Analysis of causes for destruction of an airport runway shoulder

The causes for destruction of many concrete projects are very complex. Cracking and spalling appearing on surface of runway shoulder of an airport built up about one year ago. The main mechanism of deterioration has been explored both in field and in laboratory. By means of appearance inspection, petrographic analysis, pore structure analysis and impermeability testing of concrete cores, it is found that the runway shoulder concrete has poor impermeability with loose structure. Concrete samples were made in laboratory with mix proportion used in construction. Testings of the samples and cores show that frost resistance of the runway shoulder concrete is poor. It is concluded that concrete suffers from cracking and spalling after freeze-thaw cycles under severe environmental condition due to the loose structure and poor impermeability.