Title: A multi-environmental time similarity theory of life prediction on coastal concrete structural durability

Authors: Wei-Liang Jin, Li-Bing Jin

Addresses: Institute of Structural Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P.R. China. ' Institute of Structural Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P.R. China; College of Civil Engineering & Architecture, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450052, P.R. China

Abstract: A multi-environmental time similarity (METS) theory for durability assessment and life prediction is presented in this paper. The METS theory is able to connect the field inspections and the indoor accelerated tests by introducing a third reference site, which has certain service life and similar aggressive environment to the study objective. Thus, the correlation between the field inspection data and indoor test results in accelerated environments could be established which enable the prediction of concrete structures service life based on indoor test results. The theoretical model and experimental method of METS are presented in details in this paper. In addition, the application of METS theory in the practical engineering project is also presented. The predictions obtained from METS theory were compared with predictions obtained by other methods. It is shown that the predictions obtained from METS theory are reasonably accurate, creditable and convictive.

Keywords: multi-environmental time similarity; concrete structural durability; life prediction; coastal concrete durability; durability assessment; service life; field inspection; indoor tests.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTRUCTE.2009.030025

International Journal of Structural Engineering, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.40 - 58

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

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