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Chinese code for durability design of concrete

structures: A state-of-art report

Conference Paper November 2008

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CHINESE CODE FOR DURABILITY DESIGN OF CONCRETE
STRUCTURES: A STATE-OF-ART REPORT
Kefei LI *(1), Chunsheng ZHOU (1) and Zhaoyuan CHEN (1)

(1) Key Laboratory of Structural Engineering and Vibration of China Education Ministry,
Civil Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Abstract
On the basis of the final draft of Chinese national durability design code for concrete
structures, this paper reviews extensively the fundamental concepts, design approach and
minimum requirements for durability design. Firstly, the environmental action, durability
limit state (DLS) and service life are introduced as the fundamental concepts for the code
drafting. With specific climate and environmental conditions in China, the environmental
actions are classified into five categories and six intensity degrees. Globally a deemed-to-
satisfy approach is adopted in this design code with appropriate consideration given to model-
based analysis. For corrosive environments, including atmospheric and chloride environments,
the classification of environmental actions is refined in detail on the basis of the involved
mechanisms of deterioration processes. Then, the minimum requirements of durability design
are formulated on concrete raw materials, concrete curing, crack control and environment-
based durability indexes. Remarks are provided in the end for the remaining questions for
durability design.

Keywords: Durability, Design code, Environmental action, Service life, Durability limit state

1. INTRODUCTION
The durability problems of concrete structures originate from the environmental actions of
aggressive agents; they can cause premature material deterioration, impair structural service
performance and, in extreme cases, induce the structural failure. The common durability
phenomena have been relatively well defined, including steel corrosion by concrete cover
carbonation, steel corrosion by chloride penetration, concrete damage by freeze-thaw cycles
in cold climates, concrete scaling by salt crystallization in dry climates, long-term leaching of
concrete solid phase by soft water as well as chemical attack of concrete by acid rain or

*
Contact person for the paper: Civil Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P.R.
China, E-mail: likefei@tsinghua.edu.cn, Tel/Fax: +86-10-62 79 74 22.

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aggressive ions in ground water and soil [1,2]. Some concrete internal swelling chemical
reactions, as alkali-aggregate reaction and internal sulphate reaction, although not necessarily
induced by external environmental agents, are also referred to as durability phenomena.
Moreover, the concrete damage due to surface mechanical wearing is also considered as
durability problems [2,3]. Considerable efforts of laboratory research and field investigations
have been dedicated to capture the deterioration mechanisms and damage effects of these
durability-related phenomena while the acquired knowledge is far from complete. Among
these phenomena, the steel corrosion process is relatively better understood with identified
mechanisms, proposed mathematical models and established monitoring and prevention
techniques [4]. However, for other processes we are not yet at this stage. It is in this
background that the durability design for concrete structures is to be performed.
Since 1980s' China has undergone one of the vastest concrete infrastructure construction in
the world, which can be testified by its cement consumption of 1.06 billion tons in 2005
approaching 50% of the global cement production. However, recent investigations reveal an
alarming situation of service conditions of the concrete infrastructures [5]. Thus for the
concrete structures yet to be constructed, ameliorating their durability has a both technical and
economical significance. Since concrete practice standard as ACI manual in US or EN206 in
Europe is not yet available in China, it is thus necessary to create separately a concrete
durability design code giving both material and structural requirements. Based on the
accomplished standard CCES01-2004 [6], a national code on durability design of concrete
structures is expected for concrete infrastructure in all sectors. In the following, the authors
review the fundamental concepts in the code, and then detail the environmental classification
and durability requirements for atmospheric environment and chloride environments.

2. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
The code defines the term durability as the ability of a concrete structure to maintain its
service performance under environmental actions during its expected service life. Three basic
concepts of durability design are present: environmental action describes the external
solicitation, the expected service life defines the valid duration and the service performance to
be maintained is the reference limit state.

2.1 Environmental action

The environmental action is imposed on structural concrete by external agents in
environment. In accordance with the state-of-art knowledge of concrete durability, the code
takes into account the following processes: the carbonation-induced and chloride-induced
corrosion of reinforcement steel in concrete, concrete damage by freeze-thaw cycles, concrete
scaling by salt crystallization, concrete degradation by chemicals in ground water, soil and
polluted atmosphere. Accordingly, the environmental actions are classified by the concrete
deterioration mechanisms in Table 1. The code grades the intensity of all the environmental
actions from A to F with A standing for the slightest action intensity and F the most severe
one. In the following the environmental class refers to both the action type and its intensity.
The durability requirements are then to be formulated on the basis of this classification. One
should be cautious about the same intensity for different environment types, for example I-C
and III-C. Their action intensities just roughly correspond one to another and can have
different environment-based requirements.

