Age and remaining lifetime of concrete determined by monitoring

Helmut WENZEL

Concrete structures are subject to aging depending on a number of factors

particular local environmental issues. The current non-destructive testing practice
only provides limited localized samples of concrete strength and can not give
values for the entire structure and its performance. Ambient vibration monitoring
technologies have developed rapidly and are now able to quantify the
performance not only for static load cases but also for dynamic actions like
earthquakes. Experience has shown that in average concrete structures show
higher capacities than anticipated through conventional assessment methods.
Nevertheless one of the major targets of a detailed monitoring campaign is to find
out deficiencies and particular weak structures, which might collapse in an
earthquake event. The combination of multiple non-linearities enables profound
assessment of the earthquake resistance. The methodology has started to enter the
practice of earthquake assessment and the improvement of mitigation strategies.

16ο Συνέδριο Σκυροδέματος, ΤΕΕ, ΕΤΕΚ, 21-23/10/ 2009, Πάφος, Κύπρος