1.1The History of the NUST Central Library.

Located on the eastern side of the National University of Science and

Technology campus ,closely adjacent to the ceremonial hall, is a great

partially complete building ,the NUST central library. This great structure
lies at the mercy of nature since the hope of completion have been
shattered due to financial constraints. The construction of the four storey
building commenced on the first of august 1998, more than one and half
decades ago. The project team comprised of Murray and Roberts as the
main contractors, ARUP Zimbabwe as the design engineers, Mamuka
Mercury as the Architects and Turner and Townsend as the quantity
surveyors. The original projected date of completion of the project was 30
November 2000, about two and a quarter years from the date of
commencement of works. The great structure which covers a gross area
of 21 956.35m2, a net area of 12 915.50 was designed to serve a
population of about 9000 students. Financial constraints have been a
major drawback causing the construction of the four storey structure to be
inconsistent. In 2004 the construction ceased ,with very little progress
made when the works resumed from 2012 to 2014.This amounts to a
period of more than one and half decades since the structure have been
lying idle.
1.2 BACKGROUND
A considerable percentage of the structural elements which forms the
NUST central library are likely to be in a state of structural deficiency due
to the period of time the partially complete structure have been left
exposed to aggressive environmental conditions .Some of the materials
used have suffered deterioration due to the exposure and the exposed
reinforcement bars in the reinforced concrete walls of the structure have
visibly turned reddish brown due to corrosion. Their crossectional area
have been significantly reduced ,raising a concern about the overall
service life of the four storey building.
1.3 JUSTIFICATION
The partially complete NUST central library like any other reinforced
concrete structure build over land and in a semi- arid environment is
vulnerable to the demaging effects of carbonation.The deterioration of
such structures due to carbonation induced corrosion is one of the most
contributing factors affecting the strength capacity of their structural
elements left exposed to aggressive environmental conditions. The
concrete cover around the reinforcement provides protection to the
reinforcement from the environmental demaging effects.The corrosion of
the steel reinforcement leads to concrete fracture through cracking and
spalling of cover and most importantly a reduction in the concrete and

reinforcement cross sections. As a result of corrosion the structural

elements experiences a reduction in strength and this reduces safety ,
serviceability and life of the structure. Predicting the service life of the the
structure basing on its present condition is essential so that
1.4 Problem Statement
A problem has arisen at the National University of Science and Technology
that needs immediate attention. A reinforced concrete structure ,the
NUST central library, has been left idle and partially complete for more
than one and half decades with most of its structural elements exposed to
the risk of carbonation. Some of the materials used in the construction
have started to deteriorate hence estimating the structure s working life
becomes a task of paramount importance to avoid loss of lives and
property in the event of collapse.Knowing the structure s service life will
also determine when most of the structure s elements are to be replaced
hence a realistic and economically viable maintenance program of the
most affected structural elements can be set.In this way the necessary
capital investments of the building can be programmed for its entire
service life.
1.5 Research objectives
1.5.1 Main objective
To estimate the service life of the partially complete NUST central
library.
1.5.2 Specific Objectives
To estimate the time needed for carbonation depth to be equal to
concrete cover
To estimate the time between corrosion initiation and the serviceability
limit state of cracking.
To assess the structural integrity of the reinforced building through non
- destructive insitu testing.
1.6 Scope and Limitations
This research serves to estimate the service life of a reinforced concrete
structure vulnerable to carbonation induced corrosion. In this study the
service life have been divided into two parts ,the initiation time and the
time to propagation .The initiation time has been taken as the time
required for carbonation depth to be equal to concrete cover.The
propagation time have been estimated basing on the structural strength
criterion that is propagation period is said to be complete when the load
bearing capacity of the structure has been seriously degraded by a loss of
a rebar crossection. In this study a 10 % reduction of rebar crossection
has been considered as a limit for the structure s service life.

In terms of corrosion rates , this researcher have been limited to rely on

the literature provided by earlier researchers on the service life of
reinforced concrete structures vulnerable to carbonation induced
corrosion and exposed to similar environmental conditions. This was
mainly due to financial constraints to hire the necessary equipment to
measure insitu corrosion rates
and also limited time to perform
accelerated laboratory experiments on the corrosion rates in reinforced
concrete elements exposed to carbonation.
1.7 Report Outline
The contents of this project describes how the service life of a partially
complete reinforced concrete structure,the NUST central library,which
have been left exposed to the risk of carbonation induced corrosion for
more than one and half decades has been predicted.Chapter two is
literature review from ealier reseachers into the prediction