Module I:

Construction Materials

Ms. Janina P. Kanjee

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of the Witwatersrand
CIVN 3001 Construction Materials

Lecture Objectives

The purpose of this lecture :

Introduction to Durability of concrete:
i. Definition of durability
ii. Performance‐based approach to Durability
iii. Factors affecting concrete Durability
iv. Transport properties of cementitious materials
v. Mechanisms of deterioration
vi. Mechanical and physical processes affecting durability
vii. Chemical factors and processes affecting durability
viii. Durability Index testing

BUQS0114_Civil Engineering in Construction

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Is durability a concern…?

Maison Carrée, in France, Roman Temple

Built in c. 2 AD  2016 years old

Is durability a concern…?

Definition
“the ability of a structure or component to withstand the design
environment over the design life, without undue loss of serviceability or
need for major repair”
 concept of material performance
cannot be regarded as an intrinsic material property

VS.

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Is durability a concern…?

A Expected
Service Life
B
Quality

Unplanned
rehabilitation

Minimum quality required

Time
Two scenarios of deterioration and rehabilitation of a structure

Is durability a concern…?

Common cause for loss of durability

 Under-estimate environmental exposure

 Inadequate cover depth (specified/achieved)

 Lack of good placement techniques (placement, compaction)

 Inadequate curing of concrete

 Complete lack of supervision ( cost-cutting)

 Designing concretes mixes for strength only

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Is durability a concern…?

Structure B
 Accurately predict the likely performance of concrete structures
during their service lives.

Inadequate durability and the associated high costs of repair

Demand that designers and contractors provide assurance of a pre-

defined, repair-free service life of concrete structures.

 Modern concrete practice move away from

prescriptive approaches
towards performance approaches to durability.

Performance-based approach to Durability.

Designers
• Determine acceptable performance of a structure is likely to be in a
given environment,
• Specify and design according to a set of performance criteria

Contractor
• Structure is built in a manner consistent with the designer’s
intentions
• Show proof that the as-built structure in fact meets durability design
criteria.

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Performance-based approach to Durability.

• A proper understanding of deterioration mechanisms

on the part of designers

• Practical Service Life Models that predict with sufficient accuracy

the likely durability performance of the structure over its design
life

• The means of characterising the potential durability of the

concrete to be used in the structure
(i.e. an assessment of the quality of materials and the nature of their
proportions)

• The means of assessing the actual quality of the construction,

(i.e. the as-built structure, so as to give assurance that the structure has
been built to the specification)

Factors affecting concrete Durability

Concrete durability ( consider it as an interaction)

 Concrete as a system
Ability of concrete to resist deterioration

 Environment
Degree of aggressiveness concrete has to withstand

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Factors affecting concrete Durability

The concrete system

Intrinsic factors
• Concrete penetrability Extrinsic factors
• Binder type • Production and/or construction
• Binder content processes, eg mixing, placing,
• Water:binder ratio consolidation
• Other constituents: • Curing (temperature and moisture
aggregates environment)
admixtures, etc • Early age temperature history
• Design mix proportioning

Factors affecting concrete Durability

Aggressiveness of the exposure

environment

Physical attack Chemical attack

• Abrasion • Nature and concentration of
• Erosion aggressive
• Cavitation agents
• Freeze‐thaw • Internal chemical instability
• Salt crystallisation (incompatibility
• Effects of cracking due to between mix constituents)
loading or • Coupling with effects of temperature
thermal/hygral effects and relative humidity

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Transport properties of cementitious materials

Deterioration mechanisms
 Relate to the ease with which a fluid or ion can move through the
concrete microstructure.

 Primarily influenced by the penetrability of the concrete.

• Predominantly be influenced by the permeability of the cement
paste, especially at the interface with aggregate particles.

 Penetrability is broadly defined as the degree to which the concrete

permits gases, liquids, or ionic species to move through its pore
structure.

 Permeation, sorption, diffusion and migration

Transport properties of cementitious materials

Permeation
• Process of movement of fluids through the pore structure under an
externally applied pressure while the pores are saturated with the
particular fluid.

• Measure of the capacity for concrete to transfer fluids by permeation.

• The permeability of concrete is dependent on:

‒ the concrete microstructure;
‒ the moisture condition of the material;
‒ the characteristics of the permeating fluid;

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Transport properties of cementitious materials

Absorption
• Absorption is the process whereby fluid is drawn into a porous,
unsaturated material under the action of capillary forces.
‒ dependent on the pore geometry
‒ degree of saturation of concrete

Sorptivity
• Rate of movement of a wetting front through a porous material
under the action of capillary forces
‒ larger capillaries and their degree of interconnection,
‒ sensitive to hydration of the outer concrete surface,
‒ curing

Transport properties of cementitious materials

Diffusion
• Process by which liquid, gas or ions move through a porous material
under the action of a concentration gradient.

• occurs in partially or fully saturated concrete

‒ temperature,
‒ moisture content of concrete,
‒ type of diffusant,
‒ inherent diffusibility of the material

• Diffusion is the dominant mechanism for concrete structures fully

submerged in sea water or damp salt-contaminated soil.

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Transport properties of cementitious materials

Migration
• Is the movement of ions in a solution under an electrical field.

‒ It is the transport mechanism most often used in laboratory

accelerated chloride tests

Combined transport processes

• Ingress of a particular substance may represent an over-
simplification of the real transport process since more than one
transport mechanism may be active at a given time.

Transport properties of cementitious materials

• Deterioration usually involves the movement of substances and

fluids (liquids, gases, ions, etc) through the pore structure of the
concrete.

