developed on PCA-tested and Daniel-tested cylinders are broadly similar, being a ccabination of diagonal

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a ge.w ur ei'---'

knc-Conical forms.

It was noted that many of the untested 6x12*

cylinders displayed rounded bottom-cnds, reflecting a non-planar cold curfact, and perhaps explaining the ccourrence of diago-nelly formed becaks.

Methods Each cylinder in the above list was sawn transversely at a dis-

. tance of approximately 2 inches from the capped cnd.

The capped end-pieces were then poliched for determination of air content by Lin.mv Tescovea ( LcT,5 C-457).

.% amall coro (3/4 inoh diam-cuer) was taken from each capped end-piece for thin sectioning.

A thin section is a concrete clice mounted on a glass ' microscope slide with epoxy cement and reduced to a thicknecc of 25 microns for microscopic eramination with plane polarized light.

Thin sections were numerically coded so that observations would not be bisced by strength data.

The rcmaining portion of the cylinder was crushed for cement content determination.

Description and Discussion cylinder _Mo.

6784 - Fracture surface produced by compression test passes through aggregates.

Fracture surfaces "orm sub-conical pattern with transverse crcck'at mid-cylinder.

Paste is hard and firmly binds the aggregates.

Aggregaten appea'r evenly graded, properly proportioned, and unif ormly distributed.

coarse aggregatc. is crushed l'imestone described an fossili-ferous, pyritic, medium-grained, microcrystalline, or combinn-ticas of thecc types.

Aggregate top-sire ic 3/4 inch.

Fine aggregate co: wists of a natural sand containing quartz, microcline feldspar, and metaquar tzite.

Chert is scarce.

Aggregate (limestone) dust occurs in truce amounts.

The' aggregates are normally' considered non-renetive in low-alkali cements and are judged to be of low porosity and per-meability and moderate durability.

No reactioh products were observed.

l The paste centtins portland coment ydration products (calcium silicate hydrate and calcium hydroxide, primarily) and unhy-drated portland cement grains (UPC's), the latter ranking 5 on relati ne ahnn. anr.*ll.snn la of 0-10.

UPQ's consist mainiv of d

adark ferrite and ye ow-amber 5011 e.

Ahe relative anuncance of f errite suggests an iron-rich cement.-

Residual alite crys-tals show prominent rims.

calcium hydroxide crystals occur as small irregular massen in the paste and adjacent to aggregates; y blade-form crystals are common.

The abundance of calcium hydroxide and UPC'c suggest a moderate water-cement ratio.

Minor concentration of UPC's adjacent to coar:0 aggregates sug-gests the possibility of some inadecuate mixing.

Most of the t

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voide contain tracer. of calcium silicate hydente or attringite

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occurring as very thin films only partially concing the void surfaces.

Cylinder No.,6444 - Fracture surfaces and aggregates as pre ~

viously described.

F racture surfaces f orm half-conical pattera' with transverse fracture at mid-cylinder.

Paste characteris-ties are apparently no different from Cylinder No. G784, except 7

UFC's are slightly more abundant, ranking 5 In addition,

=**rinn i te needles nnnnr in trage agou,n ts in a few voids.

Cglinder No. 6S50 - Compression test fracture surfaces and aggregater as previously described.

Fracture surf accc oriented mainly along cylinder length.

Paste characteristics are gen-erolly similar to.C 6784, but UFC abundance is higher, ranking G" ylinder No.

on the 0-10 scale, suggesting a relatively low wa ter-cement ratio. Relative air content is lowest in., this sa'mple,

Cylinder Ko. G503 - Tracture surfaces and cggregates as pre'-

r viously described for Cylinder No. 6764.

Tracture pattern show Paste characteris-prominent. orientation along cylinder length.

tics are also similar.

