Resistance of silo floors to silage juices

Seven different types of concrete, three types of asphaltic concrete and three types of mastic asphalt were exposed to silage juice of maize during 9 weeks. The samples were mounted on transmission chains making an alternation between immersion and drying possible. The measuring of the weight losses showed that the resistance of the concrete could hardly be increased by adding substances and using alternative cement types. The losses noted for asphaltic concrete were about the same as for concrete, except the samples with stone mastic asphalt and those enriched with Trinidad asphalt – they both resisted significantly better. The weight losses of the samples of mastic asphalt varied between 30 and 40 % compared to those of concrete. Permeability tests performed during six weeks showed that a layer thickness of 7 cm was enough for making the three types of asphaltic concrete impermeable to silage juice. From a financial point of view, silage floors made of asphaltic concrete and applied in one layer proved to be the optimal solution.