Accelerated testing for chloride threshold of reinforcing steel in concrete

Testing for the chloride threshold (also called critical chloride content) for corrosion initiation of steel in concrete has been found difficult and, at best, time consuming. Nevertheless, the chloride threshold is an important parameter in service life design of new structures and for evaluation of the remaining service life of existing...

Towards greener concrete: The challenges of SUS-CON project

Portland cement production is an energy-intensive process responsible for a significant share of the total CO2 production. Its replacement with low carbon binders from by-products of industrial processes is a sustainable alternative for innovative construction materials. In addition, the combination of low carbon binders with recycled aggregates...

Development of a smart key performance indicator for in-situ load tests

In-situ load testing of reinforced concrete (RC) structures is often performed to confirm the presence of the required resistance for the intended use (Conformity Load Testing) or to support the assessments of the residual capacity by models (Supplementary Load Testing for Condition Assessment). When performing an in-situ load test, one of the...

Quantification of the uncertainty of shear strength models using Bayesian Inference

Different analytical models exist to predict the shear strength of reinforced concrete members. Generally, each of these shear strength models consists of a formulation based on certain underlying theory and fitted model coefficients. The model fitting parameters are usually established from the comparison with test data. Hence, the predictive...

A proposal for determining the remaining time to chloride induced corrosion initiation of existing reinforced concrete structures

Asset managers would benefit from knowing when to expect corrosion initiation in a particular reinforced concrete structure. However, accepted approaches to test existing structures for the remaining time to corrosion initiation are lacking. This paper proposes such an approach, based on experience in the field and additional considerations....

Application of rational methods for the selection of the most plausible FE models in structural analysis

The accuracy of predictions of structural behavior by finite element analysis strongly depends on the formulation of the numerical model. Depending on the problem at hand, the analyst has to make a number of choices, which influence the numerical results to a greater or lesser extent. For complex cases, e.g. existing reinforced concrete...

Effects of soil-structure in high-rise buildings by means of dimensionless analysis and a simplified model

In this paper simplified expressions for assessing fundamental frequency and modal damping of high-rise buildings taking into account the soil-structure interaction (SSI) are proposed. To this end, several steps have been followed. First, a 3DoF model is formulated making use of dimensionless parameters. Second, the 3DoF model is simplified into...

Simple to advanced Finite element shape modelling with DIANA

Finite element analysis (FEA) can be used to design structures. Methods for linear and nonlinear FEA are applied to all kinds of geometries. A simplified geometry structure, or basic element type, sometimes does take into account all the necessary effects for the design purposes. In other analyses more advanced modelling is absolutely necessary....

Chloride ingress of carbonated blast furnace slag cement mortars

In the Netherlands civil engineering structures, such as overpasses, bridges and tunnels are generally built using blast furnace slag cement (BFSC, CEM III/B) concrete, because of its high resistance against chloride penetration. Although the Dutch experience regarding durability performance of BFSC concrete has been remarkably good, its...