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Durability

CHARACTERISTICS FOR • Concrete has been extensively used as a

construction material because of its
DURABLE CONCRETE compressive strength, capacity to be cast into
different shapes and the ready availability of
its raw materials.
• However its long term performance is more a
function of durability rather than the strength.
• The durability of concrete is defined as its
ability to resist attack from the environment.

Hydration of cement Hydration of cement

• The knowledge of the hydration behaviour of
the cement mixtures forms a basis for
• 2C3S + 6H  C3S2H3 + 3Ca(OH) 2
interpreting the reactions that occur when
cement hydrated under various conditions. • 2C2S + 4H  C3S2H3 + Ca(OH) 2
• The understanding of the mechanism of
hydration and the hydrated products help • C3A + 6H  C3AH6
engineers in interpretation of the conditions
under which concrete can perform adequately.
• C4AF + 2Ca(OH)2 + 10H  C3AH6 +
• The degree of hydration is dependent on the C3FH6
availability of pore water within the concrete.

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Hydration of cement
HYDRATION OF C3S and C2S
• Provided the mix has sufficient plasticity to be
fully compacted, the lower the w/c, the higher
will be the compressive strength of the hydrated
cement paste/mortar/concrete and the higher
the resistance to penetration by potentially
deleterious substances from the environment.
• Both C3S and C2S react with water to produce
an amorphous calcium silicate hydrate known
as C–S–H gel which is the main ‘glue’ which
binds the sand and aggregate particles together
in concrete.
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HYDRATION OF C3S and C2S
• The hydration of Portland cement involves
the reaction of the anhydrous calcium silicate
and aluminate phases with water to form
hydrated phases.
• These solid hydrates occupy more space
than the anhydrous particles and the result is
a rigid interlocking mass whose porosity is a
function of the ratio of water to cement (w/c)
in the original mix.
DURABILITY CONCEPT
• Concrete may deteriorate with time in a
number of ways.
• The most common durability failures in an
outdoor climate are due to reinforcement
corrosion or frost attack.
• In special environments concrete may suffer
from chemical attack by various substances.
• Durability failure may also occur because of
internal expansion from concrete constituents
that are swelling,
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DURABILITY CONCEPT
• The concept of ‘durability’ is difficult to quantify.
• Durability is not a property of a concrete material,
or a concrete structure, but ‘behaviour’, a
performance, of a concrete structure in a certain
exposure condition.
• ‘Service life’ is a much better concept for
describing the durability of concrete.
• The service life is defined as ‘the time during
which a concrete fulfils its performance
requirements’, without non-intended maintenance.
Design Life
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DURABILITY CONCEPT
• In a large number of deterioration processes
several different chemical and physical reactions
are combined, sometimes in a very complex way.
• In these combinations, one or several transport
processes are usually decisive for the rate of
deterioration.
• The permeation properties of hardened concrete
are, of course, decisive for transport processes
occurring in the pore system of concrete and,
consequently, in many cases decisive for the
durability and service life of concrete.
TRANSPORT PROCESSES
• Transport processes and permeation properties
are highly significant for ingress, internal
redistribution or loss of substances that are harmful
or beneficial to concrete.
– Transport of sulfates from external sources reaching and
reacting with aluminates to form ettringite.
– Internal diffusion of alkalis in the pore water to reach
reactive aggregate particles, to ‘provide’ a reactant for
the alkali–aggregate reaction.
– Ingress of chloride from sea water or de-icing salts and
carbon dioxide from the air, penetrating the concrete
cover, destroying the passivity of reinforcing steel.
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PERMEABILITY
• Permeability or Permeation is the process by
which a fluid, gas or liquid, will move in the
pore and crack systems of concrete due to
pressure differences.
• The resistance to such a flow is created by
the viscosity of the fluid, the friction at the
pore and crack walls and the narrowness of
the pores and cracks.
PERMEABILITY
• D’Arcy’s equation : V = KA∆p
ηL
V = flow rate (cm3/s)
A = cross-sectional area of specimen (m2)
K = Intrinsic permeability of concrete (m2)
∆p = fluid pressure head across specimen (bar)
η = viscosity fluid (Ns/m2)
L = thickness of specimen (m)
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PERMEABILITY
• The degree of saturation of the pore and crack
system will have a significant effect on
permeation.
• If the degree of saturation is low, the fluid might
be disconnected, leaving ‘islands’ of fluid that
constitute no, or small, fluid paths.
• The fluid pressure might be negative, as for
liquids not saturating concrete, giving liquid
suction that will create pressure gradients and
permeation.
DIFFUSION
• Diffusion is the transport of a vapour, gas or
dissolved substance in a fluid due to
concentration gradients.
• Areas with a higher concentration of substance
tend to be ‘diluted’ if no source is available.
• A concentration of a substance that has a
source maintaining the concentration tends to
spread until equilibrium is achieved.
• This is called diffusion.
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DIFFUSION
• The resistance to such a transport process is
created by the denseness of the pore system,
the pore sizes and the tortuosity of the pores
and cracks.
• In very small pores diffusion will be affected by
molecular collisions with the pore walls.
• The degree of liquid saturation of the pore and
crack system will have a significant effect on
diffusion. .
Performance Properties
• Penetration of concrete by fluids or gases may
adversely affect its durability.
• The degree of penetration depends on the permeability
of the concrete, and since permeability is a flow
property it relates to the ease with which a fluid or gas
passes through it under the action of a pressure
differential.
• Porosity is a volume property, representing the content
of pores irrespective of whether they are inter-
connected and may/may not allow the passage of a
fluid or gas.
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DIFFUSION
• Vapours and gases will diffuse very slowly in
pores filled with a liquid, finding their way much
easier through ‘open’ empty pores that are
connected to form air-filled flow paths.
• Dissolved substances will, in contrast, require
continuous liquid paths to be able to diffuse
through concrete.
Performance Properties
• Total porosity of a material is defined as a function of
the bulk volume of the material occupied by voids.
• The structure of the porosity in concrete strongly
influences its performance.
• Specifically, porosity determines the rates at which
aggressive species can enter the mass and cause
disruption.
• Rates of intrusion are related to the permeability of
the concrete.
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Performance Properties Performance Properties

