Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154

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Cement and Concrete Research

journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/CEMCON/default.asp

Recent durability studies on concrete structure

S.W. Tang a,b, Y. Yao c, C. Andrade d, Z.J. Li b,⁎
a
State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
b
Department of Civil and Environment Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong
c
China Building Materials Academy, Beijing, China
d
Institute of Construction Sciences Eduardo Torroja, Madrid, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The durability of concrete has attracted significant attention over the past several decades and is still a research
Received 4 March 2015 hotspot until now. This paper reviews and discusses recent research activities on the durability of concrete, in-
Revised 15 May 2015 cluding: 1) major durability problems such as alkali aggregate reaction, sulfate attack, steel corrosion and
Accepted 18 May 2015
freeze–thaw; 2) durability of concrete in marine environment; and 3) coupling effects of mechanical load and en-
Available online 14 June 2015
vironmental factors on durability of concrete. Moreover, the consideration of durability in concrete structure de-
Keywords:
sign (DuraCrete and performance-based specifications) is also briefly reviewed.
Durability © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Alkali-aggregate reaction
Sulfate attack
Steel corrosion

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
2. Major durability problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
2.1. Alkali–aggregate reaction in concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
2.2. Deterioration caused by sulfate attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
2.3. Steel corrosion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
2.4. Freeze–thaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
3. Durability issue in a marine environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3.1. Definition and significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3.2. Methods to reduce deterioration of concrete in marine environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4. Consideration of durability in concrete structure design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.1. Coupling effect of mechanical load and environmental factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
4.2. Loading carrying ability unified service life design philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.3. Service life prediction based on durability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

1. Introduction deterioration to remain its original form, quality and serviceability

Durability of Portland cement concrete is defined as its ability to re-
sist weathering action, chemical attack, abrasion, or any other process of
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 23588751; fax: +852 23581534.
E-mail address: zongjin@ust.hk (Z.J. Li).
when exposed to its intended service environment [1]. Durability prob-
lems usually appear as the materials deteriorate at the beginning. Al-
though the material deteriorations do not have an immediate safety
issue, they will progressively lead to structural damage, which puts a
potential danger to the structures.
The classification of causes of concrete deterioration can be grouped
into three categories, physical, chemical, and mechanical, from which

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2015.05.021
0008-8846/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
144 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
major durability issues such as steel corrosion are initiated and devel-
oped [2]. To solve the durability problems, many researchers have con-
ducted deep studies on these issues. The studies cover the individual
topics of carbonation, alkali aggregate reaction, reinforcing bar corro-
sion, sulfate attack, CH leaching, and freezing–thawing. As noted by re-
searchers, in most cases, the degradation of a concrete structure is a
result of the combined effect of multi environmental factors and load-
ing. Therefore, many researchers have extended their work from a
single mechanical loading or environmental factor to the combined ef-
fects of multiple factors [3–14]. As a result of durability studies, many
countries have proposed durability-based design guidelines [15–17] or
durability-loading carrying ability unified service life design method [2].
This paper starts with the discussion on recent researches associated
with major durability issues based on selected corresponding activities.
After discussion on durability issues for concrete in marine environ-
ment, the durability based design philosophy and methodology are
introduced.
2. Major durability problems
The major durability problems in concrete including alkali–aggregate
reaction, sulfate attack, steel corrosion and freeze–thaw are discussed in
the following subsections.
2.1. Alkali–aggregate reaction in concrete
Alkali–aggregate reaction (AAR) in concrete structure is a reaction be-
tween alkalis in pore solution and some active chemicals of aggregates.
Two general types of attacks of AAR are classified as: 1) alkali–carbonate
reaction (ACR) with active minerals from dolomitic limestone aggregate
[18]; and 2) alkali–silica reaction (ASR) with active minerals from amor-
phous silica.
The commonly-used testing methods to assess the AAR are: mortar
bar test (ASTM C227), rock cylinder method (ASTM C586), rapid test
methods (ASTM C289), accelerated mortar bar method (ASTM C
1260), autoclave testing method [19], chemical shrinkage test [20], con-
crete prism test (RILEM AAR-3) [21], stiffness damage test [22], dynamic
modulus and gel fluorescence test [2]. Apart from these conventional
tests mentioned above, Liu and Mukhopadhyay developed a compound
activation energy measurement method, as shown in Fig. 1: highly reac-
tive borosilicate glass and/or different types of aggregates were tested
with NaOH + Ca(OH)2 solution. It had been proved that volume change
in a closed system was in a form of chemical shrinkage as the ASR be-
tween aggregates and alkali solution proceed. There, the authors were
relating the recorded change volume over time to the risk potential
and actual reaction degree of ASR [23].
Fig. 1. The compound activation energy measurement [23].
