A BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE LEACHING PROCESS

IN THE BACKFILL CONCRETE OF A POWERHOUSE

*
Cláudio Neumann Junior , Ana Carolina P. Santos†, Étore F. de Faria‡
*
Itaipu Binacional / UNILA – Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana
Avenida Tancredo Neves, 6731 – Foz do Iguaçu – PR, Brasil
e-mail: [email protected], webpage: www.itaipu.gov.br

Keywords: Leaching in Dams; Structure Aging; Durability of Concrete

Abstract. The long-term behavior of concrete is an important topic where critical

infrastructure projects are concerned. Deterioration of concrete structures subjected to
aggressive water is often characterized by the leaching process that occurs gradually in
structures in long-term contact with water. Leaching or lime-leaching refers to CaO (in
reality Ca2+ and OH–) being removed from the concrete by dissolution in water. Leaching
enlarges the pore system of the concrete temporarily increasing the permeability,
although dissolved ions may later precipitate inside the pore system, reducing the
permeability of the parts involved. Some variables are involved to a greater or lesser
degree in such an event, such as hydrostatic pressure or environmental conditions. This
study aims to advance research related to the leaching process in the foundation concrete
of the Itaipu hydroelectric powerhouse. Previous analysis carried out up to 1993
indicated that there were no risks to the stability of this structure, which could negatively
impact the operation of the electromechanical equipment, this being the reason why these
analyzes have been partially discontinued since then. Although the instrumentation
demonstrates satisfactory behavior of this section, there have been no specific studies
regarding the recent characteristics of this section’s concrete. Among drains that exist in
this region of the foundation, three of them concentrate the largest flows, currently about
2 l/s, whose chemical analyzes indicate that the concrete leaching still occurs, although
the dissolved compound contents are much smaller than those at the beginning of the
process. Concrete samples will be extracted to carry out laboratory tests, including
compressive strength, to complement chemical tests and establish correlation between
them, analyzing the long-term effects of leaching in this section.

1 INTRODUCTION
Concrete is a reactive porous material and has hydrates and water as the main components.
Its solid phases are in thermodynamic equilibrium with the chemical solutions inside of the
surrounding pores, with calcium being the main chemical element of the cement paste 1.
Cementitious materials are widely applied in structures such as chemical industries,
nuclear power plants, dams, ports, bridges, tunnels, pipelines, water reservoirs and other
submerged constructions. Because they have continuous contact with water, they are easily
corroded by it, and structural performance reduction occurs 2-5.

†
UNILA – Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana
‡
Itaipu Binacional

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

Degradation due to calcium leaching has been reported since the 1920s. Despite this, there
are few cases in which simple structures have been damaged by this process, since the rate of
degradation is relatively slow 6.
Alterations in the cement paste caused by dissolution are not usually a matter of interest
for concrete works in general. However, in special concrete structures, the phenomenon of
leaching becomes important 7.
In order to guarantee long life of hydraulic structures, a better understanding of the effects
of natural waters on the deterioration of concrete is required 5, 8.

2 THEORETICAL REFERENCES

2.1 General definitions of leaching

Calcium leaching is a process of chemical degradation 1, whereby there is mass transport
from a solid to a liquid 9, depending on the differences in composition and concentration
between the water in contact with concrete and the internal solution of their pores 1, 4, 8, 10.
The most vulnerable components of the paste to dissolution are portlandite (calcium
hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) and calcite (calcium carbonate (CaCO3)) 11. The concentration of the pore
solution is decreased, and finally the solid calcium of the structure gradually dissolves 2, 10.

2.2 Decalcifying agents

Cement-based materials like paste, mortar and concrete are subject to leaching when in
contact with constantly renewed liquids such as pure, distilled, deionized, sweet or
desalinated water, who acts as solvents 2, 4, 8, 9.
Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) can be leached by long-term water flows 4, but the concrete
performance also depends on the chemical environment where it is exposed 3.
Under natural conditions, although the progress of the leaching front has velocity of a few
millimeters in hundreds of years, it is considered one of the most important processes of
concrete degradation in the long term, especially if in aggressive environments where the
combination with the chemical attack may be even more critical 5.

2.3 Effects on porosity, density and absorption

Many researchers have reported the cementitious materials performance against leaching,
noting that there is an increase in porosity of the cement paste over time 1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12. As the
microstructure changes, the permeability increases and the mass density decreases 2-5, 7, 11.
In the process of calcium leaching, pores or porosity play a very important role. First, the
dissolution and diffusion of the calcium ions occur in the solution inside the pores.
Subsequently, the dissolution of the calcium of the structure will generate new pores in the
space. Further, this new increase in porosity will result in a higher diffusion coefficient or
permeability, which will further accelerate the leaching process, in a progressive effect 3, 10.
Exposure to long-term leaching can significantly alter surface concrete 8, which leads to a
reduction of the concrete's protective effect on steel bars 2, as a function of pH decrease,
inducing corrosion of reinforcement 5.

