This book brings together up to date information from research and practice about the interaction between moisture changes and mechanical loading, which may lead to excessive deflections or joint movements in timber structures. It has important applications in timber engineering, and consequences for national and international structural codes of practice.

This work gives an overview of significant research from recent years concerning performance-based design and quality control for concrete durability and its implementation. In engineering practice, performance approaches are often still used in combination with prescriptive requirements. This is largely because, for most durability test methods, sufficient practical experience still has to be gained before engineers and owners are prepared to fully rely on them. This book, compiled by RILEM TC 230-PSC, is intended to assist efforts to successfully build the foundation for the full implementation of performance-based approaches through the exchange of relevant knowledge and experience between researchers and practitioners worldwide.

Concrete and cement-based materials must operate in increasingly aggressive aqueous environments, which may be either natural or industrial. These materials may suffer degradation in which ion addition and/or ion exchange reactions occur, leading to a breakdown of the matrix microstructure and consequent weakening. Sometimes this degradation can be extremely rapid and serious such as in acidic environments, while in other cases degradation occurs over long periods. Consequences of material failure are usually severe – adversely affecting the health and well-being of human communities and disturbing ecological balances. There are also large direct costs of maintaining and replacing deteriorated infrastructure and indirect costs from loss of production during maintenance work, which place a great burden on society. The focus of this book is on addressing issues concerning performance of cement-based materials in aggressive aqueous environments , by way of this State-of-the-Art Report. The book represents the work of many well-known and respected authors who contributed chapters or parts of chapters. Four main themes were addressed: I. Nature and kinetics of degradation and deterioration mechanisms of cement-based materials in aggressive aqueous environments, II. Modelling of deterioration in such environments, III. Test methods to assess performance of cement-based materials in such environments, and which can be used to characterise and rate relative performance and inform long term predictions, IV. Engineering implications and consequences of deterioration in aggressive aqueous environments, and engineering approaches to the problem.

This authoritative book provides a comprehensive review of the highly important subject of non-destructive evaluation of reinforced concrete structures. Engineers have a range of sophisticated techniques at their disposal to assess the condition of reinforced concrete structures that do not cause material damage and which usually enable the structure to be used while the surveys are carried out. Non-destructive evaluation of the infrastructure also plays a key role in calculating and prioritising where money should be spent on repair or replacement. Providing details of related techniques and case studies, this book offers an overview of how to plan and implement the NDT of reinforced concrete structures.