ABSTRACT
When Smeaton constructed the famous lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock at the outlet of the English Channel during the period 1756-1759 (Smeaton, 1791), this was the first time a specially developed type of cement for a severe marine environment was applied (Lea, 1970). When the structure was demolished due to severe erosion of the underlying rock in 1877, this structure had remained in very good condition for more than 100 years. Since Smeaton reported his experience on the construction of this lighthouse (Figure 1.1), all the published literature on concrete in marine environments makes up a comprehensive and fascinating chapter in the long history of concrete technology. During the past 150 years, a number of professionals, committees and national authorities have been engaged in this issue. Numerous papers have been presented to international conferences such as the International Association for Testing Materials in Copenhagen 1909, New York 1912 and Amsterdam 1927; the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC) in London 1923, Cairo 1926, Venice 1931 and Lisbon 1949; the International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for Materials and Structures (RILEM) in Prague in 1961 and 1969; the RILEM-PIANC in Palermo in 1965; and the Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte (FIP) in Tibilisi in 1972. Already in 1923, Atwood and Johnson (1924) had assembled a list of approximately 3000 references, and durability of concrete structures in marine environments continues to be the subject for research and international conferences (Malhotra, 1980, 1988, 1996; Mehta, 1989, 1996; Sakai et al., 1995; Gjørv et al., 1998; Banthia et al., 2001; Oh et al., 2004; Toutlemonde et al., 2007).