2.4 Effects on mechanical properties

Leaching caused by fresh water is one of the most significant factors related to Portland
cement-based pastes, mortars and concretes durability 3, 4.
This phenomenon leads to the degradation of the mechanical properties of the material 1-4, 9, 11.
It is possible to observe the stress-strain diagrams who illustrate the significant reduction on the
material stiffness 12.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

The impact of calcium leaching on the dimensional stability of concrete works requires
new approaches to the design and operation of critical structures to ensure the integrity of the
material and structure for long periods of time 13.

2.5 Evaluation through microscopic tests

Microscopic methods have been used to evaluate the material composition and
microstructural morphology of cement pastes subjected to leaching, such as scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) 2-4,8-10, spectrometry 3, X-ray diffraction (XRD) 2,4,8 and thermogravimetry 8.
However, since SEM only deals with surface aspects, it is still very difficult to obtain the
spatial distribution of porosity. Thus, another feature is computed tomography, which allows
internal observation in three dimensions of the sample pores with no need of special
preparations of it 10.

2.6 Accelerated tests

Considering that leaching in natural environment is very slow, some accelerated
experimental procedures have been carried out 2,5,9, including the use of small sample sizes,
large volumes or frequent leach fluid exchanges and high temperatures 9. These tests are
necessary to calibrate mathematical models and validate them 1.
Other methodologies consider the use of chemical solutions such as ammonium
nitrate 1-3, 5, 11-13 or ammonium chloride 3. There are also processes with electric fields
application, use of deionized water and tests under flow conditions 5.

2.7 Some studies around the world

Leaching has been extensively studied in the last two decades 10 and many researchers
have discussed the physical and mechanical properties of cementitious materials subject to
leaching 3 or long term damage caused by natural water attack 11.
Despite this, the relationship between the mechanical properties and the duration of the
process has been rarely quantified in the literature 3. There is also limited data comparing the
physical and microstructural properties of cement mortars pre and post-leaching 4,5,7,9.
One of the rare real-time experiments cited in the literature was carried out by
TRAGARDH and LAGERBLAD 14, in which several samples of concrete from a reservoir
that underwent water attack during 90 years were analyzed, having been observed an increase
of the porosity resulting from the dissolution of the phases of the within a degradation zone of
approximately 9 mm in thickness.
Leaching degradation was also observed in a few cases of hydroelectric power plants or
projects related to water supply after long periods of operation of approximately 100 years 6.
Another study was developed by ROSENGVIST et al 8 and discussed the mechanisms of
change in a concrete exposed for 55 years to the water of the Ångermanälven river, in the
north of Sweden. It was observed that calcium components leaching significantly increases
the harmful effects of freezing and abrasion in the deterioration rate of the surface.
However, further investigations are necessary to establish other effects such as water
composition (hardness and pH), or whether it is current or stationary 11.

2.8 Results obtained in the literature

Initial evaluation procedures usually involve the application of phenolphthalein solution to
surfaces to identify the depth of Ca(OH)2 leaching 11. Its pink to violet color corresponds to
high pH, higher than 9.5, by the presence of calcium hydroxide, whereas areas without this
color are those where leaching has already occurred 8, 11.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

There is also mention of the beneficial effects of fine particles of pozzolanic silica on
leaching and consequent deterioration 11, whereas for the results of the analysis of samples
with incorporation of appropriate amount of slag showed low rate of microstructural
deterioration and good resistance to leaching , when compared to samples without slag 2, 4.
Regarding to the water / cement ratio (w/c), it was observed 2,3 that exists proportional
relationship between porosity and w/c ratio. The models with low w/c ratio 6 also showed
greater resistance to leaching.
There is a linear relationship between the depth of attack (distance from the sample
surface to the dissolution front) and the square root of time 7, 11, although the leaching depth
still strongly depends on the cement type, the material compactness, the aggregates presence
and also the chemical characteristics of the surrounding environment 3, 11 and temperature 3, 6,
since this one increases the diffusion rate.
Chemical and mineralogical characterization of concrete samples from different points of
the structure under study can also provide information on the effects of leaching and
hydrostatic pressure on cement paste change 8.

3 MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 General data of Itaipu power plant

Itaipu Hydroelectric power plant is a binational entity located at Paraná River, on the border
between Brazil and Paraguay (Figure 1), built between 1975 and 1982 by both countries.

Figure 1: Itaipu power plant: (a) Partial view; (b) Plan.

