Durability and simulated ageing of new matrix glass fibre reinforced concrete

This paper applies a model of glass fibre reinforced concrete (grc) degradation, based on the glass technology principle of static fatigue, to a large body of diverse data, some collected from both industry and open literature and some generated by the authors. Activation energies for the strength loss process in OPC and modified matrix grcs are derived and it is shown that the modified matrix grcs degrade by a different mechanism to OPC grc. In consequence, using traditional acceleration factors to predict the long term behaviour of modified matrix grc can lead to severe over-estimation of durability. It is also concluded that hot water ageing is not suitable for polymer modified grc and that ageing at temperatures over 65 °C may lead to the activation of strength loss processes not encountered during natural weathering in some matrices.