Development of conformity criteria for diffusion coefficients of concrete and their influence on the service life of reinforced concrete structures

Conformity control is often applied on concrete compressive strengthin order to safeguard the quality of produced concrete lots. Conformity criteriaare mostly characterized by an operating characteristic curve, indicating theprobability of acceptance in relation to a concrete lot with a specific quality. Byapplying this conformity control, certain lots of concrete are accepted and othersare rejected. This induces a filtering effect, leading to an effect on the failureprobability as a result of the quantitative quality control process.For durability criteria, often limiting bounds for durability related propertiesare proposed. Specifying conformity criteria for example to the diffusion coefficientof the concrete can enable to safeguard the quality of concrete products inrelation to durability properties. Also this type of conformity control has a filteringeffect, i.e. on the distribution of the diffusion coefficient, resulting in a lowermean value and standard deviation, influencing consequently the service life. Thispaper investigates for the first time the effect of conformity criteria for diffusioncoefficients as well their effect on the service life of concrete elements.Conformity control is often applied on concrete compressive strengthin order to safeguard the quality of produced concrete lots. Conformity criteriaare mostly characterized by an operating characteristic curve, indicating theprobability of acceptance in relation to a concrete lot with a specific quality. Byapplying this conformity control, certain lots of concrete are accepted and othersare rejected. This induces a filtering effect, leading to an effect on the failureprobability as a result of the quantitative quality control process.For durability criteria, often limiting bounds for durability related propertiesare proposed. Specifying conformity criteria for example to the diffusion coefficientof the concrete can enable to safeguard the quality of concrete products inrelation to durability properties. Also this type of conformity control has a filteringeffect, i.e. on the distribution of the diffusion coefficient, resulting in a lowermean value and standard deviation, influencing consequently the service life. Thispaper investigates for the first time the effect of conformity criteria for diffusioncoefficients as well their effect on the service life of concrete elements.C