Abstract
For modern infrastructures, structural concrete has been widely adopted for various components and structures such as railway stations, platforms, walkways, railway bridges, tunnelling, concrete sleepers, concrete foundation of overhead wiring structures, etc. These infrastructures are subject to various changes of time, operation, and environment. Environmental conditions are a considerably influential factor to life cycle and durability of concrete structures. This study aims at identifying the influence of climate change on the performance and durability of concrete structures using statistical regression analysis of a number of pertinent experimental and field data. The study into the influence of elevated temperature on compressive strength and splitting tensile strength also has been carried out using experimental data on the basis of environmental temperature and relative humidity, as well as CO2 concentration to the concrete carbonation and steel corrosion rates. The results indicate that environmental temperature, CO2 concentration, and a certain range of relative humidity play an important role in the concrete carbonation rates. Temperature and relative humidity affect the rate of steel corrosion as well. In addition, it is found that there exists a nearly direct correlation between the environmental temperature and the concrete carbonation rates, as well as the corrosion rate of steel embedded in concrete from 25 °C to 60 °C, and a nearly inverse proportion between the environmental relative humidity and the concrete carbonization from 48.75% to 105%. Indeed, the results exhibit that even in extreme natural high temperature, the capacity of compressive strength and splitting tensile strength is not affected significantly.
Highlights
Climate change has been in the spotlight for policy makers and practitioners over the past few years
Focussing on the change in average surface temperature from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the temperature increasing is evident in Asia
The data are derived from experimental data, which directly relate to design inputs, including compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and influence factors of carbonization and corrosion
Summary
Climate change has been in the spotlight for policy makers and practitioners over the past few years. Engineering structures should not be designed by merely considering the requirements for safety (strength) and serviceability, but there is a need to focus on reliability and durability [1]. In order to achieve high durability of structures, governments and building research institutes such as BRE (Building Research Establishment) have carried out some design standards and codes (e.g., UK standards, Eurocodes, etc.) and engineering practices aimed at protecting people and property from normal or foreseeable climate variation. The normal climate variation is based on statistical results of historical weather records. This normal climate variation is randomly exceeded
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
