Guidelines for the development of concrete performance-based specifications in Brazil

• Main Authors: J. Tanesi, M. G. da Silva, V. Gomes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Brasileiro do Concreto (IBRACON)
• Series: Revista IBRACON de Estruturas e Materiais
• Subjects: specification; performance-based; hybrid; concrete
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1983-41952012000200006&lng=en&tlng=en

Guidelines to develop performance specifications of concrete, including suggestions for performance requirements, are presented. This paper proposes changes to the Brazilian specifications and standards in order to follow the international trend and to move from prescription to performance. Although, the implementation of performance specifications may pose some challenges, it brings an opportunity to increase the service life of concrete structures. The strategic, tactic and operational aspects of performance specification's implementation in Brazil are presented, as well. These guidelines are based on specifications already adopted by other countries, on mathematical modeling and on experimental work.