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Durability

What is the meaning of durability in construction?

Durability is the ability of construction materials and structures to remain functional withstanding environmental stresses and degradation over time, thus influencing their longevity and maintenance needs. Durable structures require less frequent repairs leading to a reduction of maintenance costs.This aspect of civil engineering is critical for ensuring the structural integrity and sustainability of buildings and infrastructure.

Why is durability important in civil engineering?

  • Public safety: Civil infrastructure is exposed to a range of environmental stresses and durability helps to withstand expected loads and environmental conditions over time. Without adequate durability, structures can deteriorate prematurely, leading to potential structural failures, posing significant threats to public safety.
  • Cost effectiveness: Durability means less repair work, less maintenance, and a prolonged period of service. If it is necessary to repair or renovate deteriorated structures, such actions also require large expenses, particularly repairing concrete cracks or steel corrosion.
  • Environmental impact: Durable structures lead to a significant reduction in the consumption of raw materials. It also reduces the generation of waste, reducing the burden of landfills. Long lasting structures also minimize soil erosion, water pollution and destruction of vegetation.

Factors affecting durability in civil engineering

  • Material properties: Understanding the construction materials, such as concrete, steel, and polymers is significant. They have predisposed characteristics like strength, stiffness, and fracture behavior that determine their durability. Materials with high compressive strength, like concrete, are more durable against heavy loads, while those with lower tensile strength may require additional reinforcement to maintain structural integrity.
  • Environmental exposure: Durability is also influenced by environmental factors like moisture, temperature variations, and chemical exposure. Materials such as steel and concrete must be able to endure corrosion, and weathering, for ensuring longevity and integrity of infrastructures. For instance, structures that are built in areas affected by high condensation, extreme heat, low temperatures or even salt contain challenging components that make them very hard to preserve.
  • Load conditions: Sustained heavy loads lead to cumulative stress and cracking, while dynamic loads can cause material deformation over time. Different structural members are subjected to various kinds of loads like imposed load due to occupants and vehicles as well as environmental loads such as wind, water, and earthquakes.
  • Construction techniques: Skilled construction practices, such as proper curing of concrete, correct reinforcement placement, and quality control, significantly enhance durability. Poor construction techniques can shorten the lifespan of even the best-designed projects by causing the weaknesses like excessive porosity and inadequate bonding.

Materials that enhance durability in construction

  • High-performance concrete (HPC): High-performance concrete is a pivotal solution manufactured to offer strength, workability and resistance to climatic conditions by mitigating corrosion, cracking and wear, making it highly effective for structural durability. Additives are mixed in the low water cement ratios to enhance its strength and durability, making it suitable for use in structures where service life is a critical factor. HPC’S reduced porosity and enhanced air-void structure make it more resistant to freeze-thaw cycles.
  • Reinforcing steel: In concrete structures, steel enables the compression-resisting abilities of concrete to be matched with tensile capabilities which the concrete cannot provide on its own. This reinforcement enables the structures to bear loads and mitigates the rate of deterioration.
  • Geosynthetics: Geosynthetics, including geotextiles, geogrids, and geomembranes serve several purposes in ground improvement, soil erosion control, or even filtration. In most cases, they are inserted in pavements, earth fills, and retention services to improve the strength of these facilities by restricting ground movement and directing water movements.
  • Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP): FRP is widely known for its resistance to corrosion, unlike traditional materials like steel. Reinforced polymer materials are most useful in the renovation of an aged construction such as a bridge or restoration of an old building as common building materials fail.

Design strategies for enhancing durability in civil engineering

  • Protective coatings: Surface coating application such as waterproofing on concrete surfaces helps to combat incidents like soil erosion, corrosion and chemical penetration.
  • Optimized structural design: Structural layout that is deliberate in nature will minimize the concentration of loads to a small area. This increases the lifespan of the building, because there will be fewer tendencies for cracks or deformation.
  • Adequate drainage systems: One of the leading factors of building failure is water. An appropriate drainage system in the building to control unwanted water within the foundations, walls and other critical sections of the building structure is very important for the building’s durability.
  • Thermal expansion joints: Concrete, metal and other building materials shrink and expand with changing temperatures. To help structures take such changes without limits thus preventing cracking.

Durability in construction does not mean constructing something that does not fall apart – it’s about constructing something that with time and expense utilizes and protects people. For a given project that is built to withstand and endure, all principles of management order and their respective implementation must address the issue of durability. At Strata Global, we know that an approach based on long-lasting solutions is beneficial for any given project as well as for the construction of a better world.

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Harold W. Hill, Jr

Director, President – Glen Raven Technical Fabrics

Strata/Glen Raven tenure: 10 years/28 years
Total industry experience: 35 years


MBA – Wake Forest University

 

Directs the strategic direction of Glen Raven’s automotive, protective apparel, military, geogrid, outdoor and logistic businesses.

J. Craig Bell

Director, General Manager, Strata Inc.

Strata/Strata Inc. tenure: 3 years/14 years
Total industry experience: 25 years


MBA – Georgia State University

 

Led the integration of Strata Inc. business operations into the headquarters of GRTF and transition from USA based to India based manufacturing.

Ashok Bhawnani

Director

Strata tenure: 17 years
Total industry experience: 47 years

CA – ICA

 

Played a key role in the establishment of Strata’s India operations. Provides vision for product innovation and leveraging new technology trends.

Phil McGoldrick

Global Technical Sales Director

Strata tenure: 7 years
Total industry experience: 32 years


Civil & Geotechnical Engineer (First class)


Provides highly technical and innovative civil engineering solutions in India and around the world. Responsible for the design and execution of large-scale geotechnical projects around the world including Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and South America.

Shahrokh Bagli

CTO – Chief Technology Officer

Strata tenure: 9 years
Total industry experience: 48 years


BTech (Hons), MTech (Civil) Both IIT Bombay, DMS (Bombay University), FIE, FIGS, Chartered Engineer

 

Streamlines the designs of Geosynthetics and has brought innovation in geogrid and geocell design application.

Mujib Katrawala

COO – Projects and Sales

Strata tenure: 13 years
Total industry experience: 24 years


MBA – University of Gujarat

 

Leads the monetization of products and solutions while ensuring highest execution quality and project profitability.

Chandrashekhar Kanade

COO – Technical Textiles

Strata tenure: 13 years
Total industry experience: 33 years


BE (Mechanical) – Nagpur University

 

Drives excellence in process design, product features and cost effectiveness in production.

Govind Keswani

CFO – Chief Financial Officer

Strata tenure: 8 years
Total industry experience: 35 years


CA – ICA, ICWA – ICWAI

 

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Gautam Dalmia

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Strata tenure: 10 years
Total industry experience: 13 years


MBA – ISB, Hyderabad

 

Leads diversification of the product portfolio, monetizing the new products and ensuring successful sustained financial growth of the company top line.

Narendra Dalmia

CEO – Chief Executive Officer

Strata tenure: 14 years
Total industry experience: 42 years


B Tech (Chemical) – IIT Delhi

 

Leads day-to-day business operations of the company with focus on capacity expansion, product and process improvement.

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