PREDICTING THE SERVICE LIFE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES–A REVIEW

Alhassan A. Yunusa

Department of Civil Engineering

Federal Polytechnic Idah, Kogi state

E-mail: alhassanay@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:   Permeability is known to be a critical transport mechanism governing attack and degradation of concrete. As such, there is a great deal of interest in determining a functional relationship between early age permeability of concrete and its service life in real environment. Data from review of the literature clearly shows an existence of a strong empirical relationship between the permeability of concrete and its carbonation. However, while several strength-based carbonation models have been proposed, there are very few models available in the literatures that are based on the permeability of concrete. In this paper, existing empirical data from the literature is used to demonstrate the relevance of using permeability as the core parameter against which service life can be modelled. The principal intention of this work is to use the durability index approach as a basis for predicting the carbonation rate and hence, the service life of reinforced concrete structures. While examining some of the relevant models available in the literature, the significant model parameters are identified and a methodology is proposed for developing an improved model.