Ecsults of Linear Traverse Tests (ASTM C-4571 specific spacing Surface Factor Absorpt

, Unit Wt.

vioids/in.

in.2 jth,3 in, t

cv1. yo.

ecf

% Ai'r 6503 145.5 4.8 7.7 640

.007 5.4 6444 146.3 5.8 8.7 600

.007 S. */

6784 145.8 5.6 8.9 639

.007 5.0 G850 147.1 3.3 4.3 515

.011 5.8 indiente a relatively low air content and water-

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These date rati6 for the reported high ctrength cylinder, and ray

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cement for some of the differences in strength account, in part, between the cylinders.

Comoressive Strencth Tests-Compressive strength' data for the 2x2" cubec' cut from selected broken cylinders, received April 13, 1978, are given in Table I.

Note.that these have been corrected by a value of 80 percent to indica te the difference between cylinder and cube strenghts.

The compressive strength cf the cvlinders tested by Daniel,-

from which the cubes were cut, are also. reported in the table.

strength of the cubes (corrected by the averace compressivewas 5970 psi as compared to 5370 psi on the cy'lin-The i

20 percent) l The average compressive strengths of the 20 cylinders tested by Daniel and PCA are 6470 and 6220 psi, respectively, ders.

which indicates good agreement.

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o Attachment to CLY.-:

PC92 M. cf G

.,,p e t i.19, 1978 Subicct:

Wolf Creek Generating Station

( c a. 1 w :. rut _arnationc2. cur.p. )

Attached is our chemical analysis report. covering the results of tests for the cement content, approximate water-cement rctio and admixture content of hardened concrete.

Also included are the results of selected tests performed on the two samplos of Ash Grove Typc II cement we received on April 13, 1979.

This work was conducted relative to reports that concrete placed in the Reacter Basemat was low in compressive, strength at 90 days.

Conclusions

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1.

The ecment contents of all the samples selected for analysis were cc=uarc0ic' to tha t noecified in the concrete mi desier (564 lbs/yd').

The c ooroxima te wa te r-cep.en_t _ ra_ tics deter-nined for the same samples were.below the level incicated

.in the mix desian.

2.

The chemical admixtures specified in the mix design appearec to be Dresent in tne concrete samples we tested at the appropFinte_eosao* 1evels.

No indication of improper adv.ix-ture rormulation (Poz=o tith, 3 0 0-N and M3VR). was observed.

3.

To date no significant. differences between the two samples of Ash Grove Type II cement (C-UT-16 and C-UT-17) have baen detected.

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Mff L. M. Meyer, Manager Technical Services section 0

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Chemical _Analvcis Reuort A.

Datermination of Cement Content and Approximate Wate:-Cement Ratio of Hardened Concrete The cement contents and approximate water-ccment ratios of the four tested cylinders chosen by Dr. Campbell for petrographic annlyses and moucurements of air content also were determined.

The results are presented in the attached analytical report by its. D. L.

Glochowsky.

The data shows the cement contents of Cylinder Nos. 6503, 6.784 and 6850 were comparable to that specified in the concrete mir design _(5G4 lbs/yd#).

Although ne cement content of cylin-der No. 6444 was slightly below the specified amount, the value obtalnco was wir.181st L.lse L a n g e o r c 7. p e t 4 t.e sat. a 1 m et r o s: norman;r anticipated for this test (

30 lbs/yd-').

The approximate water-ccment ratio of all four' cylinders, assuming an overall

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aggregate absorption of 1. 5%, was below the level indicated in the mix' design (w/c = ~0.49).

E.

Analysis of Chemical Admixtures, The samp1'es of water-reducing admixture, identified as Master Buildere pozcolith 300-N (ASTM C-494, Type A), and air-

<_ n t... i n i n s none. La nt.ifi.ca me 14 = = i =

• un i l,% n :.mVR (ASTM C-260), were subjected to certain chemien1 and physical tests for purposes of characteri=ntion.

The results of our tests showed both. admixtures were similar in physical and chemical properties to other samoles similarly identifica and characterized previously at PCA.

One of the major components of Pozzolith 300-N, lignin sul.fonnte, appeared to have been. sulfonated to a somewhat lesser ertent than had been found in the earlier samples, but we do not know what affect, if any, this might hsve on admixture performance at j

this time.

