Gbe 3nstitution of Civil Engineers

SELECTED ENGINEERING PAPERS,

BEING ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS ORDEKED BY THE COUNCIL
TO BE PUBLISHED WITHOUT DISCUSSION.

No. 20.

‘‘ ‘PIHE PERMEABILITY O F
CONCEETE.”
BY

HAROLD CHARLES TOY, M%., STUD.INST.

C.E.

EDITED BY

H. H. JEFFCOTT, Sc.D., B.A.I., Assoc. M. INST.

C.E.,
SECRETARY.

LONDON:
lUu6lisfJeb bp Ehr fttstitution,
GREATGEORGESTREET,WESTMINSTER, S.W. 1.
1924.
[The right of Publication and of Translation is reserved.]
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 ADVERTISE&IE-NT.

The Institution as a body is not, responsible either. for the statements

ma.de, or for the opinions expressed, in. thefollowing pages.

~~

LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIA81 CLOWES AKD SONS, LIMITED,

DUKE STREET, STANFORD STREET, S.E. l., AND GREAT WINDXILL STREET,W. 1.
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 SELECTEDENGINEERINGPAPERS.
_I_

No. 20.
“ The Permeability of Conorete.”l
By HAROLD
CEARLES TOY,M.Sc., Stud. Inst. C.E.
THISPaper describes research work which was carried out in 1923
under Dr. F. C. Lea, M. Inst. C.E., at theUniversity of Birmingham.
Flow of Water in Concyete.-It is important todistinguish clearly
between permeability and porosity ; and the following theoretical
investigation of the flow of water through concrete clearly shows
the difference. An ana.logyis drawnbetweenthe flow of water
through a tube and that througha capillary vein in concrete. Two
forces act against bhe water-pressure t o which the concrete block
issubjected,namely, the frictionalforcebetween the concrete
surfaceand the water,. and the viscosity of the water itself. As
the former is the greater, a film of water sticks to the walls of the
passage, inside which a minute stream of water flows. The volume
of water flowing throughthetubeper second, V = rpa4/8LN,
where a denotes the radius of the tube ; p, the pressure-difference
causing flow ; L, thelength of the tube; and N the coefficient
of viscosity.Thisformulaisapplied tothe ca,se of aconcrete
block of thickness t, subjected to awater-pressure of p lbs.per
squareinch,andthetheoreticalassumption is madethatit is
pierced by a number.of fine capillary veins, say 76, of a mean radius
a,and a mean length L. The length of the vein is obviously some
function of the thickness of the concrete block, therefore
L = f ( t ) = mt” . . . . . . (1)
Let S denote the area of surface in contact with water, and X the
percentage voids in set concrete. Then the volume of voids
Stx = a2Lk . , . . . . . (2)
The volume of waterpassing throughone veinpersecond is

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4 TOP OK THE PERMEAUTLITP OF CONCRETE.

q a 4 / 8 L N , therefore the volumepassing through the whole mass

= qa4k/8LN,
from (2)
Therefore the permeability
from (1)