Normally, the degree of AAR is affected by 1) presence of water, ASR
only occur in high relative humidity; 2) alkali content; 3) concrete po-
rosity and 4) temperature. Accordingly, there are some recommenda-
tions for eliminating the attack of AAR: 1) utilization of nondeleterious
aggregates and/or nonreactive aggregates; 2) utilization of low-alkali
Portland cement or blended cements with enough pozzolanic materials;
3) keep the concrete dry as much as possible and damage is generally
not observed for RH b 80%; 4) utilization of diffusion-control coating;
and 5) addition of nitrate salts. Here, the effects of pozzolanic materials
and nitrate salts are selected for discussion:
1) The incorporation of sufficient reactive siliceous granular skeleton,
fly ash, slag and silica-breccia [24] is beneficial to limit ASR expan-
sion risk [25]. Wright et al. investigated that higher lime content
(%CaO N 10%) fly ashes required a greater percentage of cement re-
placement to reduce ASR expansion to 0.08%[26]. Fly ash with CaO
27.3, 13.5 and 2.42% required 31, 18 and 13% replacement of
Portland cement against ASR [26–28]. Besides, mortar and concrete
with silica-breccia having a particle size less than 30 μm showed
lower expansion than the control mixture in both alkali–silica reac-
tivity and sulfate resistance tests [29,30].
2) The addition of LiNO3 in cement-based materials can decrease AAR
expansion, significantly influence the chemical composition and
the morphology of the reaction product. Besides, dense reaction
products are generated and served as the effective protective barrier
to sulfate attack [31].
Interestingly, some recent researches had observed that initial ASR
gel might temporarily densify the cement matrix.
1) With respect to alkali-carbonate reaction, a considerably higher in-
crease in compressive strength was detected for the mortar with ac-
tivated dolomite aggregates by Stukovnik et al., compared to the one
with limestone aggregate. This phenomenon was explained as better
interlocking between Portland cement binder and aggregate grains,
due to the formation of a new Mg–Si–Al phase both in the ITZ and
along pre-existing cracks in the aggregate grains [32].
2) Krivenko et al. also considered that alkali-susceptible aggregates
could be used in the alkali activated cement concretes without any
risk in spite that theory suggested the opposite. The authors sug-
gested that the active alumina in the alkali activated cements had a
favorable effect allowing to effectively controlling the structure for-
mation process in the interfacial transition zone and to reduce ex-
pansion down to admissible levels or completely avoid it [33].
3) Bektas pointed out that the addition of alkali reactive brick aggregate
did not affect engineering properties of concrete although alkali sil-
ica gel and secondary ettringite were observed by SEM [34].
2.2. Deterioration caused by sulfate attack
Sulfate attack is one of main factors causing expansion deterio-
ration of concrete structure. Such expansion is attributed to reac-
tions of sulfate ions with some hydration products in concrete
structure.
Tests on sulfate resistance are generally conducted through storing
specimens in a solution of sodium or magnesium sulfate, or a mixture
of the two [2]. Currently, the effect of sulfate attack is usually assessed
through several indicators: length variations, loss or increase of mass,
difference of surface hardness [35], strength and elastic modulus de-
crease. However, these indicators do not provide sufficient information
to assess chemical reactions and understand the damage mechanisms
behind [36] and neither the indications can be related to performance
in real conditions.
Innovative test methods are imperative to study the degradation
process of concrete structure caused by sulfate attack.
1) Braganca et al. utilized electrochemical impedance to identify
the sulfate attack non-destructively. The impedance tests were
 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of sulfate test [38].
performed by applying an alternating signal with a 25 mV amplitude
for a frequency interval from 106 to 5 × 10− 2 Hz in open circuit
potential, with 10 points obtained per decade [37]. The electrochem-
ical impedance spectroscopy results obtained from the reinforced
mortar exposed in a sulfate chamber indicated that this technique
could be used to monitor the decrease in the durability of the sys-
tem even in the initial stages of deterioration. The formation of
monosulfate byproducts in the matrix, which competed with the for-
mation of cement hydrates during the curing process, was identified
from the analysis of sulfate profiles obtained and equivalent circuits
[37].
2) The new method proposed by Hachem et al. revealed the relation be-
tween the specimen size and the resistance to sulfate attack [38]: the
experimental setup, as shown in Fig. 2, was implemented at constant
pH and temperature, 7.5 and 20 °C, respectively. The pH was regulated
by adding a nitric acid solution at 0.5 mol/L. The mass and length of
specimens were measured when the solution was renewed. From
the experimental results, they believed that the accelerating effect of
sulfate attack was resulted from the increase in leaching kinetics rath-
er than the type of expansive products [38,39].
3) By utilizing high resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SyXRD),
Stroh et al. found that after concretes were immersed in a sulfate-
bearing soil over a time span 19 years [40], ettringite was identified
as the main crystalline phase in the inner zone and gypsum was
very close to the surface of concrete [40].
4) In general, forming a great deal of thaumasite for research usually
takes more than one year using an external MgSO4-solution storage
method. In order to overcome this time-consuming drawback of ex-
ternal method, Li et al. established a so-called internal adding method
to accelerate thaumasite formation in lab [41]. In this method,
cement–limestone pastes containing 10% magnesium sulfate were
Fig. 3. Experimental set-up of non-linear impact resonance acoustic spectroscopy [43].
145
cured for 6 months stored in water at (5 ± 2) °C. It was noted that
such new method could provide a considerably rapid way for
thaumasite sulfate attack research [41,42].
