Concrete Durability Tests to Evaluate the State of Heritage Buildings and Existing Constructions in a Semi-arid and Highly Seismic Region of Argentina

Nowadays there are various durability tests for concrete to evaluating the state of conservation of heritage structures and other important existing constructions. Non-destructive tests can be applied directly in situ, and others are carried out in the laboratory through the extracted samples. In this work, concretes made from the beginning of the 20th century to the present with local materials are evaluated. The Mendoza City and the surroundings area (Greater Mendoza) is considered the urban conglomerate with the highest seismic risk in Argentina due to the geological phenomenon of near-fault. Local seismic history has shown the fragility of adobe masonry constructions, considered as an unlawful material in the region. Due to, the use of concrete has been promoted in the confined masonry, obtained with very poor technology and the quality that does not exceed 20 MPa of compressive strength, except in some industrial constructions. The tests carried out in situ correspond to the measurement of air permeability, impact resistance by means of a sclerometer and carbonation, and the laboratory tests on concrete cores for determining compressive strength. The interpretation of the results allows us to guide about of the quality of studied concrete and to correlate it with the damage found due to the effect of earthquakes and reinforcement corrosion in the case of reinforced concrete from the beginning of the 20th century and iron reinforced masonry found in different historical constructions of the Greater Mendoza.