Title: Japan's experiences and standards on the durability problems of reinforced concrete structures

Authors: Fuminori Tomosawa

Addresses: Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, 1-2-1, Izumi-cho, Narashino-shi, Chiba-ken, 275-8575 Japan

Abstract: Since the period of high economic growth from the 1960s to 1970s, numerous concrete structures have been built in Japan, but consideration to their durability has not always been sufficient. This has posed a number of deterioration problems since the 1980s, some of which still linger. These problems were then significantly rectified thanks to active research for countermeasures in the 1980s that led to the inclusion of durability objectives and various measures to ensure durability in design and construction standards. Efforts are being made to enhance the design and construction standards into performance oriented systems, but there remain a number of issues to be solved.

Keywords: durability design; carbonation; chloride induced corrosion; alkali-silica reaction; ASR; frost attack; durability standardisation; reinforced concrete structures; Japan; design standards; construction standards.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTRUCTE.2009.030022

International Journal of Structural Engineering, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.1 - 12

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

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