The dam is 7,370 m long and has a maximum height of 196 m. Its structure is composed
by five kinds of dams: the rockfill dam, formed by a core of compacted clay, lined with rock
blocks from the Diversion Channel excavations; the earth dam made of clay from the
excavations of the rockfill foundation and its neighbor areas; and concrete of the hollow
gravity, gravity dam and buttress dam.
The Powerhouse is located downstream of the Main Dam and its central region, between
the generating units U6 and U10 (later, units from U9 were renamed due to the inclusion of
U9A and U18A), in the Paraná river basin, required excavations of the alluvial material
between Elevations 35 and 54, in an approximate volume of 150,000 m3, which was replaced
by concrete, here called “backfill concrete” 15.
Figure 2 shows the excavations plan the for the Powerhouse, while Figure 3 shows
portions of this region more closely, in plan and longitudinal section, which corresponds to
B-B section indicated in Figure 2. The backfill concrete replacement was highlighted in blue.
It is also important to mention that each block of the generating units are 34 meters wide and
99.70 m long in the upstream-downstream direction.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

Figure 2 - Main Dam and Powerhouse excavation plan.

Figure 3 – Excavations details: (a) plan; (b) longitudinal B-B section.

The concrete specified for this site had compressive strength of 10 MPa at 365 days with
aggregates up to 152 mm diameter. Continuous layers of 50 centimeters thickness were poured
by off-road trucks, spread with tractors and compacted by vibrators coupled in bulldozers.

3.2 Treatments for the foundation and backfill concrete

At the end of 1970’s, while drilling the holes for the injection curtain downstream the
powerhouse, which crosses the backfill concrete, it was observed that drilling water was lost,
there was communication between holes up to 9 meters, with artesianism in neighboring
holes and absorption of large volumes of cement grout from the injections.
This way, water loss tests were carried out on drilling holes in this region and about 40%
of the cases showed permeability higher than 10-3 cm/s, similar to sand.
In the extracted samples, there were practically impermeable stretches, especially in the rock-
concrete contact and on the surface of the El. 54, with a thickness of approximately 50 cm. Some
other zones of lower porosity interspersed with other more permeable ones were identified, which
would probably correspond to the sites of greater water absorption and cement grout.
It was then concluded that these differences in concrete quality resulted from insufficient
vibration in the overlap zones between neighboring concrete discharges, as a consequence of
the adopted constructive process.
This problem, together with the impossibility of determining the real extent of the affected
regions, has raised concerns about the possibility of excessive repression and deformations which
could affect the stability of civil structures and consequently the positioning of electromechanical
equipment; subpressions increase due to more percolation that would overload the drainage
system; and concrete durability decrease due to the leaching, as a result of porosity increase, due
to water percolations from downstream river, whose surface is around Elevation 100 (this
equals to about 50 meter water pressure acting on the foundations).
Providences included some interventions:

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

a) two drainage curtains were executed on the left and right sides of the backfill concrete,
capturing infiltration waters of the shoulders and leading them to the drainage tunnel at
El. 20, thus preventing these waters from penetrating the concrete;
b) injection curtain executing at downstream gallery on El. 60, along downstream face of
the backfill concrete, in order to prevent water percolation through the concrete in
downstream-upstream direction. This curtain was composed by three injection fronts:
the central one with epoxy resin and the others with cement mix. Its execution took
place in five stages, whose holes of the later phases were executed in the mid-distance
of the previous phase holes, in a repeated process with simultaneous water tests in
several holes, until an adequate permeability coefficient was obtained;
c) installation of two extensometers in the backfill concrete to accompany its
deformations;
d) qualitative and quantitative analysis of percolation water, to evaluate the leaching process.
Upon completion of the downstream injection curtain, a noticeable reduction of about 100
times in the concrete’s permeability was observed, with permeability coefficients up to 10-7
cm/s. It was also observed a tendency of uniformity of the permeability of the concrete,
through the water tests.
Water infiltrations and respective chemical analysis began in August 1982, during the
partial filling phase of the reservoir, when downstream cofferdam was removed, and are
carried out to date. However, consolidated data are available only from March 1987 and
January 1984, respectively, and there are no values in some periods of these three decades.

4 PARTIAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Instrumentation analysis

It can be observed in Figure 4 that the extensometers have a seasonal behavior, with
maximum values in the order of 0.3 mm and current oscillation around 0.05 mm in EM-U-021;
and trend of continuous settlement in EM-U-022, which shows present values close to 1.4 mm.

Figure 4: Extensometers in the backfill concrete.

It is important to compare these extensometers with others of the same region, according
to Figure 5, which also shows a small tendency of settlement, with current values of about 6.7
(EM-U-013) to 8.2 mm (EM-U-014 ) in the foundation rock, within the project estimates.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

Figure 5: Extensometers in the backfill concrete and in the foundation rock.

