28-08-2020

Factors Affecting Durability of Concrete

 Cement Content  Abrasion

 Aggregate Quality  Carbonation
 Water Quality  Wetting and Drying Cycles
 Concrete Compaction  Freezing and Thawing
 Curing Period  Alkali-Aggregate Reaction
 Permeability  Sulphate Attack
 Moisture  Organic Acids
 Temperature

Aggregate Quality

 Using good quality aggregates in the concrete mix will surely increase
the durability of concrete.
 The shape of aggregate particles should be angular and round. Flaky
and elongated aggregates may affect the workability of fresh concrete
making it porous and hence permeable and will also reduce strength.
 Rough textured angular aggregates are recommended but they require
more cement content for getting good bonding. Well, graded aggregates
should be used to achieve dense concrete mix.
 Determination of moisture content of aggregate should be done before,
otherwise, it can create a more workable loose concrete mix again
making it porous.

Temperature Effects
 When fresh concrete is exposed to a high-temperature, rate of hydration
gets affected and strength and durability gets reduced.
 Concrete ingredient materials have different thermal coefficients, so at
higher temperatures, spalling and deterioration of concrete may
happen.

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Water Quality
 The water used in concrete mix also affects the durability of concrete.
Normally, potable water is recommended for making concrete. pH of water
used shall be in the range of 7 to 8 only.
 Water should be free and clean from oils, acids, alkalies, sugar, salts
organic materials etc.
 The Impurities present in water may lead to corrosion of steel or
deterioration due to different chemical attack on concrete.

Concrete Compaction
 The care should be taken while placing the concrete. It is important to
compact the place concrete without segregation.
 Insufficiently compacted concrete contains a number of air voids in it
which reduces the concrete strength and durability and will render it
porous.

Curing Period
 Proper curing should be done in the initial stages of concrete to permit
proper strength development and moisture retention and to ensure
hydration process occur completely.
 Insufficient curing may lead to the formation of cracks due to plastic
shrinkage, drying shrinkage, thermal effects etc. due to which the
durability decreases.

Permeability
 It is considered the most important factor for durability. It can be noticed
that higher permeability is usually caused by higher porosity. Therefore,
a proper curing, sufficient cement, proper compaction and suitable
concrete cover could provide a low permeability concrete.
 To prevent permeability, lowest possible water-cement ratio must be
used. Using a small amount of pozzolanic materials also helps to reduce
permeability

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Moisture
 Moisture available in the atmosphere will also affect the durability of
concrete structures.
 The moisture in concrete is responsible for Efflorescence, which will
convert salts into soluble solutions and when it evaporates salts
crystallizes and appear on the concrete surface.
 This will surely damage the concrete structure and durability will be
reduced.

Cement Content
 The quantity of cement used in the concrete mix is a major factor
affecting the durability of concrete.
 If the cement content used is lower than the required, then the water-
cement ratio gets reduced and concrete workability also gets decreased.
Adding more water to this concrete mix results in formation of capillary
voids which will make concrete a permeable material inviting
deterioration. Adding excessive cement can create problems like drying
shrinkage. Alkali-silica reaction may also occur which finally affects the
durability of concrete.

Abrasion
 Deterioration of concrete also occurs due to severe abrasion of the
surface.
 When concrete is exposed to rapidly moving water, steel tires, floating
ice continuously wearing of the surface occurs and durability gets
affected.
 Higher the compressive strength of concrete, the higher will be the
abrasion resistance

Organic acids
 When concrete surface is subjected to organic acids like acetic acid,
lactic acid, butyric acid etc., concrete durability gets affected severely.
 Formic acid on concrete surfaces can lead to corrosion of steel in
concrete.

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Carbonation
 When moist concrete is exposed to an atmosphere, carbon dioxide
present in the atmosphere reacts with concrete and reduces pH of
concrete by reacting with CaO in concrete.
 When pH value of concrete gets reduced to 10 or 9 or more, it looses
its alkali. Due to which it will not be able to protect the steel bars
under it. Because of corrosion, the rust will form around the bar
resulting in increase in volume of bar. This will cause crack in
concrete. The cracks will further incite moisture and CO2 which will
further make it lose alkali. Thus ultimately making concrete brittle
with delamination and spalling of concrete, if not attended in time, the
bars will start losing its area and thereby strength.
 Most of the structure in today’s time, suffer from this, and buildings
which were supposed to have life of 100 years have undergone major
repairs sometimes within from 10 years. Hence the corrosion process
sets in the reinforcement present in concrete. Corrosion of
reinforcement causes cracks in hardened concrete and deterioration
takes place

Wetting and Drying Cycles

•When concrete is exposed to alternate wetting and drying conditions such
as tidal waves from sea etc. secondary stresses are developed in concrete.
•Due to these stresses cracks will form and reinforcement is exposed to
atmosphere.
•When chlorides or sulphates from sea water meets reinforcement
corrosion occurs and durability of concrete is reduced.
•Use of low-permeable concrete, proper cover for reinforcement can
prevent this type of problems.

Freezing and Thawing

•When fully saturated concrete is exposed to repeat cycles of freezing of
thawing, it is deteriorated by the action of freezing and softening of water
in it.
•It causes cracking on concrete surface in the form of maps which is
called map cracking and effects durability of concrete.
•The coarse aggregate present the concrete also effected by freeze and
thaw cycles, spalling of concrete may occurs.
•In this case, durability of concrete can be achieved by adding air-
entraining admixtures to the mix and also reduce the maximum size of
coarse aggregate.

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Alkali Aggregate Reaction

•Alkali-aggregate reaction or alkali-silica reaction, takes place between
alkali content of cement and silica content of aggregates is also a major
factor effecting durability of concrete.
•Due to this reaction, Concrete expansion occurs which finally lead to
severe cracking and concrete gets deteriorated.
•Use of cement with less alkali content, Non-reactive aggregates,
pozzolanic materials like fly ash or slag cement, Lithium-based admixture
in concrete will help to overcome this problem.

Sulphate Attack
•When concrete structures are attacked by sulphates like sodium sulphate,
magnesium sulphate etc. concrete disintegration happens.
•This reaction is due to the chemical reaction between hydrated cement
products and sulphate solutions.
•Sulphate attack generally happens when water used for concrete mix
contains high sulphate content, Due to unwashed aggregates, when soil
around the concrete structure contains sulphates in it etc.
•This can be prevented by using sulphate resisting cement, by adding slag
cement, by decreasing permeability etc.