Application of sulfur concrete for lining of irrigation canals

To reduce water losses during storage and conveyance, the use of concrete hydraulic structures with high durability and strength seems inevitable. Depending on the circumstances, different methods and materials are used to build hydraulic structures. One of the most common construction materials is cement concrete whose production and consumption are increasingly being developed and enhanced. However, due to high costs of preparation and application of cement concrete and its sensitivity to technical criteria such as mixing design, executive and curing methods, and impossibility of total observance of such criteria in small projects e.g. canal lining, the most canals that are often lined with this type of concrete face many problems such as destruction. As a result, an analysis and a feasibility study of the use of different materials is inevitable. Sulfur concrete is made up of molten sulfur and fine and coarse aggregates which results in a hard material similar to cement concrete that can be used as a construction material for hydraulic structures. Since, sulfur is found in abundance in Iran and is surplus (annually about 1.3 million tons based on the statistics reported in 2006) it can be used to produce useful construction materials. It may be even preferable to other products in terms of some properties rather than releasing this precious substance in nature that creates damages to the environment and pollutes it. Consequently, the present study aims to perform a comprehensive analysis of applications of sulfur concrete and its durability in hydraulic structures. To do so, a number of samples (having 7.5 cm diameter and 15 cm length) were made by mixing aggregates, sulfur, and SMZ additives. Accordingly, seven curing environments including freezing and thawing, wetting and drying, saline environment, two acidic mediums, the sunlight, and immersion in the water and four curing age of 14, 30, 60 and 90 days were selected. After the construction of samples, compressive strength and weight change experiments were performed in mentioned different environments. Furtheremore, a small canal with a length of 60 meters was constructed and lined using sulfure concrete tiles. Then the seepage losses and roughness of lining was evaluated. The results of the experiments indicated that sulfur concrete made in these experiments had very low water absorption and high durability against corrosive. Seepage losses and Maning coefficient of lining were determined about 0.14 m3/m2/day and 0.013 respectivly. Also lake of improper equeipments for construction and application of sulfur concret was determined as the main excutive problem in lining of small irrigation canal using sulfure concrete tiles.