Improving the Durability and Operational Reliability of Concrete in Road Transport Products and Structures

This article analyzes the problem of the production of high-quality and economical prefabricated reinforced concrete products and structures for road transport purposes. It is shown that among the known methods, non-formwork molding is currently the most advanced technology for the manufacture of finished products, but its expanded introduction into production is hindered by the relatively high porosity and, consequently, low performance of the resulting concretes. A method is given for improving the quality of precast reinforced concrete products and road structures by impregnation with water-soluble sulfur (polysulfides of alkali and alkaline earth metals). The parameters of the impregnation of products (using the example of culverts) are determined depending on the initial parameters of concrete, the cement content, the water-cement ratio, the degree of hydration and the technological process of impregnation (temperature and density of compositions of water-soluble sulfur, the presence of vacuum, etc.). Technological schemes of impregnation for small-sized (trays, curb-stones) and large-sized (road slabs) precast reinforced concrete products are presented.