5) Recently, non-linear impact resonance acoustic spectroscopy which
can detect changes in materials from the resonance frequency shifts
of the vibrational modes of a specimen was utilized for monitoring ex-
ternal sulfate attack process [43]. Fig. 3 illustrates the experimental
set-up of non-linear impact resonance acoustic spectroscopy. This
technique has been shown to be highly sensitive to micro-cracks of
the material and adequate to low and mid expansion damages caused
by sulfate attack. The obtained results from non-linear impact reso-
nance acoustic spectroscopy test corresponded to ones from micro-
structural analysis [43].
The physical/chemical interaction of sulfate attack is a complicated
process and depends on many parameters, including concentration of
sulfate ions, ambient temperature, amount of cement/mineral additives,
water to cement ratio, diffusivity and/or permeability of concrete, and
presence of supplementary pozzolanic admixtures [2,38,44]. Some ef-
fective methods that can eliminate negative effects of sulfate attack
are presented as:
1) Mineral additions: The incorporation of ground granulated blast
furnace slag into the cement is beneficial for the enhancement of
diminution of expansion for concrete structure stored in sulfate so-
lutions since slag will consume calcium hydroxide to some degree
and lead to diminution of the gypsum and ettringite [45]. It was re-
ported that the incorporation of more than 30% of low reactivity
ground granulated blast furnace slag led to a notable enhancement
of the mortars efficiency against sodium and magnesium sulfate at-
tacks [46]. Arribas et al. also found out that there was less expansion
in slag mortars than in control mortar as a result of the sulfate attack
after one year of exposure. Meanwhile, these slag mortars showed a
greater increase of strength than control mortar due to the absence
of internal damage and the reactivity of the fine fraction of the slag
aggregate [24]. For the fly ash case, bottom ash/circulating fluidized
bed combustion ash concrete mixtures also showed better resis-
tance to external sulphuric acid attack [47,48]. It was considered
when the level of combined high-calcium fly ash and slag reached
to 60% of the total cementitious materials, a significant reduction
of expansion was observed [49]. With regard to silica fume, the pres-
ence of a large amount of nanostructured colloidal silica could en-
hance the resistance to sulfate attack, delaying the decay evolution
[50]. Mortars with fly ash and silica fume had extremely low expan-
sion in sodium sulfate solutions [36].
Additionally, it was reported by Nielsen et al. that the use of mineral
admixtures was beneficial to reduce the formation of thaumasite
[51].
2) Burial coating: The increase of depth of burial coating can decrease
the amount of concrete deterioration against the thaumasite forma-
tion of sulfate attack to some extent [52].
3) Glass powder: The mortar blended with ground glass powder signif-
icantly improved the resistance to sulfate attack, and thus enhanced
the durability performance [53]. In the sodium sulfate resistance test
of mortar specimens, minimum weight loss occurred when the ce-
ment was replaced by appropriate 10% of glass powder [54].
4) Immersion position: Nehdi et al. investigated the dual sulfate attack
performance of concrete partially immersed in a 5% sodium sulfate
solution under cycling temperature and relative humidity and con-
cluded that wick action acted as the main transport mechanism of
a solution in the partially exposed concrete: the lower portion im-
mersed in sulfate solution could suffer from chemical sulfate attack,
while the upper one was sensitive to the intrinsic pore structure and
vulnerable to physical sulfate attack [55,56].
5) Lightweight aggregates and viscosity modifier: Bentz et al. explored
two new approaches for increasing a mortar's resistance to sulfate
attack: on one hand, fine lightweight aggregates were pre-wetted
146 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of closed microcracks by precipitation of ettringite [60].
to enhance the microstructure of the interfacial transition zone, on
the other hand, the isolated pores in the lightweight aggregates
might help to accommodate the formation of expansive degradation
products, such as ettringite, without creating substantial stresses
and subsequent cracking; a viscosity modifier was added to the con-
crete mixture to increase the viscosity of the pore solution and thus
slowed down the ingress of sulfates from the external environment
[57].
6) Magnesium oxide: The addition of magnesium oxide can improve
the resistance of concrete to carbonation, chloride attack, and sulfate
attack in the long-term [58].
7) Superplasticizer: Proper amount of superplasticizer in concrete mix
can cause high water reduction, thus reducing sulfate attack on the
concrete and producing a more robust matrix [45].
8) Barium carbonate: A new approach to producing sulfate-resistant
cements was the addition of barium carbonate to clinker. The main
mechanism was utilization of the capacity of barium to immobilize
sulfates in the form of highly insoluble barite [59].
Some recent modeling methods have been proposed to describe the
process of sulfate attack, these models focus on microcrack bridging or
pore filling by the precipitation of expansive products:
1) Bary et al. carried out the chemo-transport-mechanical simulations
of mortar specimens subjected to external sulfate attack in numeri-
cal integration platform. They considered that microcracks might
be bridged or filled by some expansive secondary ettringite under
external sulfate attack and restrained force, as shown in Fig. 4 [60].
2) A diffusion-reaction numerical model was proposed to simulate the
response of concrete exposed to external sulfate attack by Ikumi
et al. The described approach allowed the consideration of different
filling rates and capacities to accommodate expansive products for
each pore size considered [61].
