Carbonation of concrete structures in hot dry coastal regions

This paper reports the results of a condition survey of 50 concrete buildings undertaken in the State of Kuwait. Concrete cores were extracted from walls and columns of these buildings and their density, compressive strength and depth of carbonation were evaluated. The buildings surveyed in the hot dry salty environment carbonated, on average, a little more than 1 mm per year. The coastal buildings, however, carbonated at a higher rate than the near-coastal and inland buildings. The results of this survey have furnished realistic values of a constant to predict the depth of carbonation of structures built with differing strength grades of concrete in a severe environment like Kuwait. The paper recommends that concrete structures located in hot dry coastal regions should be built with a compressive strength, at least in the range of 30-50 MPa, in order to avoid premature durability problems.