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Pro096

NO CONCRETE IS SUSTAINABLE WITHOUT BEING DURABLE!



Author(s): De Schutter, G.
Paper category: Conference
Book title: XIII International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components - XIII DBMC
Editor(s): Marco Quattrone, Vanderley M. John
Print ISBN: none
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-149-0
Publication year: 2015
Pages: 38-44
Total Pages: 7
Language: English


Abstract: Sustainability of concrete is a hot topic nowadays, not only in research but also in practice. The production of Portland clinker is responsible for a significant amount of CO2-production worldwide. Partial replacement of Portland cement by supplementary cementitious materials should indeed be encouraged. A win-win situation can be obtained by implementing waste materials in concrete, reducing the cement content and avoiding huge amounts of waste disposal. However, no concrete structure can be sustainable without being durable. Even while having an excellent carbon footprint performance per unit of volume, it could be prone to a more accelerated degradation under severe environmental conditions, needing earlier repair or replacement, and thus increasing the cumulated carbon footprint calculated over the entire service life. Performance of alternative concrete mixtures should not only be checked in terms of strength classes, but also in terms of durability performance. It is shown in this paper that alternative mixes with similar strength as a reference mix can show inferior durability performance. As a consequence, sustainability comparisons based on equal strength considerations can be misleading towards the real sustainability over the entire service life of a concrete structure.


Online publication: 2015
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00


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