Performance-based specification and conformity control of durability

Author(s): R. Torrent
Paper category: Workshop
Book title: International RILEM Workshop on Performance Based Evaluation and Indicators for Concrete Durability
Editor(s): V. Baroghel-Bouny, C. Andrade, R. Torrent, K. Scrivener
ISBN: 978-2-912143-95-2
Pages: 41 - 50
Total Pages: 10
Language: English

Abstract: 
The durability of concrete structures has been traditionally specified in terms of constraints to the mix proportions (e.g. maximum w/c ratio, minimum cement content), complemented with recommendations on how the material should be processed in practice (placing, compaction, finishing, curing, etc.). This approach has proved to be inadequate to guarantee that the designed/expected service life is consistently achieved in reality, basically due to the difficulty of quantitatively measuring and controlling the critical factors and phases and, thus, of enforcing conformity.
A new approach is proposed, by which a suitable combination of air-permeability and thickness of the concrete cover is specified and the conformity is checked through standardized, non-destructive tests applied on the finished structure.
Two examples are presented on how this approach can be applied to the case of structural elements subject to steel corrosion induced by carbonation and by chlorides from sea water.

Online publication: 2007
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00