An example worked out for some practical values obtained by

theAuthorgavethe followingresult :--Concrete pipe, 6 inches
outsidediameter, 3 inchesinsidediameter, and 9 inches high.
Permeability 0-6 grams per minute. Mean radius of vein = 0.688
X 10-6centimetres.
The difference between permeability and porosity is now clearly
evident :-
Porosity is proportional t o the percentage of voicis ;
Permeability is proportional to (size of voids)' and also
to the percentage of voids.
That is to say, the size of voidsismore important than their
actual volume in determining permeability. All the laws governing
permeabilitymaybeobtained from thisformula,andtheyare
given below, togetherwithstatements basedon the researches
carried out.
Pemeability of Concrete.-(l) Permeability is directly proportional
t o :-
(i) Pressure. A pressure-permeability curve is a close approxi-
mationtoastraightline,and seems to follow very
closely the tensile stress-strain curve for concrete.
(ii) Surface area of contact.
(iii) Percentage of voids.
(iv) (Mean radius of capillary veins)'.
,(2) Permeability is inversely proportional to :-
(i) Visc,osity, which is itself inversely proportional t o tempera-
ture in the case of water, so that permeability increases
with increase in temperature.
(thickness
(ii) of The
value of n will be found
to vary with the size of the stone and sand. It has no
fixed values, but it is certainly greater than unity. For
this reason the permeabilityisverymuchmore than
halved when the thickness is doubled.
(3) Permeabilitydecreasesmorerapidly than cement-content
increases, because both tot81 volume and size to: voids are affected.
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 TOT ON THE PEIt;\IEABILITY OF COSCKETE. 5
With the sameproportion of sandandstone, but with different
proportions of cement,t,hepermeabilityisinverselyproportional
to the tensile strength of the mortar.
(4) Permeability decreases appreciably with the time of testing.
The percentage decrease is proportional to the cement-content.
( 5 ) The tensile strengthof concrete bears a closer inverse relabion-
ship to permeability than does its compressive strength.
(6) A fine sand results in large permeability and a small percentage
decrease with time, unless excess cement is used.
(7) Stone of uniform size is better than badly-graded stone with
mixed sand, and probably about as good as graded stone.
(8) The composition of the sand is the determining factor in the
permeability of a mixture, and it is to this, rather than to the grading
of the stone, that attention should be paid.
(9) A stone mixture may be obtained similar to a graded aggregate
by the admixture of two or more aggregates, with great improvement
in impermeability.
(10) The mechanical-analysis curves, with the maximum-density
curve, serve as a better guide for proportioning a mixture than do
the voids in stone and sand.
Methods of rendering concrete watertight may be divided fairly
distinctly into two classes, each of which has its adherents, namely,
internal or natural methods, in which the materials forming the
concreteareregarded and desirableproportionsareascertained ;
andexternal or artificialmethods,consisting of the addition of
foreign materia,ls to the cement, or water, or the application of an
impermeable coating to the concrete.
The apparatusused by theAut,hor for determining the permeability
of various mixtures was arranged so that the water flowing into the
concrete was measured witha calibrated gauge, read by a telescope,
and the leakage through the concrete pipe was collected merely as
a check. The apparatus w7a.s used for testing both concrete pipes
6 inches outside dia,meter,3 inches inside diameter, and9 inches high,
and 4k-inch diameter slabs,u p t o pressures of 40 lbs. per square inch.
Water-tightjointsbetweenconcreteandironplates were made
after some trouble with rubber rings of round section. The results,
all from concrete pipes, have been obtained from the qua,ntities of
water computed from hourly readings of the gauge, and are for a
mean pressure of 22 lbs. per square inch.
“Ferrocrete”cement wasused in allconcretemixtures. It is
known that free limeis always presentin concrete, dueto thechemical
reactions that occur in the cement, and it has been observed that
this is washed out on thebysides
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6 TOP O F THE PEKMERGILITT OF CONCRETE.

a week. It is said that this loss renders the concrete weaker and
more liable t o decay. As a remedy the addition of a small quan-
tity of trass or puzzolan to the cement has been suggested: this
combineswith the freelime to formanaturalcement, which, it
is claimed,increases thestrengthand reduces the permeability
appreciably.
T h e Effect of the Cement-content on Permeability.-Given a certain
sand and stonewhose ratio one to the ot'her is fixed, thereis a critical
proportion of cement which will give rconomica.lly the best result
Pig. 1.

8 10 12 14 la 15 20 2:
C E M E N T - C O N T E N T : PER C E N T
00025 0003 OW35 0 004 00045 0005 00055 0006
MDrLor TensSe Jtrentn
EFFECT C ~ Y E X T - C O N T EON
01.' ASD TENBILY
K TPICIIMEABILITT STREXCTH
OF M O R T A R .

