90-year parking ramp? 170-year bridge? No problem. Let’s plan for it. A good portion of our work is with clients who want more than a lifetime of concrete service life. That’s not a pipe dream: we can make it possible.
Technical, functional or economic service life prediction
Beton will help you plan for the expected service life of a structure with the following tools:
- corrosion protection plans to achieve the life expectancy stated in the specifications
- life cycle modeling, including calculating inputs into the model based on your project instead of relying on model defaults
- concrete testing for input into life-cycle models using either ASTM C1556 or NT Build 492
- designs for high slag and fly ash replacement mixtures for low-diffusion coefficient concrete
- concrete mixtures designed for low shrinkage
- designs for freeze-thaw durable concrete
- solutions for non-durable aggregate.
Here’s how our friends at the American Concrete Institute (ACI) define service life prediction: “Service life is the period of time after concrete placement during which all the properties exceed the minimum acceptable values when routinely maintained.”
Service life can be defined in three ways:
- Technical service life is the time in service until usability becomes problematic or the concrete fails.
- Functional service life is the time in service until the structure no longer fulfills the functional requirements or becomes obsolete due to such changes as increased clearance, higher axle and wheel loads, or road widening.
- Economic service life is the time in service until replacement of the structure is economically more advantageous than keeping it in service.