Prioritization of the Requirements Formulated in the European Standard EN 206 in Assessment of Concrete Quality - Multicriteria Analysis Using the AHP Method

Abstract

The technological process of ready-mixed concrete production, which is designed to ensure the quality of concrete and the durability of the constructed buildings in accordance with the European Standard EN 206, consists of several stages. In this standard, to ensure the stability of both the concrete production process itself and its individual stages, appropriate requirements have been formulated. Some of these requirements pertain to the on line stage of the production process, and some to the off-line stage. Some of these requirements, if not properly controlled, can disrupt the stability of the production process and also negatively impact the quality and durability of concrete structures. The article analyzes the significance of these standard requirements. For this purpose, the AHP method was used, and the Pareto principle was applied to interpret the results. The AHP analysis showed that three out of seven requirements have the most significant impact on the quality of concrete and concrete structures. These are: the constituents of concrete, the limitations for concrete composition, and the delivery of fresh concrete. The applied Pareto principle confirmed their dominant role. These three criteria account for almost 80% of the importance in ensuring the quality of concrete.