as regards impermeability of the resultant concrete. This is shown

in Fig. 2 , where permeability, in grams of water passing per minute
throughthe concretepipe, is plotted aga.inst the percent'age of
cement by weight. It is readily seen that the permeability values
decrease from the value fora 1 : 2 : 4 mixturc by volume much more
rapidly than the percentage of cement increases, until a peicentage
of 15.8 in this case is reached. From this point the graph, which
has been a steep straight line, fallsoff in a curve ; and it is obvious
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 TOY OX THE PERMEABILITY OF CONCRETE. 7
that the addition of more cement than hhis critical proportion does
not result in nearly as great an improvement in watertightness.
Mortar briquettes were made up in half-dozens, of cement and
sand in the same ratios as in the concrete mixtures. Consistency
was kept uniform by means of a standard slump test. The tensile
strengths, a t 28 days, showed thesamecriticalpoint,andtheir
reciprocals,i.e.,tensile strength, plotted against the permeability
values for the corresponding concrete mixtures, give a straight line.
This procedure affords an efficient and handy means of finding the
correct proportion of cement for any particular sand. It does not
hold good, however,for comparing possible permeability values with
different sands, a.s will be seen later.
For aggregates a loca,l fine red sand obtained from the Tame and
Rea Drainage Board was used, whilst the large aggregate consisted
of Rowley rag-stone, a dolerite rock from the Rowley Regis district,
or Nuneaton quartzite (Hartshill stone).
Methods of Proportioning.-Methods based on voids are unsound,
because the methods of finding the percentage voids in the sand
and stonedonot give accurateresults. One reason for thisis
tha.t inactual work,smalla.ggregate will, inaddition t o filling
voids, become wedged between larger stones and incidentally cause
more voids.
The granulometric-analysis curves for the aggregates used (found
by sieving into a number of sizes and weighing residues) are given
in Fig. 2. Possible improvements in the grading of the large a.nd
small aggregate may very often be judged from inspection of these
curves, and effected by the addition of the one size of stone or
sand required, or, more easily and practically, by the additidn of
another aggregate in a calculated proportion.
nlechnnicaZ-AlzaZysis Curve.-Messrs. W. B. Fuller and S. E.
Thompson 1 carried out some very full tests on certain a.ggregates,
from which they evolved a mechanical-analysis curve representing
a mixture of the stone,sand,andcement of maximumdensity,
i.e.,minimum voids. Theequations of thismaximum-density
cume, which was a combination of an ellipse and a straight line, had
only one unknown -the maximum size of stone.
A curve of this nature was drawn out for the local aggregates
which were then combined, withoutregrading, in proportions
calculated to give resultant mechanical-analysis curves lying more
or less,close t o Fuller'scurve (Fig. 2 ) . It will benoticed that
curve GRQ ,represents a mixture of twoaggregateswithsand
Trans. Am. Soc. C.E., vol. lix, p. 67 (1907).
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8 ON
TOY THE PENXEBBILITY OF CONCItETE.

andcement.Therequiredproportion of cement wascalculated

from the determination of voids in the mixture of sand and stone.
Medium consistency was maintained, and a pipe6 inches and3 inches
in outside and inside diameter respectively, and
9 inches high, and two
cubes, were made from each mixture. Agraded mixture (GR3) was
also made up by actually obtaining the weights of each size required
fromthemaximum-densitycurve.Theresults of permeability
and crushing tests, together with density figures (obtained from the
quantities of concrete usecl to fill the pipe-mould)are shown in
Table I. Theyseem t o indicate that GRQ, amixturecontaining
bothRowleyragandNuneatonquartzite, whose curve fits the

..
DIAMETERS OF PARTICLES: INCH.

S ~ E T H O D OF PROPORTIONING
WITH ONE- AND T W O - S T OAQQRECATES.
~E

maximum-density curve best of all, is least permeable, though it

has less cement than the other mixtures. In fact, it is better than
the graded mixtureGR3, but thatis due to a slightly greater cement-
content. This shows the help obtained by the use of Fuller’s curve
in proportioning. It isratherremarkable that flow decreases
according tothe height at which t.he maximum-densitycurve
andtheresultantcurve cross-in other words, astheratio of
sand to stone approaches 1 : 1. A possible explanation is that this
is due to Rowley rag being deficient in small material. From the
nature of the maximum-density curve it is seen thatr the cement
is included in the sand, and, as far as density is concerned, serves
thesame purpose as fine sand. I n t h e threeconcretemixtures
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 ON
TOY THE PRIXIEABILITY OF COSCRETE. 9

TABLE~.-PROPORTIONED
MIXTURES.

