Experimental investigations on the durability performance of normal concrete and engineered cementitious composite

This paper presents the experimental investigations in studying the durability performance of normal concrete and engineered cementitious composite (ECC) under varying key influencing factors. To this end, direct measurements on sorptivity, water absorption and rapid chloride penetration were undertaken for both normal concrete and ECC; each of which was tested using 67-mm thick sliced cylinder specimens with a diameter of 100 mm. The results from this studies highlight that the inherent low permeability properties in ECC are shown to provide excellent durability performance, in particular to the improvement of sorptivity rate and water absorption which is twice higher than that of normal concrete, indicating the very dense capillary pores microstructure. It is also found that chloride concentration on the surface of ECC is twice lesser than normal concrete, owing to the fact marginal manifestation of the electrical conductance.