2.3. Steel corrosion
Since corrosion of the reinforcing steel is regarded as the most seri-
ous durability problem in construction engineering [62,63], how to
eliminate the degree of steel corrosion is a headache problem in practi-
cal engineering. The combination of concrete quality and concrete cover
thickness is apparently the most important parameter that controls the
rate of carbonation and chloride ingress, hence improving the quality of
concrete has thus been considered as the primary protection method
[64,65]. The protection strategies include increased concrete cover,
coating rebar, stainless steel and corrosion inhibitors.
1) Generally speaking, the time-to-corrosion of the embedded reinforc-
ing steel can be significantly influenced by the amount of concrete
cover over the rebar [65]. However, as the cover increases, the
rebar becomes less effective and the potential for cracking due to
tensile stress, shrinkage and thermal effects increases [2].
2) The coating of the reinforcing steel can enhance the durability per-
formance by serving as a barrier preventing the access of aggressive
species to the steel surface and providing electrical insulation to
some extent. In a recent study, epoxy-coating distinctly shows a
much superior performance against the steel corrosion compared
with red-oxide and zinc primer coatings [66], and can be applied in
various ways, either as a liquid or as a powder which is fused on
the surface. ASTM A775/A775M-04a (Standard Specification for
Epoxy-Coated Steel Reinforcing Bars) has addressed the basic re-
quirements for epoxy-coated reinforcing steels by the electrostatic
spray method. The amount of damage to the epoxy coating prior to
concrete casting has been considered as the major contributing
factor to the poor performance [67]. Thus, training is necessary
for properly producing, handling and applying the coating, and
repairing of field damage to epoxy-coated bars. Besides, the bond
properties between the concrete and the epoxy-coated rebar are
not as strong as between concrete and conventional rebar, which
should be improved [2].
3) There have been a few investigations on the use of stainless steel
bars [68–72]. It has been shown that the chloride threshold value
for initiation of corrosion in non-welded AISI 304 (a kind of stainless
steel) rebar is three to five times higher than that of conventional
rebar. However, welding of the bar reduced the critical chloride
level by 50%. It should be emphasized that the use of stainless
rebar is an expensive solution [2].
4) Zinc coating of steel (galvanized steel) is also considered as a good
means for providing corrosion resistance. It acts both as a sacrificial
and barrier-type coating. But, a disadvantage is that, like other
 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
metal coatings, the zinc coating corrodes over time. The rate of cor-
rosion under the given environmental conditions will determine
the loss of coating thickness, and the time period which it will be ef-
fective. Generally, there is a fairly linear relationship between the
metal thickness and the duration of its effective service life for galva-
nized steel exposed to an industrial atmosphere [73]. The stability of
zinc is dependent on the pH of the surrounding solution where the
zinc coating is exposed. The corrosion products of zinc may be de-
posited at the surface of the zinc coating and seal it, thus arresting
the evolution of H2 gas and leading to passivation of the zinc coating.
In particular, if the galvanized and ungalvanized bars are used in the
same structure, special care should be taken to ensure complete
electrical isolation of the two [74].
5) Corrosion inhibitors are regarded as useful not only as a preventative
measure for new structures but also as a preventative and restor-
ative surface-applied admixture for existing structures. Various
corrosion inhibitors can be classified into [2]: (a) adsorption
inhibitors, which act specifically on the anodic or on the cathodic
partial reaction of the corrosion process, or on both reactions,
(b) film-forming inhibitors, which block the surface more or less
completely, such as the siloxane-based corrosion inhibitor [75–78]
and (c) passivators, which favor the passivation reaction of the
steel. The mechanistic action of corrosion inhibitors is thus not
against uniform corrosion but localized or pitting corrosion of a pas-
sive metal due to the presence of chloride ions or a drop in pH value
[79]. Corrosion inhibitors admixed to the free concrete can act in two
different ways: these inhibitors can extend the corrosion initiation
time and/or reduce the corrosion rate after depassivation has oc-
curred [2]. Mixed-in inhibitors are regarded as more reliable since
it is easier and more secure to add the inhibitors to the mix. Some
laboratory testing has shown that certain corrosion inhibitors do
not significantly affect the amount of chloride ions required to initi-
ate corrosion, but can reduce the corrosion rate [2]. Recently, the ap-
plication of green, sustainable and eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor
becomes a promising research hotspot [80]. One green inhibitor is
Bambusa Arundinacea leaves extract that exhibits better resistance
to steel corrosion compared with calcium nitrite and ethanolamine.
This extract can stabilize calcium silicate hydrates (C–S–H) gels
that prevent calcium hydroxide conversion to calcite and carbo-
aluminate phases to some degree [80]. The other typical green in-
hibitor is Anthocleista djalonensis that is a special kind of extracts from
leaf, stem bark and root bark. The experimental data and predicted
models by Okeniyi et al. showed that only 0.4167% Anthocleista
Fig. 5. Set-up for electrochemical treatment [83].
