Durability of Advanced Cement and Concrete Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Concrete, with a yearly consumption of more than 25 billion tons, is the most used construction material in the world. Durability is one of the most important aspects of cementitious composites and concrete materials due to its fundamental impact on the serviceability of concrete structures. Concrete is a multiple-phased material, and it will always have the propensity to crack over time. The presence of cracks facilitates the exposure of the concrete microstructure to destructive substances such as moisture, chloride, and sulfates, which can seriously degrade the service life of the structures. Therefore, increasing the longevity and reducing the further need for in situ repair and maintenance of concrete infrastructures has resulted in growing attention to the development of advanced cement-based materials with enhanced durability performances.

Although the durability properties of conventional cement and concrete materials have been extensively explored, many questions remain about the durability aspects of novel concrete materials. This Special Issue aims to disseminate and publish the latest studies on the durability of advanced cement and concrete materials. I am pleased to invite you to contribute your original research papers as well as review papers to this Special Issue, which deals with topics of interest including, but are not limited to, the following:

• Methodologies to design and characterize durable cement-based materials;
• Durability of novel concrete materials with innovative binders (e.g., Calcium sulfoaluminate cements, alkali-activated binders, supersulfated cements, limestone calcined clay cements, etc.);
• Durability of advanced concrete materials such as self-healing concrete, fiber-reinforced concrete, engineering cementitious composites, etc.;
• Durability investigations of cement and concrete materials (e.g., corrosion, carbonation, freeze–thaw, mass scaling, alkali–silica reaction, sulfate and acid resistance, etc.);
• Non-destructive evaluations of concrete structures;
• Application of sensors for remote durability assessment.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Vahid Afroughsabet
Guest Editor

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