BAY OF FUNDY, Maine - The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)'s Dr. Robert Moser, Dr. Todd Rushing, Jedadiah Burroughs, Wendy Long, and Kirk Walker, all from the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, and Chris Lunderman, Information Technology Laboratory, initiated new long-term durability research during field work at the Treat Island Natural Weather Station off the coast of Eastport, Maine.
The field work, conducted during a Sept. 3-6 site visit, included assessment and coring of existing field exposure concrete repair slab specimens placed in the mid-1990s under the Repair, Evaluation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation program, in addition to upgrades of the pier and wharf structure, including a remote weather monitoring system.
New test specimens, including various ERDC-developed ultra-high performance concrete formulations, fly ash and slag-based geopolymer concretes, calcium sulfoaluminate cement-based rapid repair concretes, and ordinary Portland cement-based concrete control specimens, were also placed for long-term field durability testing.
This work represents initiation of some of the first long-term field durability testing of these emerging infrastructure materials.
Future work at the facility will include the installation of cameras for remotely monitoring the site and placement of additional test specimens for long-term field durability testing.
ERDC's Treat Island Natural Weather Station is located on the Bay of Fundy, near Eastport, the most eastern city in the U.S. The station is a long-term natural weathering facility that has been in continuous use since 1936 to study concrete durability. The facility's geographical location naturally imposes a combination of severe environmental conditions to include tide levels that vary by as much as 22 feet. Temperatures during the coldest part of the winter range from minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit to 37 degrees Fahrenheit, making this site a perfect place to test marine-type conditions on materials such as concrete.