The fluid-transport properties of the concrete are therefore

important parameters in determining the rate of deterioration.

• Almost all forms of deterioration involve the presence of water in

the surrounding environment and in the internal pore structure of the
concrete.

Concrete in a dry environment therefore generally shows a lower rate

and extent of deterioration than concrete in a wet or humid
environment.

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Mechanical and physical processes affecting durability

Abrasion
• Wearing of the surface of concrete caused by repeated rubbing or
frictional action.

Mechanical and physical processes affecting durability

Freezing
• Water in the pore structure expands upon freezing and there is not
enough empty space in the pore structure to accommodate this
expansion.

• Tensile stresses are

then set up and
microcracking of the
cement paste occurs.

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Mechanical and physical processes affecting durability

Steel corrosion in reinforced concrete

• Most common cause of loss of durability in concrete structures

• Concrete provides excellent protection to steel

‒ Physically & chemically

• Over time protection can be diminished

‒ Steel embedded in concrete starts to corrode

 Rate of aggressive of environment

 Ability of cover concrete to protect the steel

Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Concrete protection of steel reinforcement

• During hydration of Portland cement, Ca(OH)2 produced
 Highly alkaline, pH between 12-13

• An invisible thin “passivating” layer of gamma ferric oxide forms on

the surface of the steel.

• Oxide layer prevents steel from rusting, even when water and
oxygen is present

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Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Destruction of passivation layer

• Reduction in pH and/or by chlorides
‒ Once passivation is lost, steel will rust in presence of oxygen
and water

Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Reduction in pH
• pH of hardened cement paste drops below 10.5
 Passivation layer breaks down

• Common mechanism is Carbonation

‒ Reaction between atmospheric carbon dioxide and Ca(OH)2 in
harden cement paste
 Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) (pH is about 8.5)

Ca(OH)2 + CO2 = CaCO3 +H2O

 Slow process that results in no visible change

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Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Factors affecting carbonation

• Moisture content of concrete
‒ No carbonation take when pores are saturated or completely
dry
 Rate of carbonation is maximum when RH is 40-60%

• Gas permeability
‒ Denser and less permeable the concrete,
 Slower the rate of carbonation

• Calcium hydroxide content of the concrete

‒ CA(OH)2 neutralising effect on carbon dioxide
↑ Ca(OH)2 ↓ rate of carbonation
‒ Ca(OH)2 is reduced by of cement extenders
‒ Ca(OH)2 is increased by increasing the cement content

Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Chloride attack
• Chlorides at the surface of the reinforcement,
 At critical concentration
 Cause passivation of the steel (even if pH is at high level)

How are chlorides introduced into the concrete?

• At the mixing stage
• At the placing stage (contamination of reinforcing steel)
• By ingress (in solution)

Takes time for chlorides content at steel to reach critical level

• Increasing cover depth
• Increasing concrete impermeability
• Use of cement extenders

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Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Chloride attack

Effect of FA and GGBS in reducing the chloride conductivity of

concretes over a range of strength grades

Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Steel corrosion process

• Once passivation is lost
 steel free to corrode
(in the presence of oxygen and moisture)

Corrosion of steel
• Electrochemical process
• Rate of corrosion is not uniform along
length of a bar

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Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Steel corrosion process

• Steel increases in volume
Expansion causes internal forces in concrete
Concrete cracks along length of the bar
Cracks widen and concrete spalls

Corrosion of steel
Staining of concrete
Loss of steel cross-section

BUQS0114_Civil Engineering in Construction

Chemical factors and processes affecting durability

Specify deemed to satisfy strategy rules

• Limit durability index values
• Cover depths for a given environmental class
• Selected binder

Durability index values must satisfy both:

• Concrete mix design phase
• Concrete construction phase

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Durability index tests

Oxygen permeability test

• Measuring the pressure decay of oxygen passed through a
30-mm thick slice of a (typically) 68 to 70-mm diameter core
of concrete placed in a falling head permeameter.

Durability index tests

Oxygen permeability test

The oxygen permeability test assesses:
• the overall micro- and macrostructure of the outer surface of cast
concrete,
• sensitive to macro-voids and cracks which act as short-circuits
for the permeating gas.

 Assess the state of compaction,

Presence of bleed voids and channels
Degree of interconnectedness of the pore structure.

• An empirical prediction model for carbonation was formulated

using the oxygen permeability test.
• 50-year carbonation depths may be predicted for different
environments.

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Durability index tests

Oxygen permeability test

Durability index tests

Chloride conductivity test

• Consists of a two-cell conduction rig in which concrete core
samples are exposed on either side to a 5M NaCl chloride
solution.

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Durability index tests

Chloride conductivity test

• The core samples are preconditioned before testing to
standardise the pore water solution (ovendried at 50C followed
by 24 hours vacuum saturation in a 5M NaCl chloride solution).

• The movement of chloride ions occurs due to the application of a

10 V potential difference.

Chloride conductivity decreases with:

 Addition of FA, GGBS, and CSF in concrete,
 Extended moist curing
Increasing grade of concrete

Correlations between 28-day chloride conductivity results and

diffusion coefficients after several years marine exposure

Durability index tests

Chloride conductivity test

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Durability index tests

Water sorptivity test

• The circular sides of the core are sealed to ensure uni-directional
absorption from the bottom (usually exposed) face.

• The concrete samples are exposed to a few millimetres of water

with the test surface facing downward.

• At regular time intervals, the specimens are removed from the

water and the mass of water absorbed is determined using an
electronic balance.

• Sensitive to the nature and extent of early curing of the cover

concrete,
Assess construction quality.

Durability index tests

Water sorptivity test

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