Premature Deterioration of Concrete Structures—Case Study

Use of broken brick chips as aggregate for making concrete is quite common in countries where natural stones are in short supply. Lack of specification coupled with the absence of a proper quality-control mechanism frequently leads to the use of cheaper and easily available brick chips as coarse aggregate. The high water-absorption capacity of concrete made from such aggregate increases the vulnerability of reinforcement corrosion, and the durability of the structure is impaired. Moreover, the bricks in the coastal region made of locally available soil are likely to contain salt in themselves, and the brick aggregates thus obtained have a higher chloride content. This increases the vulnerability to corrosion in the embedded reinforcement. An investigation into the causes of premature deterioration of a building structure is presented as a case study. An assessment involving laboratory and field investigations has been carried out to identify the causes of deterioration and make a decision regarding an appropriate repair scheme to be undertaken.