Service-life-performance of RC bridges under environmental actions

Most of the design codes provide 'deem-to-satisfy-rules' for achieving 'durability' of structures and these typically lag in explicitly accounting 'service life' in the specifications. With such rules it is merely assumed that a bridge structure will be performing satisfactorily for some presumed period of time. Performance evaluation of bridges using such rules, however, is not possible. This paper explains a methodology using which a service-life- performance evaluation can be performed for bridges. It also provides a demonstration of a Service-life-performance model developed to analytically evaluate the remaining service life and residual strength of RC bridges. Service-life-performance is modeled in terms of conservativeness factor. A parametric study has been carried out under the effect of chemical attack on concrete and carbonation induced corrosion of reinforcement. Various factors that influence the service-life-performance are highlighted. Such a study is of great importance while developing management tools for civil engineering infrastructure, for example, a Bridge Management System.