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Table 1: Classification of environmental action type and intensity
Class Environment Intensity Deterioration process
I Atmospheric A,B,C Corrosion of embedded steel in concrete by carbonation
II Freeze-thaw C,D,E Concrete damage by freezing in cold climate
Corrosion of embedded steel in concrete by chloride
III Marine C,D,E,F
penetration
IV Deicing salts C,D,E same as above
Concrete deterioration by aggressive agents in soil and
V Chemicals C,D,E
ground water and other environmental chemicals

2.2 Durability limit state

The durability limit state (DLS) defines the acceptable deterioration extent of structural
concrete subject to environmental actions. The code attributes these limit states, together with
deformation, crack and fatigue control, to the serviceability limit state (SLS). Three DLS are
defined: (1) Corrosion initiation of embedded rebars in concrete, (2) Corrosion of rebars to an
acceptable extent and (3) Concrete damage to an acceptable extent. These three DLS are
detailed in Table 2 for the design application and the concerned environmental classes.

Table 2: Durability limit states (DLS) defined for different environmental classes
DLS Environments Design cases
(1) I,III,IV Prestress tendons, cold-working rebars, rebars with diameter <6mm
(2) I,III,IV Reinforcement steel, other metals embedded in concrete
(3) II, V Plain concrete, surface of reinforced concrete

2.3 Service life

The service lives are prescribed for three categories of civil structures: at least 100 years
for symbolic, monumental buildings, large-scale public establishments, large-span or tall
buildings, large-scale municipal bridges, viaducts and large-scale municipal construction; at
least 50 years for residential buildings, medium and small public establishments, medium and
short-span bridges, normal municipal constructions and large-scale industrial constructions; at
least 30 years for temporary buildings and industrial constructions.

3. DURABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT

3.1 Action classification

In atmospheric environment the durability design aims to avoid the carbonation-induced
corrosion of steel embedded in concrete. The corrosion process is composed of concrete
carbonation and the subsequent steel corrosion. Apart from the intrinsic chemical composition
of cement, the concrete carbonation process is substantially influenced by the concrete
internal humidity. It is shown that there exists an optimal humidity, near 60%, for CO2
transport in pores and the carbonation reaction between the dissolved CO2 and the portlandite

Page 3
Ca(OH)2 in pore solution. However, for the subsequent corrosion process, low humidity
makes concrete electrically very resistant and extremely high humidity drives out the oxygen
necessary for electrochemical process, the optimal humidity approaching 95% [4].
Accordingly the most favourable condition for the corrosion is exposure to drying-wetting
cycles under which both carbonation and corrosion processes can develop easily. The action
intensity of atmospheric environment is thus defined by humidity conditions, in particular the
exposure to drying-wetting cycles. The action intensity of atmospheric environment is divided
into I-A, I-B and I-C with the detailed exposure conditions and the corresponding typical
design cases defined in Table 3. For comparison, the equivalent classification of EuroCode2
(EN206) [7], if existed, is also noted. The minimum requirements for durability design are
formulated on the basis of structure exposure condition and its expected service life.

Table 3: Action classification for atmospheric environment

Class Exposure condition Design case EuroCode2
Indoor, dry Indoor members exposed constantly to XC0,XC1
relative humidity <60%
I-A
Immersion in water Foundation immerged permanently in XC1
water
Constantly humid Members buried in humid soil XC2
Outdoor without drying- Exposed but sheltered outdoor members none
I-B wetting cycles
Indoor, humid without Indoor members exposed to relative XC3
drying-wetting cycle humidity >60%
Unsheltered outdoor members exposed to XC4
I-C Drying-wetting cycles
rain

3.2 Durability requirements

The requirements include raw material constituents (content and composition), curing
condition as well as material performance. For raw material constituents, the code imposes
limitation on cement type, cementitious materials content in concrete mixing, composition,
water to binder ratio. The requirements for a service life of 50 years are summarized in Table
4 and the cement types are noted in accordance with Chinese cement standards [8,9,10]. In
Table 4, the content of fly ash in cementitious material is noted by f and the content of slag
by s. For concrete curing, a minimum wet curing period of 3 days and an accomplished
strength of 50% of 28 day strength are required for construction practice. For crack control,
maximum opening widths of 0.4mm, 0.3mm and 0.2mm are prescribed respectively for I-A,
I-B and I-C exposure classes.

