A site study of durability indexes for concrete in marine conditions

The paper describes an investigation into the validity of durability index tests when used in a site situation and to evaluate the effectiveness of site curing methods. Concretes manufactured and cured under site conditions in a warm, humid coastal environment were investigated using recently developed durability index tests.Three blended binders (GGBS, FA and CSF) were used to cast a series of wall and slab elements. The elements were cured using practical site methods currently employed in the industry. Cores were extracted at early (28-day) and later (120-day) ages and used to determine the durability index properties.The results indicated that it is possible to manufacture, place and cure site concrete to achieve acceptable durability properties. Full wet curing proved to be the most effective method, as expected. While variation in potential durability properties existed at early age (28 days) between site and wet cured samples, at a later age (120 days) the variations had reduced such that, in practical and general terms, the different site curing methods were virtually indistinguishable. It was clear that environmental curing continues after 28 days provided climatic conditions are conducive for this to occur. Thus, on-going environmental curing largely governs the potential durability. To develop a concrete durability performance specification, it is imperative that a system is developed to quantify the effects of the environment on potential durability.