Concrete: Case Studies in Conservation Practice

摘要

This opinion expressed 115 years ago by C. F. Marsh in his book Reinforced Concrete' is equally startling today for its ill-informed optimism - coming already some forty years after reinforced concrete had begun to be systematically developed in Europe - as for its endurance, a half century before any scientific appreciation of the phenomenon of carbonation and its deleterious effects on ageing concrete structures started to penetrate the building industry. Over a century later, we are still getting to grips with the pathology and repair responsibilities of this ubiquitous material upon which the world is so utterly dependent. There has been an abundance of literature on the subject of reinforced concrete over the intervening period, but much of this could be classified as either engineering-led textbook material, or various forms of promotional publication promulgated by the cement product industry, patent holders, trade associations and technical agencies.