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Prevention of reinforcement corrosion and other types of deterioration begins in the design phase, when a structure is conceived and structural calculations are made, details are designed, materials and their proportions as well as possible additional preventative measures are selected. Prevention is further materialised as the concrete is prepared, placed, compacted and cured. It will continue throughout the entire service life of the structure, with programmed inspections, monitoring and maintenance. Civil engineers have become increasingly aware of the importance of these matters in the past decades and various international organisations have given guidance on this topic.
This concept of a sequence of events with increasing levels of costs implies that the structure should be accessible to inspection and maintenance. If accessibility is limited, such as in underground structures, even more emphasis should be placed on service life design. On the other hand, if planned and regular inspection, monitoring and maintenance of the structure are taken into account in the design stage, the requirements could be relaxed. At least theoretically, programmed maintenance could be included in the design. For relatively short-lived components or materials this is done in practice. For example, in some cases precast sidewalks on bridges and vehicle barriers in tunnels are used that are designed to be replaced after some time. Prescheduled re-application of a protective coating may be another example.
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This concept of a sequence of events with increasing levels of costs implies that the structure should be accessible to inspection and maintenance. If accessibility is limited, such as in underground structures, even more emphasis should be placed on service life design. On the other hand, if planned and regular inspection, monitoring and maintenance of the structure are taken into account in the design stage, the requirements could be relaxed. At least theoretically, programmed maintenance could be included in the design. For relatively short-lived components or materials this is done in practice. For example, in some cases precast sidewalks on bridges and vehicle barriers in tunnels are used that are designed to be replaced after some time. Prescheduled re-application of a protective coating may be another example.
Download the complete file