147
djalonensis leaf-extract admixture (per weight of cement) exhibited
excellent inhibition efficiency [81]. Additionally, Okeniyi and co-
workers further employed electrochemical monitoring techniques to
assess anticorrosion performance of Phyllanthus Muellerianus
leaf-extract on concrete steel-reinforcement in 0.5 M H2SO4
used for simulating industrial/microbial environment. From the
experimental electrochemical results and adsorption isotherm
predictions, the best inhibition efficiency at inhibiting the concrete
steel-reinforcement corrosion was exhibited by the 0.3333%
Phyllanthus Muellerianus leaf-extract admixture (per weight of
cement) [82].
6) Since the 1990s, fibrous composites have been introduced into con-
crete to replace reinforcing steel. Fibrous composites are usually
made of continuous fibers (carbon and stable glass) as reinforce-
ment and polymers (epoxy and polyester) as the matrix [2,64].
Application of fibrous composites can completely eliminate the cor-
rosion problem. However, drawbacks of these composites are the
high price and high temperature sensitivity [2].
7) In order to increase the bond strength of the embedded plain steel
bars in existing structures without any need for demolition and
realkalization, the deep impregnation of cement-based mortars
and concrete with a solution of ethyl silicate and with electrochem-
ical treatments by means of a solution of sodium carbonate was
investigated [83]. The set-up of electrochemical treatment was pre-
sented in Fig. 5. It was reported that the experimental corrosion test
showed that corrosion risk classes of some mortar samples after
such immersion treatment passed from a high level to a low one
[83].
Although a great deal of information associated with steel corrosion
has been resolved by means of various prevention techniques, re-
searchers and engineers also intend to monitor the corrosion progress
to make maintenance decisions in time. The monitoring methods in-
clude visual inspection, half-cell potential measurement, radiography,
ultrasonic, magnetic perturbation/flux, and acoustic emission technique
[2]. Here, we briefly introduce several cutting-edge methods as follows:
1) A method for determining the reinforcement corrosion occurs
(Ccrit) value was proposed by Garcia et al. [84]. Fig. 6 illustrated
the test configuration of this method. The method was achieved
through capillary suction and a diffusion phase with steel-potential
monitoring during the progressive contamination of the concrete
by chloride. It was stated that the effect of a sufficient total amount
of chlorides on steel potential in compositions with Portland cement
was to induce a drop in potential of around 250 mV when steel cor-
rosion was initiated. The method further considered that the pres-
ence of sulfide in pore solution had a great impact on the steel
potential [84].
2) In order to evaluate the steel corrosion-based deterioration in an
early age, an array low-coherent fiber optic sensor system was de-
veloped [85]. This system could effectively monitor the corrosion-
caused expansion at the accuracy of sub-micro strains by circled
the sensing optical fiber in two configurations. One was to wire the
fiber on the surface of steel rock bolt directly; the other was to circle
the fiber on a mortar cushion. From the comparison of these two
configurations, an interface dominated corrosion process was very
sensitive to the uniformity of the interface formed on the steel [85].
3) Active corrosion with an external anodic current of 5 mA/cm2 was
induced by corroding steel embedded in cement paste in an X-ray
microcomputed tomography study [86]. The electrochemical setup
and X-ray microcomputed tomography examination of this method
were presented in Fig. 7. The test samples were placed in sodium
chloride in three-electrode system for galvanostatic corrosion and
then the corroded samples were taken out from the solution at
particular time spans, left at the open circuit potential during X-ray
microcomputed tomography imaging. Through this innovative
method, the cracked cement paste, the propagating corrosion
148 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154

Fig. 6. Test configuration of determination of Ccrit [84].

products, and the corroded steel with a resolution of few microme- feasibility of use of ambient energy as a power supply for wireless
ters had been investigated in-situ and non-invasively. It was also motes was verified by corrosion monitoring of an experimental en-
concluded that after depassivation of steel, the average rate of steel vironment [87].
loss recorded by X-ray microcomputed tomography correlated
well with the one predicted by Faraday's law of electrolysis [86]. 2.4. Freeze–thaw
4) Qian's research group developed an attractive on-line corrosion-
monitoring approach that only exploited three heterogeneous tiny Concrete deterioration caused by freezing and thawing is closely
energy sources to power commercial-off-the-shelf wireless sensor linked to the presence of water in concrete but cannot be explained sim-
motes such that the corrosion related data were automatically cap- ply by the expansion of water on freezing [88,89]. In general, the loss of
tured and sent to users via wireless manner [87]. Three tiny energy mass or decrease of dynamic modulus is used as indexes of degradation.
sources presented in their work were corrosion energy, a cement Recently, some advanced test methods have been developed to monitor
battery and weak solar energy. Fig. 8(a) showed that the source of the degradation process of freeze–thaw attack through other physical
corrosion energy was from the half-cell potential and current of car- quantities.
bon steel panel immersed in the simulated concrete pore solution;
Fig. 8(b) presented micro-corrosion spots caused by electrochemical
corrosion on the surface of the carbon steel. Additionally, packing
configuration of the cement battery was demonstrated in Fig. 9. Ob-
viously, this proposed method for monitoring the durability of RC
structures located in a corrosive environment through a long-term
and human-free manner was very promising. What's more, the

Fig. 7. (a) Electrochemical setup for galvanostatic corrosion; (b) X-ray microcomputed to- Fig. 8. (a) Source of corrosion energy; (b) micro-corrosion spots caused by electrochemical
mography examination [86]. corrosion [87].
