Overview of Concrete Ingredients, Concrete Mixes and Durability Requirements in Arabian Peninsula

Brijesh Pruthvikumar- Technical Manager, Galfar Aspire Readymix LLC, Oman

The Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula usually has either a tropical or subtropical arid desert climate or arid steppe climate. Arabian Desert - the great desert region in the extreme southwestern Asia - occupies almost the entire Arabian Peninsula.

Hot, Dry, Humid and Salty environments are detrimental to concrete. Owing to such aggressive weather conditions, development of plastic shrinkage cracks, thermal stresses, chloride and sulphate ingress and carbonation have been the biggest concerns in the construction industry. In the last two decades, the Gulf region has been most demanding and challenging in terms of structural design and architecture. Achieving these with sustainable construction is a mandate in today’s growing concerns on the global environment.

Achieving Sustainability
Concrete technology is redefined by inclusion of the latest and innovative raw materials and additives to meet the ever-challenging durability and sustainability requirements.

The Gulf region has one of the most aggressive environments. High temperature, low relative humidity and Salts contaminated dust expedites concrete deterioration.

Durable and Sustainable construction are the need of the hour. Portland cements has limitations. Pure Portland cement concrete is prone to deterioration in aggressive weather conditions. It is one of the major contributors for global warming as every ton of Portland cement emits an equivalent amount of carbon into the atmosphere.

Designing of concrete which serves its full design/service life is of paramount importance. Incorporation of Supplementary cementitious materials into the concrete mixes play a key role in accomplishing durability and sustainability requirements. Micro Silica, Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag, Fly Ash, Metakaolin and Rice Husk are some of the widely used supplementary cementitious materials. Incorporation of these materials in concrete has multiple advantages.