2nd International Congress on Durability of Concrete

New Delhi, 04-06 DECEMBER 2014

Date : January 25th, 2014

Contact Author: Alok Bhowmick, bsec.ab@gmail.com

Paper Title: CRUCIAL ISSUES CONFRONTING INDIA IN RESPECT OF

DURABILITY OF CONCRETE.

Abstract

Going back to history, it will be clear that the durability became a major issue of concern globally, in
80’s for concrete structures when serious deteriorations were observed in bridges & structures in cold
countries in Europe, America & UK due to corrosion of reinforcement & prestressing steel. The problem
became more acute for bridge decks due to use of de-icing salts. These countries are facing the ‘epidemic
of concrete deterioration’, primarily resulting from corrosion of embedded rebars.

We are fortunate since 90% of the geographical area of our country (leaving aside the 10% of the coastal
belt & the cold areas of Jammu & Kashmir) do not have any serious problem of chloride induced
corrosion or carbonation as witnessed in the European countries, UK, USA. However, in spite of this
advantage, our structures, built in the recent past, suffer from serious durability problems and they are
found to be in distress well before their expected service life of say 50 years (for buildings) and 100 years
(for bridges & other important structures).

While old concrete structures (like the Gateway of India, Marine Drive, Coronation Bridges in West
Bengal - to cite only a few examples) are in good condition even after a long life span of more than 70-80
years, some new structures constructed recently have shown severe signs of premature deterioration.
There is a need for introspection here.

Durability of concrete therefore is a problem which can be attributed to the following :

a) Service Environment - Aggressive external / internal conditions

b) Poor Material Selection
c) Poor Design & Detailing
d) Lack of Training for site workmans & Supervisors
e) Poor Workmanship at site
f) Outdated Codes and Standards

Durability is closely linked with service life and sustainability. The urgent need to adopt sustainability
approach in concrete design and construction need not be overemphasized. World-over the current trend
is to design concrete structures for longer service life. Unfortunately, our BIS codes do not even specify
service life of structures. Further, considerable work has already been done worldwide in evolving and
using mathematical models in predicting service life of structures and using the same in practice. There is
also a perceptible shift from prescriptive specifications to performance specifications of concrete. India,
being the second largest concrete producing country in the world, need to pick up and adopt many of
these new trends.

The objective of this paper is to flag the critical areas of concern that is confronting the construction
industry in India today in respect of the durability and sustainability of concrete.