Durability
Work in this field has been underway for 20 years and the CTU has a unique capability in carrying out durability studies. International collaborative work in this area is being undertaken with Canada, South Africa, India and Mauritius. The main thrust of the research is the performance of concrete exposed to very severe environments, for example in highway bridges and marine structures.
The philosophy of the work has been to utilise multi-aggressive simulations of the exposure conditions, rather than simple acceleration of a single process as used elsewhere, e.g. chloride attack. This, in close association with the cement science research, has allowed tests to be developed for absolute performance criteria and is ultimately being directed towards explicit design methods for durability.
The research into permeation properties of concrete, in particular that of the cover concrete, has also played a very important role in the assessment of durability. Research is also being undertaken into carbonation, corrosion activity, sulfate, acid and freeze/thaw, alkali-silica reaction and abrasion.
ONGOING PROJECTS
- Development of a Service Life Design Model and Equivalent Concrete Performance Concept for Carbonation Induced Corrosion, Investigators: R K Dhir, M R Jones, S Kandasami and G Khanna, funded by: EPSRC & Industry, Start: January 2007.
- Effect of New Generations of Concrete on Early Age Shrinkage. Investigators: R K Dhir, M D Newlands and K A Paine, funded by industry, Started October 2004.
COMPLETED PROJECTS
- Carbonation Resistance Classes and Benchmarking of UK Concretes, M R Jones, S Kandasami, M D Newlands and T A Harrison, Industry funded, Completed: 2006
- Development of a Performance Specification for Carbonation Resistance, R K Dhir, M R Jones, M D Newlands and A M O Abbasi, DTI funded, Completed: 2000
- Effect of Cement Content Aggregate Permeability and Aggregate Paste Interfacial Zone in Concrete on Cl ingression and Cl induced Corrosion, R K Dhir, M R Jones and S Ting, BCA funded, Completed: 2003
- Durability Potential of Multi-Binder Blends in Multi-Aggressive Environments
- Optimising of Binder Content and Particle Packing for Durable Concrete
- Benchmarking Chloride Resistance of Concrete
- Chemical Resistance of GGBS Concrete in the Agriculture Environment
- Development of GGBS Concrete for Highway Bridges in Winter Conditions
- Near Surface Characterisation and Durability Assessment of Concrete in Structure
del.icio.us
digg
reddit
facebook
stumbleupon