ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mater.
Sec. Structural Materials
This article is part of the Research TopicFunctional Materials for Sustainable Pavement Engineering: Multi-scale Design and Environmental IntegrationView all 9 articles
Influence of Different Silica Fume Contents on the Leaching Resistance of Shotcrete
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangxi Guilu Expressway Co., Ltd., Nanning, China
- 2Guangxi University, Nanning, China
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Shotcrete is a key support material in tunnel engineering, and its durability under underground water decalcification conditions directly affects structural safety and service life. In this study, a 6 mol/L ammonium chloride solution was used to simulate an underground water decalcification environment. The effects of different silica fume (SF) contents (0%, 5%, 7%, 9%) on the leaching resistance of shotcrete were systematically evaluated in terms of compressive strength, porosity, leaching depth, and calcium ion leaching amount. The results show that the physical and mechanical properties of the shotcrete specimens decrease with increasing leaching time. Compared with the specimens without silica fume, the SF-modified specimens exhibit a lower compressive strength loss rate and a smaller increase in porosity after 90 d of leaching. The development of leaching depth is slower, and the calcium ion leaching rate is also significantly reduced. A higher leaching resistance is already observed at early ages. When the SF content is 7%, the shotcrete specimens exhibit the best leaching resistance. Silica fume has high pozzolanic activity. When incorporated into the fresh concrete mixture, it provides an effective micro-filling effect at early ages and increases the density of the concrete. At the same time, the pozzolanic reaction consumes part of the calcium hydroxide, which hinders the further development of leaching and thus improves the leaching resistance.
Keywords: accelerated leaching, Compressive Strength, Pozzolanic effect, Shotcrete, Silica fume
Received: 27 Nov 2025; Accepted: 29 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Wang, Zeng, Liang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiabao Wang
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