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Table 4: Minimum requirements for atmospheric environment for service life 50 years
Cementitious materials w/b Strength Cover
Class (-) (MPa) (mm)
Content Cement type Composition
(kg/m3)
260 PO,PI,PII 0.60 C25 20
I-A (Dry) 280 PO,PI,PII, f/0.2+s/0.3< 1 0.55 C30 15
SP,FP,CP
260 PO,PI,PII f/0.2+s/0.3< 1 0.60 C25 20
I-A(immersion) 280 PO,PI,PII, 0.55 C30 15
f/0.5+s/0.7< 1
SP,FP,CP
280 PO,PI,PII 0.55 C30 15
I-B (Constantly
300 PO,PI,PII, f/0.5+s/0.7< 1 0.50 C35 15
humid)
SP,FP,CP
I-B(humid, 280 PO,PI,PII f/0.15+s/0.25<1 0.55 C30 20
outdoor) 300 SP,FP,CP f/0.2+s/0.3< 1 0.50 C35 15
300 f/0.2+s/0.3< 1 0.50 C35 30
I-C 320 PO,PI,PII f/0.25+s/0.4< 1 0.45 C40 25
340 f/0.3+s/0.5< 1 0.40 C45 20

4. DURABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR CHLORIDE ENVIRONMENTS

4.1 Action classification

Chloride environments include marine, de-icing and other salts environments. Avoiding
chloride-induced corrosion is the objective of durability design in chloride environments. The
corrosion process includes two major phases: the progressive transport of external chloride to
the steel surface and the initiation of corrosion reaction. For a specific concrete, the chloride
transport process is mainly influenced by the external chloride concentration and concrete
humidity while the corrosion extent of steel is dictated by the availability of oxygen, water
and concrete electrical resistance. The drying-wetting is the most favourable climate condition
for both external chloride transport and corrosion reaction.
Following this reasoning, the action intensity of marine environment is divided into III-C,
D, E, F with the detailed exposure conditions and design cases given in Table 5. The
environmental action of de-icing and other salts is graded into IV-C, D, E and detailed in
Table 6. The equivalent environmental classification of EuroCode2 (EN206) is also given. It
is observed in Table 5 that, unlike EuroCode2, Chinese code attributes a higher class for air
borne salt exposure than for permanent immersion condition. This classification is based on
the field investigations on steel corrosion in marine concrete structures in China and rarely the
steel corrosion was observed for reinforcement in complete immersion condition. For de-icing

Page 5
and other salts, the code takes into account the ground water containing chloride and its
possible degradation effects on concrete structures.

Table 5: Action classification for marine environment

Class Exposure condition Design case EuroCode2
III-C Immersion in sea water Bridge pier permanently in sea water, 1- XS2
1.5m under lowest water level
III-D Slight air borne salt Members situated at 100-300m from the XS1
coast line or 15m above the sea level
Heavy salty frog Members situated under 15 m above the XS1
sea level or <100 m from the coast line
III-E Tidal, splash zones in Members exposed to the tidal and splash XS3
mild climate zones of sea water, or within 1.5 m under
the lowest water level in a mild climate
III-F Tidal, splash zones in Members exposed to the tidal and splash XS3
hot climate zones of sea water, or within 1.5 m under
the lowest water level in a hot climate

Table 6: Action classification for de-icing and other salt environments

Class Exposure condition Design case EuroCode2
Slight de-icing frog Members at >100m away from traffic XD1
Immersion in chloride Foundation and basement under XD2
water permanent ground water level
IV-C
Water with low Members exposed to transitional zone of none
chloride content and ground water with Cl- concentration
drying-wetting cycles between 100-500 mg/l
De-icing salt spray Viaduct retaining walls and piers XD3
IV-D Water with medium Members exposed to transitional zone of none
chloride content and ground water with Cl- concentration
drying-wetting cycles between 500-5000 mg/l
Direct contact with de- Bridge decks XD3
icing salt solution
Heavy spray of de- Bridge barriers, viaduct piers, members XD3
IV-E icing salt situated within 10m from traffic
Water with high Members exposed to transitional zone of XD3
chloride content and ground water with Cl- concentration
drying-wetting cycles >5000 mg/l

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4.2 Durability requirements
The limitation on initial chloride content in concrete is specific to the chloride environment.
The chloride content is defined as the mass ratio between the chloride and cementitious
materials in concrete. The initial chloride content is limited to 0.1% for reinforced concrete
and 0.06% for prestressed concrete. For concrete curing, the code imposes a minimum wet
curing period of 7 days and a minimum achieved strength of 70% of standard 28 day strength.
Moreover, it is recommended to retard the first exposure of concrete to salts. For concrete
performance, the code chooses the standard cube strength at 28 days and the chloride
diffusion coefficient DRCM based on the rapid chloride migration (RCM) test [11]. At
structural level, the concrete cover and crack control are specified. The detailed requirements
are given in Table 7 for a service life of 50 years and maximum opening widths of 0.2mm,
0.2mm, 0.15mm and 0.10mm are prescribed respectively for III, IV-C, III,IV-D, III,IV-E and
III-F exposure classes.