 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
Fig. 9. Illustration of the cement battery [87].
1) Guneyisi et al. investigated the deterioration of concrete by variation
of ultrasonic pulse velocity during freeze–thaw cycles [90]. They
concluded that the differences of ultrasonic pulse velocity might be
attributed to modification of pore structure morphology during the
freeze–thaw process [90,91]. Meanwhile, in the research group of
Aghabaglou, when they evaluated the freeze–thaw resistance of
high-volume fly ash concrete, it was found that the dynamic modu-
lus of elasticity corresponded to weight change percentage in
freeze–thaw cycles [92]. Besides, two different types of non-linear
acoustics techniques (see Fig. 10), the indirect transmission (with
incident waves at 90°) and the semi-direct transmission (with inci-
dent waves at 45°), were studied by Bui et al. for mortar samples
at different levels of damage caused by freeze–thaw cycles [93].
Test results from these two techniques were extremely sensitive to
the initiation of cracking caused by freeze–thaw attack.
2) The transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) technique applied by Dai
and Ng was employed to perform fast-image acquisition of capillary
Fig. 10. Non-linear acoustics techniques: (a) indirect transmission; (b) semi-direct trans-
mission [93].
149
Fig. 11. 3D digital sample constructed by stacking TXM slice images [94].
pores and micro-damage evolution at 30 nm resolution in situ [94].
The 3D digital sample was constructed by stacking TXM slice images
with unit thickness, as shown in Fig. 11; such constructed nanoscale
digital sample could be used for fracture simulation and damage
mechanism study. It was stated that the crack propagation with
predefined crack path under theoretically calculated pore pressure
followed the actual crack path captured from the nanoscale TXM im-
ages. Also, with the help of this technique, it was demonstrated that
the ice crystallization pressures generated in nanoscale pores were
sufficient to cause internal-frost damage in cement pastes [94].
In the case of frost damage, few of works on the basic mechanisms
have been performed in spite of the still existing questions on it. This sit-
uation is perhaps due to the in practice the damage can be avoided by
the use of air-entraining agents and the experience on which are the
best mix proportions [95,96]. Apart from conventional air-entraining
agents, some kinds of additives with appropriate amount are beneficial
for the enhancement of the resistance of freeze–thaw in recent re-
searches as well. These additives include synthetic zeolite [97], organic
resins [98], encapsulated siloxane [75], fiber [99,100] and nano particles
[101].
3. Durability issue in a marine environment
3.1. Definition and significance
Lots of concrete structures are located in the marine environment,
such as cross-ocean tunnels, long-span bridge and offshore drilling plat-
form. According to the deterioration mechanisms, the marine environ-
ment zones of concrete structure can be classified as submerge, tidal,
splash and atmospheric zones [102].
P.K. Mehta in 1980s considered that the tidal zone of concrete struc-
ture was the most serious part since it was suffered from both chemical
and physical attacks in nature [103,104]. Corrosion of steel and spalling
of concrete usually occurred in this zone [103,104]. Safehian et al. also
pointed out that the tidal zone was the most aggressive exposure condi-
tion followed by the splash zone; the atmospheric zone was consider-
ably less aggressive than the others [105]. As a matter of fact, harmful
ions ingress in tidal zones involves adventive transport and is therefore
very dependent on the liquid permeability of the material in additional
of its diffusion coefficient [106,107]. Moreover, the physical collision, ero-
sion and abrasion of alternating motion of waves and tides is bound to
arouse concerns about deterioration of the concrete structure [2].
150 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
Fig. 12. Conversion of chemical influence to mechanical effects [2].
3.2. Methods to reduce deterioration of concrete in marine environment
In this work, some methods to reduce the deterioration of concrete
in marine environment are summarized as:
1) Cement matrix: Marine environments are typically aggressive to
concrete structures, since sea water contains high concentrations
of chlorides and sulfates. The corrosion of steel reinforcement is
mainly caused by chloride penetration into concrete, which leads
to expansion of steel surface and stress concentration.
The additional ettringite crystals are formed since the chemical
reaction between sulfate ions in the seawater and AFm in concrete
structure. However, these crystals can be quickly dissolved in the
seawater and then leach out of concrete structure, causing material
loss to some extent [105,108]. Therefore, the utilization of low-
permeability concrete is recommended to eliminate the chloride
and sulfate deterioration caused by the marine environment.
2) Mineral additions: For concretes made by the cement blended with
certain kind of mineral additions with an appropriate dosage, there
may be a decrease in chloride threshold for corrosion, which can
be associated with a decrease in its binding ability, lower pH in con-
crete porous network solution, as well as with its lower buffering
effect [102]. With respect to fly ash, ternary Portland cements elabo-
rated with activated paper sludge and fly ash are stable against sodi-
um sulfate attack. This enhancement mechanism is explained as a
result of the formation of non-expansive ettringite inside the pores
and an alkaline activation of the pozzolanic reaction of additions
promoted by the ingress of sulfate and secondary related reac-
tions [109]. Cheewaket et al. indicated that fly ash concretes with
water to binder ratio of 0.45 and 15–35 wt.% fly ash replacement ex-
hibited high-quality performance in a marine site [110]. However,
for the case of electric arc furnace slag, Arribas et al. found that
with regard to the exposure of concretes to sea tides, chloride pene-
tration was greater in electrical arc furnace slag aggregate concrete
than that in limestone concrete. Besides, the corrosion of steel
rebar in the reinforced electrical were furnace slag aggregate con-
crete in the tidal seawater environment after a year exposure exhib-
ited greater susceptibility than that in the limestone reference
concrete [24]. Therefore, the optimal type and amount of pozzola-
nic materials should be carefully considered in the marine envi-
ronment.
