Abstract
The paper reviews developments in service life prediction for concrete structures. It indicates the difficulties inherent in rational service life design, in view of the multiple factors and variabilities involved in the process. The paper also emphasises the advantages of performance-based approaches to durability prediction, and considers performance testing, which is critical to achieving intended service life. Such approaches allow service life modelling, which the current prescriptive approaches do not. The concept of ‘durability indicators’ is covered, with a practical example showing how this can be used to improve concrete durability in construction. The paper also stresses the importance of an ‘integrated approach’ to durability specifications, performance-based predictions, and site quality control.
Highlights
Concrete remains the material of choice for the vast majority of construction activities around the world
Concrete has today assumed a position of being a sophisticated material when used at the upper end of its technological usage scale, incorporating multiple binders, admixtures, fibres, various aggregates, and the like, to produce a composite material that can be tailored to almost any constructional requirement
At the other end of the technological scale, it remains accessible to the ‘common person’, helping her or him to improve their lives in meaningful ways
Summary
Concrete remains the material of choice for the vast majority of construction activities around the world. Concrete is the ‘developmental material’ par excellence. Global development in infrastructure, housing, and so on is unthinkable in the absence of modern concrete. Concrete has today assumed a position of being a sophisticated material when used at the upper end of its technological usage scale, incorporating multiple binders, admixtures, fibres, various aggregates, and the like, to produce a composite material that can be tailored to almost any constructional requirement. At the other end of the technological scale, it remains accessible to the ‘common person’, helping her or him to improve their lives in meaningful ways. There are real challenges in taking concrete forward into future decades as the construction material of choice. One of the most pressing is the question of lack of durability, coupled with ‘Design for Service Life’, with the associated concepts of ‘Performance-based design’, for durability
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