Quote:
Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright
There are unreenforced structures all over the place that have stood since Roman times because they've been kept up.
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Interesting thing about Roman Concrete is that it was very different from the modern version we use based on Portland Cement. The mixture they used included volcanic ash and seawater that resulted in a material that had high tensile strength, little plasticity, resisted fracturing, and didn't degrade when exposed to seawater. In fact, as seawater penetrated the concrete it would react with the volcanic ash causing a reaction that reinforced the material preventing fracturing.
Which is one of the reasons why those structures in wet marine environments have survived millennia with little to no maintenance while modern concrete structures will, at a minimum, require some maintenance.