CARBONATION OF SOME COASTAL CONCRETE STRUCTURES IN KUWAIT

Concrete cores were extracted from 50 buildings situated from 0.5 to 1 8 km from the coast of tile Stare of Kuwait. The buildings considered were located near and away from the oil fires. Concrete properties suc h as density compressive strength, and depth of carbonation are report ed in this paper. The 1991 Kuwait oil well fires do not seem to have c aused any additional damage to the concrete structures. The results of this investigation, however suggest that coastal structures in hot ex posure and climatic conditions of Kuwait result in higher carbonation depth than the near-coastal buildings. it is recommended, on the basis of the results of this survey, that coastal and near-coastal reinforc ed concrete structures should be built in Kuwait with concrete compres sive strength of at least 40 and 30 MPa, respectively.