Pipe KO.
_ _ _ _ P _ ~

per Grams Sq.

Lhs. per
1 0.855 '
Per cent, c;, 'Grams
Winnte. Inch.
per cc.
GR1 1:2.67:2.62
1:1.89:2.28
14.9 1 4 . 5- 0' . 5 9

I
~

1,994
QR2 1:1.56:2.94
1:1.1:2,56 17.05 17.1 1.65
0.829
2,668
GR3 (1:3.1:2.56)
(i:2.2:2.23)
14.2
14.7
0'964 0.853 2,670
Graded
materials.
GR4 1:2.04:2.96 1:1.44:2.5i 15.70 '14.3 '
~
! 0'902 1 0.857
l
' 2,378

GRQ 1:1.81:3.18
1:1.28:2.72
15.68 16.2 0'523 ' 0.838 2,479
~

GRlB 1:2.46:2.56 ' 131'7432.22

15.74 15.8 1'3 0.842
1,930
CRlC 1:3.85:3.58
1:2.72:3.12
11.03 18.0 1.36 0.830 1,118
GRlD 1:1.87:2.12
1:1'32:1.85 18.7 ~ 16.7 0'165

MIXTURES(FOR PURPOSRS
UNIFORX-SIZED OF COMPARISON).

Size of
Stone.

Inch. Per ccnt. Grams per Lbs. per

Minute. 'Sq. Inch.
BR 1:1.33:2.66 , 16.52 0.87

BR 1:1.33:2.66

i3R 1:1.33:2.66 !
!Q 1:1.5:3
I
BR 1:2:4 l 2,390
~

BR 1:2:4 ~ 2,167

Q denotes Nuneaton Quartzite stone. R denotes Rowley Ragstone.

GRlB, GRlC, and GRlD, the same proportions of sand and stone
were used, but in the case of GRlC, a certain reduction was made
in the quantity of cement,comparedwith GRlB, andanequal
volume of finest sand was added. With GRlD the cement-content
was increased,the excess cement replacingan equal weightof ordinary
sand. Both changes resulted in hardly any alteration in density, as
was expected,but thepermeability was affected, no doubtdue to the
difference in fineness of the fine sand and cement. Of the fine sand
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10 TOY ON THE PEKMEABILITY OF CONCRETE.

2.8 per cent. was less than inch, while 88 per cent. of the cement
was less than g,. inch. Nevertheless, a remarkably low permeability
value was obtained for GRIC, considering the low percentage of
cement, which proved the feasibility of the method where strength is
not required.
Un$orrn-sized Mixtures.-It has already been mentioned that it
is possible, on tamping concrete, for the small stone to act notonly
as a void-filler, but also as an extravoid-former by becoming wedged
between the large stones. It may be questioned whether a stone
of uniform size would not be better, as regards producing a dense
mixture,thananaturallygradedstone, or even an artificially '

