Essential Data for Service Life Prediction

Durability design based upon old experience-codes of good practice etc - is still widely used. It is, however, a dangerous method that has led to a lot of durability problems; examples are given in the report. A design based upon a service life calculation has many advantages but is very complex. A lot of data concerning functional requirements, environment, deterioration mechanism and material are needed. Examples of relatively elaborate methods for the estimation of the service life of concrete are presented briefly. The use of the service life concept means that the traditional accelerated test methods must often be abandoned in favour of nonaccelerated tests.