3) Temperature and humidity: Zaccardi et al. [111] considered that
the influences of ambient temperature and relative humidity
were very important for prospective studies of corroding struc-
tures in marine environment. The relative humidity by itself is
not influencing the corrosion rate because it reflects the water
vapor content. It is the amount of evaporable (liquid) water
which controls the corrosion through the influence in the resis-
tivity [112].
4) Construction defects: Safehian et al. investigated construction
method on the chloride penetration performance in the silica
fume concrete in severe marine environmental conditions and
found that deep crack formation in reinforced concrete structures
due to construction defects might lead to increasing chloride
penetration and consequently not reaching to expected service
life [105].
4. Consideration of durability in concrete structure design
4.1. Coupling effect of mechanical load and environmental factors
In practice, the prediction of the actual service lifetime of new or
existing concrete structures is a global challenge since the concrete
structures not only carry the load but also are exposed to various envi-
ronmental conditions [113,114]. The ocean structure mentioned above
under erosion, chloride diffusion, and sulfate attack simultaneously is
a good example. Therefore, it is more realistic to study the deterioration
mechanism of a concrete structure under the combined effects of me-
chanical loading and a combination of multi environmental factors.
(1) A typical example was illustrated by Lei et al. who explored such
combined effects of environmental chloride concentration, time,
and load on chloride ingress and the mechanism of concentration
distribution. Their results indicated that, with the increase of the
ion concentration in the service environment and with the pas-
sage of time, chlorine ion content in the protective layer of the
concrete went up gradually. They also found that external me-
chanical load can alter the pore structure properties within con-
crete and change distribution of tensile stress in favor of chloride
ion penetration [115].
(2) Sun et al. had conducted experiments on concrete with a combi-
nation of loading, chloride diffusion and freeze–thaw to investi-
gate the combined effect on performance [5]. They noticed that
higher strength concrete usually had a better resistance to the
different stress ratios and freeze–thaw cycles. Moreover, the in-
corporation of air entraining might increase the amount of closed
pores and relax the pressure during the freeze–thaw cycles [5].
(3) Desmettre and Charron investigated the water permeability of
reinforced normal-strength concrete (NSC) and fiber-reinforced
concrete (FRC) simultaneously subjected to tensile cyclic loading.
The experimental results showed that the water permeability
was significantly lower in the FRC than that in the NSC under
 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
Fig. 13. Regularity of concrete structure performance as function time [2].
either constant or cyclic loading [12]. M. K. Rahman et al. studied
the impact of compressive stress-induced damage on chloride
transport in concrete [14]. They found that there was a significant
increase by up to three times in the effective chloride-migration
coefficient due to the damage in concrete. Lim et al. studied the
chloride permeability of concrete under uniaxial compression
and considered that chloride permeability appeared to be associat-
ed with critical stress. When the critical stress was exceeded in a
concrete specimen, a large chloride permeability coefficient was
measured [116].
However, it should be pointed out that such type of research is just in
its initial stage, and more effort has to be made in order to deeply under-
stand the deterioration mechanism under a combination of loading and
environmental factors [4,5]. With the aim to study the durability of con-
crete under combined actions, a RILEM Technical Committee RILEM TC
246-TDC has been set up to make service life design more realistically
[117].
4.2. Loading carrying ability unified service life design philosophy
The traditional design of concrete usually ignores the environmental
factor and only takes the loading-carrying capability of structure into ac-
count. Moreover, the design code considers mechanical properties of
concrete as time-independent parameters [2]. Since 1990s, durability
issue has caused more and more attention and some design code with
consideration of concrete durability has been developed. However, in
these preliminary attempts, the durability of concrete structure is
taken care only by the detailing described in the code such as the
cover thickness of a structure under a certain environmental condition.
Unfortunately, there is no scientific formulation to assess the effect of
each environmental factor. It is imperative that a new design approach
of unified load-carrying capability and durability service life design theory
should be established. Such theory should include two schemes [2]:1) the
quantitative conversion of environmental issues into a design code or
transfer these issues to equivalent mechanical loading; and 2) the dynam-
ic assessment of material properties and structure behavior with service
time [2].
With respect to the first scheme, one straightforward and possible
solution is to build up an explicit method that these environmental
factors can be converted to an equivalent distribution of force or stress.
Fig. 12 demonstrates such conversion: it may be achieved through
thermodynamics, porous media mechanisms or conservative energy
Table 1
Prediction the time of corrosion initiation by various service life models (years) [105].
