Investigation of Potential Alkali-Carbonate Reaction in Carbonate Rocks by Rock Cylinder Method

U S Vidyarthi, Ravi Agarwal, N Sivakumar

Alkali Carbonate Reaction (ACR) may occur in concrete having dolomitic aggregates and will have deterrent effects on the concrete structures. So, the investigation becomes necessary before its application in concrete. As we know that the occurrence of ACR will depend upon the mineralogy of the rock. So, in this paper, along with the ACR test (by rock Cylinder Method), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) is also done on dolomitic rock from five different quarries of Northen India. Through XRD, it is found that the mineralogical composition of the samples from five quarries were different. The analysis of RCM results revealed that the percentage change in the length varied from -0.0368 to -0.974%. When the two studies were brought together, it is found that the percentage change in length of the rock cylinder (through Rock Cylinder Method) is proportional to the percentage of Calcium Magnessium Carbonate Dolomite present in the rock.