gradedaggregate. Messrs. Pullerand Thompson, in their tests a t

JeromePark,carriedoutalittle work ontheselines,andthey
foundthat acoarseaggregate of uniformsizegaveaslightly
denser concrete than did a graded aggregate. With both mixtures
a graded sand was used.
The question how far this may be applied t o the sand has not
yet been solved. Its function in the concrete is different from that
of the stone, and, being relatively much smaller in size, the effect
of water on it,, for instance, is very different. A scheme was prepared
whereby it was hoped to find how finely the stone and sand should
begraded, if a t all, for maximumdensityandimpermeability.
The two extreme cases are uniform sizes of stone and sand mixed
together,andacombination of gradedaggregatesconforming to
some predetermined curve. The degree of grading depends first on
the number of sieves used. One size of stone mixed with one size
of sand may be termed a broadly-graded mixture. The materials
used were washed before use and sieved into their different sizes :-
Rowley rag, g, g, 4 inch ; h'uneaton quartzite, 4,g, 4, & inch ;
and Drainage-Boardsand, 3, Go-, & -;c inch.
A number of uniform-sizemixtureswereprepared from these
grades.That is tosay, one size of stoneand one size of sand,
intheratio of' 2 : 1, weremixedwithdifferentproportionsof
cement. Only the sizes &, &, and -$G- inch of sandwereused,
except in the case where the natural sand was used with a uniform
size of stone. In allcasesamediumconsistency,judged by eye,
was used for allthe mixtures, and uniformityof conditions of mixing,
ramming,andcuring wasobtainedasnearlyas possible. From
each mixture a pipe was made, 6 inches outside and 3 inches inside
diameter, and 9 incheshigh, and these pipeswereair-cured in a
room for 1 month before testing.
The permeability values,given in grams per minute, are those
obtained after 24 hours of testing and for a pressure of 22 Ibs. per
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 TOY ON THE PERMEABILITY OF CONCRETE. 11
TABLEIT.-UNIFORM-SIZEDMIXTURES.
EFFECTOF SIZE OF S A N DON
A . Permeability (values gicen in grams per minute).

Size of Sand.

__
Perm6 Penne-
ability. I Voids ~ abilit) thility. Voids.
~ __
Per
cent.

0.43 17.6

Q denote3 Nuneaton Quartzite stone. R denotes Rowley Itagstone.

B. Tensile Strength of Mortar (16s. per s p a r e inch).

squareinch.Table I1 shows the differencesbetween the flows

through mixtures containing
and $,-inch size sand,
though
the percentage voids of the different sizes are practically the same.
It has been shown that the tensile strength of the mortar was a
useful guide in finding the right proportion of cement for a certain
mixture of sand and stone, but the results here indicate that it is
no help where different sands are concerned. The sand of ;&ch
size seems to give the densest and least permeable mixtufe in each
case, yet its mortar strength is considerably less than that with
,',-inch sand, both for 1 : l and 1 : 2 mixtures.
It is interesting t o note that a mixture of ordinary stone and
ordinary sandhas
permeability 1.7, and voids 19.2 ; &inch
stoneandordinarysandhaspermeability 0.43, and voids17.6 ;
+-inch stoneand &-inch sand has permeability5.24, and voids 19.6 ;
mixed stone and Delivered
&-inch sand has permeability2.67, and voids 19.3.
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12 TOY O X THE PERMEARI1,ITI' O F COSCRETE.

I n other words, starting with a mixture of &-inch stone and <n-inch

sand,notnearly as great an improvementinimpermeability is
obtained bysubstituting mixed stonefor $-inchstone. as by
replacing the ,',-inch sand by mixed sand.
TheAuthoris confident thatfurthertests would support thc
same conclusion,namely, that the composition of the sand is the
determiningfactorwherepermeabilityisconcerned,ratherthan
the grading of the stone.
Sand of one size is certainly not desirable unless excess cement is
used, but whet,her it ispossible that a combination of two sizes, say,
two-thirds coarse and one third fine sand, is better than a graded
sand in concrete,hasyet to bediscovered. Mr. R. Berethas
found that this is so with mortar, but whether or not he has extended
his experiments to concrete, the Author has been unableto ascert,ain.
Comnpnrison qf Un<form-siied Mixtures and P r o p o r t i o d Miztztres.
In comparing the percolation values for the proportioned mixtures
with those shown for uniform-sized mixtures, it is seen t,hat,, for the
samepermeability,mixtures of one-size stoneandsandrequire
slightlymorecement. S s regardscompressive strength, it seem
probable that as high a value, if not a higher, may be obtained with
one-size stone and one-size sand as with a proportioned or even a
graded mixture of the same cement-content. Colnpressive st,rength
and permeability,infact, do not bear as close a relation to one
another as do the tensilestrengthandpermeability of concrete.
The results from several tensile-test prisms that were made from
the same mixtures as the pipes, with screwed bolts cast in the end,
indicated a n inverse rela,tionship.
Long-period Tests.-One of the mostimportantproperties of
concreteis the automatic caulkingwhichcauses the quantity of
water flowing through any concrete t o decrease as time goes on.
Investigations as t o this gradual puddling have been very few, and
the effect of the percentage of mixing wat'er, the pressure used? the
cement-content,andthe size of t,hesand-grains,ont'herate of
diminution of flow offers plenty of scope for further research. It,is not
known whether this result is due to furt,her cryst,allization of the
cement or to the deposi.tion of fine material from the water, which
blocks up the pores. A report1 on some work done at the National
Physical Laboratory in 1911 and 1912 brings to light several inter-
esting points. Several concrete slabs 30 inches square by 4 inches
thick were tested under 20-foot heads of tap wat'er and salt water.

