To explore the method to evaluate air-void parameters of fresh concrete rapidly, the spacing factor and specific surface of freshly mixed concrete of different air contents, different slumps and different mineral admixtures (fly ash, fly ash-slag, fly ash-slag-silica fume composite) are studied by air-void analyzer (AVA), and the correlation between the air content measured by AVA and air content determinator is compared. The results show that the spacing factor of the fresh concrete decreases firstly and then increases with the increase of air content, however the specific surface has the opposite rule. When the air content is more than 8%, the spacing factor of fresh concrete increases and the specific surface decreases. For the fresh concrete samples with similar air content, the specific surface increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of slump, but the spacing factor decreases firstly and then increases. Mineral admixture can reduce the spacing factor of fresh concrete and increase the specific surface to some degree. There is a good correlation between the air content measured by two methods, and the air content measured by AVA is about 70% of the air content measured by the air content determinator.
Air content, spacing factor and specific surface of fresh concrete and hardened concrete with different air contents, slumps and mineral admixtures (fly ash, slag, fly ash + slag, fly ash + slag + silica fume composite) were studied by the air-void analyzer (AVA) method and the microscopical method. The correlations between the test results obtained from different methods were analyzed. The results show that, there is a close correlation of air content and spacing factor between the fresh concrete and the hardened concrete, but the specific surface correlation is weak. The air content of concrete measured by the AVA method is smaller than that of the pressure method and the microscopical method, because AVA device captures only the air voids with the size smaller than 3 mm. Spacing factor of the fresh concrete measured by the AVA method is greater than that of the hardened concrete measured by the microscopical method, while the specific surface is smaller. When the criterion of 4%-7% air content measured by the pressure method and microscopical method is acceptable for concrete freezing-thawing (F-T) durability in cold weather, the air content measured by the AVA method should be 2.4%-4.6%. For the concrete F-T durability, when the criterion of the spacing factor measured by the microscopical method is 300 μm, the spacing factor measured by the AVA method should be 360 μm.