C.

Analysis of Hardened Concrete for Presence of Che=ical Admixtures Four concrete cylinders were selected for che:ical analysis en the basis of their reported 90 day compressive strength values.

These cylinderc were as follows:

No. 6857 (6420 psi), No. 6432 (5020 psi), No. 6414 (5110 psi) and No. 6623 (2870 psi?).

The-

. latter two cylinders were combined into one sample because of insufficient unmple sice.

The th'ree concre te samples then vare -

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annly=ed for the presenc.e of a water-reducing admixture, -

po==olith 300-M and an air-entraining agent.

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".:. r ' The results of our chemical analyses showed a water-reducing

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ed.ixture similar in co=pesition to ?c==olith 300-N was presr.:,

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'in nll three samples of ' concrete at a level of lese than 3 f1'.or./100 lbs of cement (app roxima te' threshold level of detec-J tabili ty).

No significant difference in admixture level was observed between the three samples.

Analyciz of the concrete semples for the presence of th:r air-entraining admixture was more difficult due to some minor cen- '

tamination by " oxidized" oils (possibly materials from lubri-cating agents or materials present in sulfur cepping compound).

The r. noun t of these "exdined" oils was lens than 0.005% by weight of concreto.

The air-en. training agent (*nMr1 hav.* haen masked by these " oxidized" cils, but it appears there was not an excess of air-entraining agent present in the concrete.

D.

Analysis of. Portland Cement Two camples of portland ecment, reported to ba Ash Grove Type II (Chanute, Kansas plant) and identified as C-UT-lG (Bin f36, 11/21/77) and C-UT-17 (Bin 136, 12/12/77), were subjected to

. c select.ed chemical and physien1 tests to determine if signifi-cant dif ferences existed between them.

The chemical tests include.d X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD) and determinaticas of 50 content and loss on ignition (LOI); the physical tests indluded specific surface (Blaine, air permeability) and parti-

- cle size distribution (Sedigraph 5000).

The results showed there were no significant dif farences between' cement samples based upon the test results obtained to date. ' Soth XED scans and sedigraph particle size distributic.

curves were vir tut.lly iden t.ica.L.

Tne other valisen uid.m in=d won==

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SO Contant Specific Surf' ace L. O. 't '.

3 Sample _

(% by vt. ).

(% by wt.)

(Bla ine, em /cm) 1.07 2,08 3460 C-UT-16 C-UT-17 0.96 2.09 3465 9

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CT-0407 CompletionD$tus 4/5/7h

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Sulfur Trioxide Method Tcst. He D.cd

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Sneple Identification:

6444 6503 s784 68!

Cemen t cc: stent, lb s. /yd.'.3 :

.540 S70-560

,,575 Unit weight, 1bs./ft.3:

S.S.D.

145.4 145.5.

145.8 i47.

137.6 138,0 138.9

129, Oven Dry (G 105 'C)

Free water z.bscrption, V,:

5.7 5.4 50 5.

(Oven dry weigh t basis) a.

' Combined water centent, %:

2.41 2.61 2.59 2.

(Oven dry weight basic)

I Total water', lbs./yd. :

300

'. 300 285 310 wat' r)~ater t goinbined (Frea w c

Approximate W/C:

0.47' O.45 0.42 0.

(Corrected for aggregate

" ~

. absorption)

Total dry aggregate, lbs./yd.": 30,S5 3060

3090, 3075 Approximate C.A./F.A.:

.Not Determined Air void content -

'.sse' report by D.

H.. Cdmpbell

"' ASTM C457:

~. Estimated-l Comments :

ASTM C-ll4 Diodified) l Sabule

% SO, (by vt.)

Cod m ;c:

46444 0.33 45503 0.35

' 96784 0.34 0.35 16850 Aggregates Nogligible (Fine and C% arse)

., Cement 50 <,281 as determined by Leco Induction Turnace (tote i

culfur as SO ).

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GLGCHCWE n' Assistant F. eses.rch Cher.is:

Technical Services St tien l

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