SecondReport of CommitteeonReinforcedConcrete,Institution of Civil

Engineers, p. 41. 1913.
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 TOP ON THE PERXEABILITY OF COKCRETE. 13
The following appear to be reasonable deductions from the results
obtained :--
l . Reinforcement of a slab seems to increase its permeability,
rather than decrease it, as would be expectfed. Possibly
the ramming was not done so efficiently.
2. Permeability is very much less with sea water than with tap
water.
Fig 3.

OF TINEOF TESTING
EFFECT ON PBRYEABILITY.

3. All the time-permeabilitycurves are more or less of the same

type, The bend is sharper in some than in others, but
they all finallyapproach zero leakage, and a rapid
decrease occurs with them all when testing first starts.
Tests on all the concrete pipes were continued as longas possible,
and for at least 2 days.
From the readings the following values were evolved for the
percentage decreasein permeability in 24 hours on the value obtained
after the pipe was wet all over :-
Mixture. Average Percolation Decrease.
1 :1 : 2 . . . . . . . 57.6 percent. (average of six).
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14 TOY ON THE PEBAfEABILITY OF CONCRETE.

These results point to the percentage decrease in permeability with

time being proportiona,l to the cement-content ; a richer mixture
not only has a smaller flow of water through itat the start, butalso
causes that flow t o decrease more rapidlythan does a poorermixture.
It appears simply to be a case of the finer filter stopping more silt
and its pores blocking up more quickly than those of the coarser
filter. This conclusion is supported by the curves inFig. 3, obtained
for GRlB, GRlC, and GRlD. Though GRlC had very much the
same permeability as GRlB at the start, being the poorer mixture,
its reducingactionpracticallystoppedafter the second day of
testing, whilst GRlB went on decreasing.
Fig.4.

LONG-PERIOD
TESTSNOS. 2 AND 3.

Thelong-periodcurvesobtained were verymuch of t,hesame

character as the others shown, the point of change approximating
to 48 hoursafterthecommencement of thetest.Toattempt
to discover whetherfurthercrystallization of the cementtook
place, two solid cylinders of concrete, 73 inches thick and having
11 square inches surface area of contact, were tested under a steady
pressure of 26.3 Ibs. per squareinch until theflow ceased. They were
both 1 : 2 : 4 mixtures by volume, but one was a mediumwet mixture
with 7.23 per cent. of water, whilst the other had only5.50 per cent.
It was expected that, if further chemical reaction took place in t h e
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 TOT ON TIIE PERMEABILITY OF CONCRETE. 15
dry mixture, the flow would be larger a t first, but would decrease
more rapidly than tha,t through the wetter mixture. However, i t
took twice as long for the flow to be reduced t o zero (Fig. 4 ) . It
will be seen thak a remarkable jump occurred in one of these curves
for no apparent reason. If no further, or very little, chemical action
takes place, the other alternative is the deposition of fine materia1
in the pores of the concrete, and in connection with this effect i t
would beinteresting to find out if the rate of reduction of flow
could be increased by forcing watercontaining fine matter in
suspension through the concrete instead of a filtered water.

The Paper is accompanied byfourdiagrams, from which t h e

figures in the text havebeen prepared.

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