fib BULLETIN NO. 109

Title:Existing concrete structures life management, testing and structural health monitoring

State-of-the-art-report

Year: 2023

Pages: 151

Format approx. DIN A4 (210x297 mm)

ISBN: 978-2-88394-171-7

Abstract:

The through-life management of our constantly ageing infrastructure is a basic requirement in order to ensure their structural safety and serviceability. Each structure experiences deterioration processes with time leading to a decrease of structural safety and serviceability. The design of new structures considers the expected deterioration for a defined period, the design service life. However, a frequent survey of structural safety controlling structural condition should be mandatory and a maintenance plan should be an integral part of the design. In addition, many structures have exceeded their design service life already or are very close to it leading to an increasing demand for condition assessment. On the one hand, assumptions made during design are not valid any more due to change of the loads, e.g., increasing traffic loads in terms of number and weights. On the other hand, design codes evolved over time in such a way that existing structures do not comply with today’s standards. In all these cases, the through-life management is an important tool to maintain the accessibility of existing structures with known reliability.

In line with the new Model Code for Concrete Structures, which includes guidance for both – design of new structures and assessment of existing structures, the Task Group 3.3 focused on the compilation of a state-of-the-art guideline for the through-life management of existing concrete structures, including: 

• Data acquisition by testing and monitoring techniques; 
• Condition assessment for the evaluation of existing structures; 
• Performance prediction using advanced methods; 
• Decision-making procedures to perform a complete assessment of existing structure.

The overall objective of the through-life management is the assessment of the current condition and the estimation of the remaining service life under consideration of all boundary conditions.

Sylvia Keßler
Helmut-Schmidt-University/ University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
Convenor of fib Task Group 3.3

Maria Pina Limongelli
Politecnico di Milano 
Co-Convenor of fib Task Group 3.3

Eftychia Apostolidi
Technical University of Darmstadt
Technical Secretary of fib Task Group 3.3

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