Experimental study of concrete abrasion due to ice friction — Part I: Set-up, ice abrasion vs. material properties and exposure conditions

An accelerated ice abrasion test method has been developed as a part of the study. Through laboratory testing, ice abrasion properties of concrete have been investigated as a function of concrete compressive strength (fc), nominal ice pressure (Pice) and ice temperature (Tice). The testing was done by sliding a vertically oriented fresh-water ice cylinder in a repetitive back and forth motion on the surface of the concrete specimens. The experiments consisted of two series; one containing laboratory cast specimens without any preceding surface preparation and one with the upper surface removed by sawing. The latter series contained both field samples from an offshore concrete lighthouse and laboratory cast specimens. Pice were the most important experimental variables governing ice abrasion rates of concrete. Abrasion rates decreased with increasing fc. There was measured an increase in abrasion rates by increasing Pice. For some experiments a tripling in Pice (from 0.5 to 1.5 MPa) led to a quadratic increase in abrasion rates. The experimental results were ambiguous with regard to the effect of Tice on abrasion and no clear relation between the two could be drawn in the present study. e significant scatter, the experiments showed that the coefficient of kinetic friction decreased with increasing Pice and fc. By assuming a Mohr–Coulomb-like model, we estimated a cohesion of 17 kPa and a friction angle of 0.34° (tan φ = 0.006) for testing where Pice varied between 0.5 and 1.5 MPa. udy included separate measurements of mortar vs. aggregate abrasion relative to the bulk abrasion in concrete. Mortar abrasion was between 25 and 84% greater than the bulk abrasion while aggregate abrasion was approximately half the bulk abrasion. Mortar abrasion was closer to the concrete bulk abrasion for specimens with high strength.