Exposure Service life models
conditions
CTDRC and DuraPGulf Life-365 Fib2012-M
BHRC
Atmospheric N200 N150 55 NA
Tidal 15 66 15 36
151
principles and provide conveniences for the traditional design formula-
tions based on stress analysis.
For the second scheme, the mechanism of materials and/or structure
degradation with time should be further clarified, which can be resorted
to the experimental study of real structure exposed to various environ-
mental conditions under loading or the virtual computer simulation of
concrete structural behavior under different combinations of loading
and various environmental factors.
Through these studies, the properties and behavior of concrete shall
be able to be described as function of time as shown in Fig. 13. With such
function, the structural performance of concrete at different service pe-
riod can be predicted and incorporated into the design accordingly.
Fig. 13 sketches the regularity of the performance of concrete system
as a function of time.
4.3. Service life prediction based on durability
Apart from durability design theories, many mathematical durability
models have been proposed in order to achieve a reliable prediction of
physical/chemical behaviors of concrete structures during their lifetime
[114]. By utilizing these durability models, prompt cost-effective deci-
sions can be made concerning the appropriate time to maintain existing
structures. There are some durability models available for concrete ser-
vice life prediction, such as Life-365™ service life predication model
from the consortium consisting of the Slag Cement Association (SCA),
the Concrete Corrosion Inhibitors Association (CCIA), National Ready
Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) and the Silica Fume Association
(SFA) [118], DuraPGulf developed by Tehran University [119], LiPred
and Life Prob by Andrade [120]. In addition, artificial intelligence neural
network approach is used in deterministic equations (CTDRC & BHRC
model) proposed by Concrete Technology and Durability Research Cen-
ter and the Building and Housing Research Center [115,121]. Some
mainstream of prediction methods are discussed in detail as:
1) DuraCrete model [122] represents state of the art in the probabilistic
design methodology for service life regarding carbonation initiated
corrosion. It has considered several models among which one is
using concrete resistivity as a decisive factor [122–129], even with
consideration of the propagation phase in the assessed situation
[130]. This model is empirical using concrete resistivity as a decisive
factor. The prediction of the model does not reasonably take the ac-
tual environmental climate into account. In particular, initial model
inputs, i.e., the concrete resistivity parameter and the corrosion pen-
etration needed for the initiation of a crack, have a significant influ-
ence on final model outputs. Therefore, more emphasis must be
further focused on the determination of initial model inputs that
varies with different service environments and concrete proper-
ties [123].
2) Performance-based specifications have recently been also intro-
duced into European standard EN 206-1 through the equivalent per-
formance concept [131]. This concept can be simply applied by
comparing new concrete mixtures with reference mixtures. The
main idea of EN 206-1 is illustrated as: it shall be proven that the
concrete has an equivalent performance especially with respect to
its reaction to environmental actions and to its durability when com-
pared with a reference concrete in accordance with the require-
ments for the relevant exposure class. EN 206-1 is allowed to use a
concrete not formulated as described by the prescriptive approach,
and this concrete needs to present equivalent or similar perfor-
mances with a concrete formulated [132]. It is considered that EN
206-1 is just a concept-based framework and responsibilities of
Average
performance-based specifications should be clearly defined in future
work [133].
3) A modified Fib2012-M model for predicting the service life of rein-
135 forced concrete structures in tidal zones of marine environment
33
was proposed by Safehian et al.[105]. The degree of deterioration
152 S.W. Tang et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 78 (2015) 143–154
in this model was strongly related to the presence and concentration
of chloride ions on the rebar surface [131]. It should be mentioned
that the service life predicted by this model was a value determined
by material characteristics, cover depth, and severity of service
environments.
4) Demis et al. presented a software tool for the estimation of concrete
service life by only considering two concrete deterioration mecha-
nisms: carbonation and chloride ingress [134]. The comparison of
the estimated time of corrosion initiation for investigated structures
from different durability models is shown in Table 1. As can be seen
in Table 1, results cannot achieve a good agreement. The actual ser-
vice life of reinforced concrete in real environment is very difficult to
predict/ model theoretically, as it depends on not only environmental
conditions but also on the heterogeneous nature of cement-based ma-
terials. Therefore, it is important to validate the model by imperative
long-term field study in a particular environmental condition [105,
135].
5. Conclusion
This review has covered the body of literature that pertains to recent
research activities regarding to durability. Based on the works reviewed,
the general consensus is adding optimal type and amount of pozzolanic
materials is a cost-effective approach to improve the durability perfor-
mance to some extent. For the case of steel corrosion, the self-power
steel corrosion monitoring from tiny corrosion energy leads toward a
new horizon of durability assessment. The study of natural green inhib-
itor for steel corrosion also opens a promising research direction in the
near future. With respect to durability design codes, the mainstream
codes or methods have more or less intrinsic drawbacks due to the fail-
ure to comprehensively consider various coupling effects of mechanical
loading and multi environmental impacts. Therefore, it is necessary to
develop a new approach of unified load-carrying capability and durabil-
ity service life design theory for more accurate service life estimate.
Acknowledgment
The support from the Hong Kong Research Grant Council under
grant of 615412 and from the China Ministry of Science and Technology
under grant of 2015CB655104 is gratefully acknowledged. Prof. Yao also
thanks the finical support from National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 51320105016).
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