Durability design strategies for new cementitious materials

• Performance-based durability concepts are required for new cementitious composites.
• The concepts require a deterioration model and an uncertainty model.
• Empirical deterioration and fuzzy-probabilistic uncertainty models are best suited.
• Such a durability concept for SHCC exposed to chlorides is introduced.
• This concept may serve as a template for other new materials and exposures.

In order to fully utilise the advantageous durability properties of new high-performance cementitious composites performance-based durability concepts are required. Following an introduction of available durability design philosophies, this paper introduces a framework for these durability concepts. At the heart of this framework is the choice of an appropriate combination of models for the relevant deterioration processes and the uncertainty associated with these models and their input variables. It is shown that a fuzzy-probabilistic uncertainty model combined with an empirical deterioration model provides the best balance between user-friendliness and accuracy. As an example, such a durability concept for strain-hardening cement-based composites (SHCCs) exposed to chlorides is briefly introduced. This concept is considered a first significant step towards a comprehensive durability design framework for SHCC and may serve as a template for other new cementitious materials.