Preface

Author(s): Yao Yan, Wang Ling, Wittmann Folker
Paper category: Bibliography
Book title: Publications on Durability of Reinforced Concrete Structures under Combined Mechanical Loads and Environmental Actions: An Annotated Bibliography
Editor(s): Yao Yan, Wang Ling, Wittmann Folker
Print ISBN: 978-3-942052-03-0
Publisher: Aedificatio Publishers
Pages: VII - IX
Total Pages: 3
Language: English

Abstract: 
Concrete structures have been designed traditionally to withstand all possible static and dynamic loads during their entire expected service life. In addition durability of the concrete has been taken into consideration by special requirements such as water-cement ratio, cover thickness or a specified number of freeze-thaw cycles. Details of structural design are fixed in national and international codes for many decades already. In practice, however, it was observed that service life of reinforced concrete structures as designed according to the codes is often too short in particular in aggressive environment. As a consequence costs for maintenance and repair of the built infrastructure have become extremely high in most industrialized countries. This unfortunate situation has become an enormous economical and at the same time ecological problem by now.

First steps towards more realistic durability design have been made recently. According to this concept the expected dominating deteriorating process as for example carbonation, chloride penetration or frost damage has to be chosen for a given structure situated a given environment first. Then the service life under the selected dominating deteriorating process can be calculated on a probabilistic basis. This was a decisive step forward towards more realistic and more comprehensive design of reinforced concrete structures in aggressive environment. But it has been recognized fairly soon that any dominating deteriorating process depends on a number of other processes, which may act simultaneously or consecutively. That means that service life under combined actions may be significantly shorter as compared with service life under one single dominating action. In order to make service life design even more realistic it is necessary to take the influence of combined mechanical and environmental actions into consideration.

A RILEM Technical Committee RILEM TC-TDC with the aim to study durability under combined actions has been set up with Professor Yao Yan as chairlady and Professor Wang Ling as secretary in 2011. In this context comparative test series on the influence of an applied load on the rate of carbonation and the rate of penetration of chloride into concrete shall be run by members of the technical committee. It is also foreseen to study the influence of frost action on carbonation and chloride penetration at a later stage. Based on the results of the comparative test series, recommendations on how to test durability under combined actions shall be developed and published.

This is a comparatively new field of research and therefore existing publications can be found in different scientific and engineering journals as well as in proceedings of recent international and national conferences and workshops. Under these conditions it is not very easy for an individual to find most relevant literature and to know exactly the actual state-of-the-art in this specific field. As a consequence there is a certain risk that new projects are started although the results are already described in published papers. To avoid unnecessary loss of time and means and to accelerate progress in this new field it was felt that as a first task an “Annotated Bibliography” on durability under the influence of combined mechanical loads and environmental actions should be compiled by members of the RILEM technical committee.

This document is now available and hopefully it will provide all interested colleagues with a solid basis on which new projects can be formulated taking all or at least most of the existing information into account.

Beijing, May 2013

The editors

Online publication: 2014
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00