Opportunity is also taken to absorb knowledge in various latest development in inspection and assessment of buildings and also various Codes of Practice issued bby Buildings Department recently. Scope ‘This methodology is developed for the structural appraisal of the ageing PRET buildings with reinforcement corrosion and covers all deviations and extension of scope to the Manual necessary for the appraisal works. Major issues include: - 1 Assessment of reinforcement corrosion is necessary and the methodology for sampling, testing and assessment are included, 2, Rate of reinforcement corrosion and the conditions at 15 years later are to be considered, 3, Concrete core test data are normally available for the vertical elements and simple verification method on concrete strength is included; 4. Because reinforcement corrosion also affects horizontal elements, their assessment is also necessary; 5, Imaddition to strengthening requirements, repair requirements are also to be assessed and reported; 6. Cost assessment for the repair/strengthening works is also required. Where the requirements have not been specifically mentioned in this methodology, those stated in the Manual should be followed. ‘As this methodology is specifically written for the comprehensive structural appraisal of ageing PRH buildings, it is not necessarily applicable to other buildings, such as buildings of young age where steel corrosion should not be a problem. Structural appraisal of buildings where degradation is apparent and has to be quantified is a different activity to design of new buildings in that the cause and mechanism of degradation and its variation within the building have to be well understood and taken account of in the appraisal. ‘There could be occasions where engineering judgement should take precedence over the prescriptive recommendations contained in this Methodology.4. 41 General Considerations Factors affecting rate of steel bar corrosion ‘the degree of corrosion of reinforcement will depend on the extent of cvizonmental penetration, which will in tam depend on the quality of concrete, thickness and quality of conerete cover, presence of free chlorides, carbon dioxide, water and oxygen. A list of factors is given below - Thickness of concrete cover Quality of concrete cover (generally reflected by concrete strength) Chloride level in the concrete Depth of carbonation front Presence of surface finish Age Maintenance history Local micro-climate — Temperature — Relative humidity — Wind Local micro-environment — Whether air is salt laden (near sea splash zone) — Whether air is particularly contaminated — Dry internal/exposed to rain/wet and dry exposure ‘There are different opinions on the most important of the above factors. For example there is a view that water to binder ratio is the most important factor for the corrosion process in reinforeed concrete [5]. As w/b ratio relates directly to strength of concrete, actual concrete strength of the building could be a very important factor in state of corrosion in ageing PRH buildings ‘The above factors may vary between estates and from locations to locations within a building and therefore care must be taken in planning the inspection, testing and assessment plans. ‘A well-based opinion of the cause of corrosion should also be formed so that a good calibration of degree of corrosion against the visual defects can be established, This is important in developing @ good assessment scheme in determining the extent and method of repair. 642 43 44 Visual inspection and limitations Visual inspection is an essential step in the structural appraised process. It provides a good opportunity for observation of the general conditions of the structure to be made, noting any visible indications of potential structural and durability problem areas. It also provides the essential information for planning the subsequent testing works. However, corrosion may be caused by chloride attack or carbonation, In general, corrosion associated primarily with chloride attack is difficult to be detected by visual inspection. Corrosion associated with carbonation however will likely cause cracks and spalling due to bursting pressure of the corrosion products and thus can be easily detected visually. Hence inspection may not be able to fully identify the extent of environmental penetration and level of corrosion damage to the steel and concrete, Also, in occupied buildings, the areas available for inspection are also limited due to refusal of tenants for access to the flat or for inspection of concrete surface behind furnitures, Visual inspection results must therefore be interpreted with care taken into account of these limitations. Constraints faced by the appraising engineers Presence of sitting tenants is the main constraint to the appraising engineers. To minimize disturbance to tenants, inspection and testing will have to be concentrated in the public areas and vacant flats. Where there is limited number ‘of vacant flats available, the inspection and testing results may not be necessarily truly representative of the overall building conditions. In this case, suitable calibration and correlation may have to be made. The conditions of the structural elements may also be masked by the past repetitive patch repairs. Care must be taken in inspecting, testing and assessing the conditions and structural integrity of these elements. Knowledge based approach In view of the constraints and limitation as discussed above, a knowledge based approach in assessment of the ageing effect, in terms of reinforcement corrosion, is adopted in this methodology. This will enable a better calibration and correlation between the visual defects, in-use conditions and testing results to be made and hence will greatly reduce the need of ot 7 site testing. This isparticularly important in those structures with limited inspection and testing results available Old PRH buildings comprise mainly standard buildings which were constructed on a repetitive basis in different estates. The materials used and flat layouts tend to be similar, Findings of reinforcement corrosion and the significance of jnsuse conditions within one building could constitute a knowledge base which could be applied, with due care, to similar buildings in the same estate There are also similarities between buildings of different estates. As the appraisal programme covers more and more estates and buildings, knowledge of reinforcement corrosion and the relative significance of various factors will grow for gainful application. Testing can thus more focused in areas where previous appraisals have revealed to be having higher evel of reinforcement corrosion, And where corrosion has shown to be insignificant, the testing rates can be lowered, The testing requirements for the subsequent buildings can therefore be substantially reduced. “The knowledge base approach adopted in this Methodology borrows the idea from the concept of estimating service life using the factor method described in 180 15686-1:2000(E) "Buildings and constructed assets ~ Service life planning - Part 1: General principles * [6] By 180 definition, estimated service life is the service life that a building or parts of a building would be expected to have ina set of specific in-use reference in-use conditions calculated by adjusting the reference in-use conditions in terms of a.) materials b) Design ¢) Environment d) Use, and e) Maintenance (3.1.3) ‘The ISO factor method uses modi reference service life ng factors for each of the following on the a.) Quality of components, b) Design level, c) Work execution level 4.) Indoor environment 845 €) . Outdoor environment f) _ In-use conditions g.) Maintenance level (cl. 9.1) ‘The factors which are for be used in this Methodology will mainly relate to the list of factors given in (4.1). Statistical tests would be used to see whether the extents of reinforcement corrosion in different parts a building can be grouped in logical groupings of factors. Such groupings would also be tested in other buildings and will be continuously reviewed as knowledge accumulates. Knowledge gained in such grouping can be applied to later appraisal tests with suitable calibration, to reduce the testing requirements for the subsequent buildings. Statutory requirements In alignment with Buildings Department’s practice, the Authority has implemented similar approval and consent control system on building works including the A&A works, The development of the strengthening and repair proposals has therefore to be gone through the checking and approving process under the Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Authority. The relevant requirements of the Building Regulations, PNAP ete must therefore be taken into consideration in the work design and supervision.5. _ Investigation/Appraisal Process 5.1 Typical process The typical process of a detailed structural investigation is shown below. Desk Study Visual Condition Survey Site Testing and Measurement Laboratory Testing Assessment of Current Structural Stability and Integrity ‘Assessment of Rate and Extent of Further Deterioration Assessment of Structural Stability and Integrity by the Time of Next Inspection Recommendations * No Action © Repair/Preventive Measure © Strengthening © Monitoring «Removal Estimation of Works Cost