Design of durable concrete structures

Design of durable concrete structures (FB 70) was written by BRE’s Stuart Matthews and published by the BRE Trust in 2014. It is an updated and extended version of Volume 3 (Chapter 5) of the second edition of the fib (the International Federation for Structural Concrete) Structural concrete textbook. Its publication as a separate volume makes it more widely available to concrete specialists and engineers.

Concrete is the most extensively used construction material, and with the correct design, specification and construction can be extremely durable. However, it is not everlasting.

The book explains the complex set of phenomena governing the durability and long-term performance of concrete structures, and how these form a basis for service life design, the objective of which is to ensure concrete structures achieve appropriate durability.

It reflects recent developments and gives an up-to-date overview focusing on the behaviour of the concrete structures and their interaction with environment.

It is intended to assist designer to improve the durability and reliability of concrete structures, and will also be of value to engineers involved in the assessment, maintenance and extension of life of existing concrete structures.

The 19 chapters the book are:

1. Introduction.
2. Overview of the service life design, construction and through-life care process.
3. Through-life performance, life-cycle cost and sustainability.
4. Mechanisms that may cause deterioration or damage to concrete structures.
5. Some factors influencing the durability of concrete structures.
6. Environmental aggressivity.
7. Recommendations in standards and codes of practice.
8. Overview of modelling of deterioration processes.
9. Factorial approach to estimating service life.
10. Service life design process and considerations.
11. Measures to enhance resistance or avoid reinforcement corrosion.
12. Measures to enhance resistance and avoid deterioration.
13. Influence of some design, execution and workmanship issues on durability.
14. Construction quality issues: the role of the project execution specification.
15. Improving durability: benefits of pre-construction planning and trials.
16. Condition control: planned through-life structure management and care.
17. Monitoring of durability and performance.
18. Examples from practice.
19. Future look: potential developments influencing service life design.

--BRE Group

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