ABSTRACT
Internal relative humidity measurements of the type reported in reference 8 suggest that during the initial stages of drying, water is lost primarily from the cover concrete and that relative humidity profiles are not greatly affected by the different experimental conditions detailed in Table 2. Thus it was possible to view the weight loss after 18 days of exposure as an approximate measure of the empty porosity in the carbonating region of the concrete. The results in Figure 7 suggest that this measure of weight loss correlates reasonably well with carbonation depth. Weight loss results from the small paste prism stored in cavities’ cast into the concretes also correlated with carbonation depths and supported the idea that carbonation rates depend upon the empty porosity of the matrix phase in cover concrete.
