Title: Life-365 Service Life Prediction Model

Author(s): Brad Violetta

Publication: Concrete International

Volume: 24

Issue: 12

Appears on pages(s): 53-57

Keywords:

DOI:

Date: 12/1/2002

Abstract:
Chlorides from deicing salts, groundwater, and seawater corrode steel reinforcement embedded in concrete, causing the most common form of concrete deterioration. Each year, billions of dollars are spent on infrastructure repair and replacement because of corrosion damage. Much of this damage can be avoided by using corrosion protection systems. Because each of these corrosion protection systems has technical merits and costs, the best way to select the optimum strategy is to perform a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA), which weighs the increased initial costs of a system against the potential extension of service life of the structure. In the past few years, a number of computer-operated LCCA models have been developed, each with a different approach, so the results from each model varied considerably. In November 1998, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ACI, and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) sponsored such a workshop, entitled “Models for Predicting Service Life and Life-Cycle Cost of Steel-Reinforced Concrete.” At this workshop, a decision was made begin the development of an LCCA model based on industry consensus.