DURABILITY DESIGN OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Service life provisions in structural design have long been ignored in our country.Insufficiencies for durability requirements in current design codes for concrete structures are illustrated.To make the design adequate for concrete structures against environmental effects,many factors should be considered including the design service life,the environmental agents that cause concrete and rebars deterioration,selection of materials and mix-proportion for durable concrete,structural details to mitigate and delay the material degradation,quality control in construction as well as predetermined measures for structure maintenance and inspection in service.Service life prediction based on degradation model is also needed for those important infra-structures such as highway bridges and harbors subjected to chlorides attack.