4.2 Percolations through the backfill concrete

There are eleven drains installed in this region, named DTJ-U-001, 001-A, 002, 004, 006,
006, 006-A, 007, 008, 010 and 012, but only DTJ-U-004, 008 and 012 are the most important
as they correspond to about 90% of the total water infiltrated therein. Figure 6 shows the
behavior of all these drains.
Current total flows are about 2.0 l/s, acceptable under the design criteria, are very likely to
come from downstream water (it is convenient here to remember the 50 meter water pressure)
due to occasional deficiencies of the injection curtain, or by crossing preferred paths in
discontinuities and fractures in foundation rock below the curtain reach, passing through the
pores of the concrete until they are intercepted by the drains.
It is observed that DTJ-U-004 (in red in the graph) presents current flows close to 0.9 l/s,
whereas DTJ-U-008 (in royal blue) and DTJ-U-012 (in green) have individual flows near to 0.45 l/s.

Figure 6: Infiltrations through the backfill concrete.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

It is important to mention a behavior reversal between DTJ-U-004 and 005 in the years of
1989 - 1990 due to cleaning activities, which led to a change in water flows; and also a
discrete increase in flow rates in DTJ-U-004 and 008; DTJ-U-012 is practically stabilized.

4.3 Chemical analyzes of water

Routine chemical tests are performed with the water collected from each drain, monthly
until March 1985 and quarterly since then.
A higher intensity of the dissolutions between 1984 and 1990 is generally observed, by
which it is understood being the beginning of the leaching process, right after the reservoir
formation and demolition of downstream cofferdams, who allowed the infiltration of water
from the river as previously mentioned.
More recently, especially since 2008, there is a stabilization level of carried minerals,
some of them with very low concentrations, as shown in Figures 7 to 9 below, for carbonate,
bicarbonate and calcium contents respectively. Unfortunately, there is no information about
chemical tests performed between 1994 and 2003.

Figure 7: Carbonate contents.

Figure 8: Bicarbonate contents.

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 Cláudio Neumann Junior, Ana Carolina P. dos Santos, Étore F. de Faria

Figure 9: Calcium contents.

5 CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary assessments of the water chemical analyzes, carried out since the 1980s,
indicate that the leaching process of the backfill concrete still occurs. However, according to
the instrumentation behavior, there are no movements in the structure that could be related to
a loss of resistance of the concrete at the moment.
An earlier study carried out via FEM by a consultants group 15 estimated the approximate
time of 140 years for the admissible loss of 20% of the concrete's calcium, under certain
assumptions, considering the loadings on the structure, among other aspects, representing no
risks of structural impairment.
In subsequent steps of the present research, it is intended to reproduce the leaching process
at laboratory with a permeameter, besides extracting concrete samples for tests such as axial
compression, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to review
these calculations, considering the greater availability of chemical data currently, and re-
evaluate the long-term effects of leaching.

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[2] TANG, Y. J.; ZUO, X. B.; HE, S. L.; AYINDE, O.; YIN, G. J. Influence of slag content
and water-binder ratio on leaching behavior of cement pastes. Construction and Building
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[3] YANG, H.; JIANG, L.; ZHANG, Y.; PU, Q.; XU, Y. Predicting the calcium leaching
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[4] HAN, F.; LIU, R.; YAN, P. Effect of fresh water leaching on the microstructure of
hardened composite binder pastes. Construction and Building Materials, v. 68, p. 630–636,
2014.

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[5] PHUNG, Q. T.; MAES, N.; JACQUES, D.; PERKO, J.; SCHUTTER, G.; YE, G.
Modelling the evolution of microstructure and transport properties of cement pastes
under conditions of accelerated leaching. Construction and Building Materials, v. 115, p.
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[6] NAKARAI, K.; ISHIDA, T.; MAEKAVA, K. Modeling of Calcium Leaching from
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[8] ROSENGVIST, M.; BERTRON, A.; FRIDH, K.; HASSANZADEH, M. Concrete

alteration due to 55 years of exposure to river water: Chemical and mineralogical
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[9] WONG, S. F.; CHUI, P. C. An accelerated leaching test for cement mortar. 28th
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[11] FORSTER, A. M.; SZADURSKI, E. M.; BANFILL, P. F. G. Deterioration of natural

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[12] BANGERT, F.; GRASBERGER, S.; KUHL, D.; MESCHKE, G. Environmentally

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[13] ULM, F. J.; LEMARCHAND, E.; HEUKAMP, F. H. Elements of chemomechanics of

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[14] TRAGARDH, J.; LAGERBLAD, B. Leaching of 90-year old concrete mortar in

contact with stagnant water. Technical report TR-98-11. Swedish Cement and Concrete
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[15] ITAIPU Binacional. Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant - Powerhouse - Analysis of the
backfill concrete on the foundation of the river bed generating units - Technical report.
Internal document nº 4306-50-07028-P. Itaipu Binacional, Foz do Iguaçu, 1984.

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