Table 7: Minimum requirements for reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete (PC)
in marine and de-icing salts environment for service life 50 years
Cementitious materials DRCM
Cl w/b Strength Cover
Class Content Cement Composition 10 -12
(%) (-) (MPa) (mm)
(kg/m3) type (m2/s)
III,IV-C 300 - 0.50 C35 35
III,IV-D 320 < 10 0.45 C40 45
0.5 0.1
340 PO,PI, (RC) <6 0.40 C45 50
III,IV-E f/0.5+s/0.8
360 PII 0.06 <6 0.36 C50 45
1 (PC)
360 <6 0.36 C50 45
III-F
380 <6 0.36 C50 45

5. FINAL REMARKS
In this paper, the Chinese code is reviewed extensively for its concepts and durability
requirements according to our acquired durability knowledge. Nevertheless, it is expected
that further research and field investigations could contribute to the answer of the following
points:
1. Crack control under environmental actions. It is believed that cracked concrete has less
resistance against the external mass penetration, thus has a low level durability performance.
Accordingly, it is reasonable to impose a stricter limitation on the crack width during the
service life of concrete structure. However, this point of view is highly challenged for load-
induced cracking. Our in field observations show that the corrosion at the bottom of flexion
cracks is seldom developed to an important extent and the cracks parallel to reinforcement
steel bars due to concrete early age shrinkage can actually accelerate the corrosion process. If
that is true, does it make a sense for durability design to limit the load-induced crack width?
2. Durability index. The code incorporates durability indexes for freeze-thaw, marine and
de-icing salts environments, and imposes quantitative limitation on these durability indices as

Page 7
 a part of requirements. This approach is rather radical since it is still highly debated to what
extent the durability index based on accelerated laboratory tests can tell the in field
performance of structural concrete under real environmental actions. This question can be
posed for all durability-related processes. A basic reasoning is that, as long as the
deterioration mechanisms involved in laboratory test and in service remain the same, the
durability index can be representative for material behaviour in place. But, to what extent can
we rely on the durability index to predict the in field performance for structural concrete?
3. Durability limit state. The code attributes durability limit states to the service limit state
of concrete structure design, which holds for most durability-related deterioration processes.
However, this point of view can not be easily defended for prestressed tendons. Due to their
high service stress level, prestressed tendons are more sensitive to corrosion and the resulted
failure can be abrupt leaving very little safety reservation for structure. Besides further
research on the corrosion process of high stress level tendons, an appropriate design approach
is expected for this environment-induced durability and safety coupled problem.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research is partially supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC),
Project No.50538060. All the drafting team members are acknowledged for their contribution
to the technical writing and their comments.

REFERENCES
[1] Neville, A.M., 'Properties of concrete', 4th Edn (Pearson Education, Harlow, 1995).
[2] Mehta, P.K. and Monteiro, P.J.M., 'Concrete microstructure, properties and materials', 3rd Edn
(McGraw-Hill, New York, 2006).
[3] American Concrete Institute Committee 201, 'Guide to durable concrete (ACI 201.2R-01)'(ACI,
Farmington Hills, 2001).
[4] Bohni, H., 'Corrosion in reinforced concrete structures' (Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge, 2005).
[5] Chen, Z.Y., 'Safety and durability: state-of-art, problems and preventions', in 'Committee report
on safety and durability of engineering structures', Chinese Academy of Engineering (Chinese
Building Industry Press, Beijing, 2004) 225-266.
[6] Chinese Civil Engineering Society, 'Guide to durability design and construction of concrete
structures (CCES01-2004) ', 2005 Edn (Chinese Building Industrial Press, Beijing, 2005).
[7] European Committee for Standardization, 'Concrete - Part 1: Specification, performance,
production and conformity (European standard EN206-1) ' (CEN, Brussels, 2000).
[8] Chinese Cement Standard, 'Standard for ordinary portland cement (GB175-1999)' (Chinese
Standard Press, Beijing, 1999).
[9] Chinese Cement Standard, 'Standard for composite portland cement (GB12958-1999)' (Chinese
Standard Press, Beijing, 1999).
[10] Chinese Cement Standard, 'Standard for Portland-slag, portand-pozzolana and portand-fly ash
cement (GB1344-1999)' (Chinese Standard Press, Beijing, 1999).
[11] NT BUILD 355, 'Concrete, mortar and cement based materials - Chloride diffusion coefficient
from migration cell experiments' (Nordtest, Oslo, 1997).

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