How can we move from prescription to performance?

Author(s): S. Mindess, P-C. Aïtcin
Paper category: Workshop
Book title: RILEM International workshop on performance-based specification and control of concrete durability
Editor(s): D. Bjegović, H. Beushausen, M. Serdar
ISBN: 978-2-35158-135-3
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-136-0
Pages: 267 - 273
Total Pages: 7
Language: English

Abstract: 
We can now largely “tailor-make” concretes for virtually any application. However, in doing so, we still rely primarily on highly prescriptive specifications. Such specifications have served us well in the past, when the cement and concrete industries were less sophisticated than they are today. However, such specifications now inhibit the most efficient use of the many materials currently available to make up a concrete mixture. As well, they tend to focus much more on strength than on durability. Sometimes, both a prescription and a performance will be specified for the same property, and these may often be inconsistent. In this paper, we will focus on the North American experience in trying to move, haltingly, from prescription to performance specifications. While a few notable successes will be described, change is still lagging far behind the modern advances in cement and concrete technology.

Online publication: 2013
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00