• Total porosity based on vacuum saturation • In the most general way, permeability depends on the
method total porosity.
• More importantly, however, permeability depends on
Wssd - Wd
way in which the total porosity is distributed.
P = --------------- x 100
• Porosity, in turn, is related to the original packing of
Wssd - Wssw the cement, mineral admixtures, and the aggregate
particles, to the water-to-solids ratio, to the rheology,
which is related to the degree of dispersion of the
solids originally present, and to the conditions of
curing.

Performance Properties Performance Properties

• Porosity of a material is not of interest as an end in
itself.
• Rather porosity is of interest because it directly
influences both mechanical and transport properties
of cementitious materials.
• With respect to durability, the ability of concrete to
resist various forms of deterioration is often related to
its impermeability.
• Analysis of the sources of porosity and its
connectivity can frequently provide the means to
understand the mechanisms by which aggressive
species can intrude concrete.
• This is because the pore structure defines the paths
along which liquid or vapor preferentially moves.
• It is widely accepted that permeability is determined
by microstructure.
• Microstructure in this context is defined in terms of
pore and crack structures.

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Performance Properties
• For cementitious materials, it is well recognized that
both total porosity and its distributions determine the
permeability, and that only pores with diameters
greater than a specific value contribute significantly to
permeability.
• There are a variety of "types" of porosity in concrete.
Performance Properties
• The diameter of a stable gel pore is assumed to be
about 2 nm based on the assumption that hydration
products cannot precipitate in pores having diameters
smaller than about 2 nm.
• Because the gel porosity resides in the hydration
products that accumulate between the liquid phase
and the anhydrous cement grains, gel porosity has a
major effect on hydration rates but only a minor effect
on transport processes involving liquids.
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Performance Properties
• These types may be classified in terms of their origin or in
terms of their anticipated effect on measurable parameters
such as strength or permeability.
• Sources of porosity in concrete include:
1. gel pores
2. smaller capillary pores
3. larger capillary pores
4. large voids (also included in this category may be intentionally
added voids such as by air entrainment)
5. porosity associated with paste-aggregate interracial zones
6. microcracks and discontinuities associated with dimensional
instabilities that occur during curing
7. porosity in aggregate
Performance Properties
• The porosity in concrete is subdivide into two
classes:
1) in the paste matrix
2) associated with the aggregate and paste interface.
• The principle source of the matrix porosity
contributing to permeability is that associated with
residual space between cement grains which was
originally filled with water.
• Two types of porosity can be considered to form the
network of capillary porosity present in cement and
concrete: large and small capillary porosity.
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Performance Properties Performance Properties

• An important technique to determine porosity is • Mercury intrusion porosimetry can be used to

mercury intrusion.
• In this technique, mercury is forced into porous
samples with increasing pressure.
• Because the mercury is assumed not to wet the
internal sample surfaces, the intrusion pressure can
be related to the diameter of the pore intruded
provided the contact angle between the mercury and
the sample are known or can be assumed.
measure the distributions of pore sizes in cements.
• Although there are certain limitations to the use of
mercury intrusion in the analysis of the pore
structures of cements, the technique is very attractive
since it measures pores of the general size range
that appear to control permeability.

Performance Properties Performance Properties

• The performance of
concrete under a
particular environment
cannot be solely related
to its strength but it is a
function of its pore
structure and
permeability.

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Durability - Carbonation