Dealing with critical aging infrastructures: challenges and research needs

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Civil infrastructure is critical for society, connecting the nation’s businesses, communities and people, driving the economy and improving the quality of life of human beings. On one hand, numerous aging structures built in the 1960’s to 1980’s in Canada and worldwide present clear signs of distress caused by numerous harmful damage mechanisms such as alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR), delayed ettringite formation (DEF), sulfate attack, steel corrosion, freezing and thawing cycles, etc. To guarantee performance over their designed service lives, or even to extend their expected life spans, engineers need efficient and reliable tools for correlating the reductions in mechanical properties, physical integrity and durability of affected materials (diagnosis) to their structural consequences. This information is critical in determining the potential for further deterioration (prognosis) and selecting timely and efficient management actions. On the other hand, considering the need for sustainable and resilient infrastructure, as well as the pressure to preserve natural resources for the decades to come, it is essential that new structures are built with eco-efficient/environmentally friendly materials, while optimizing the recycling of materials resulting from industrial processes and demolition of infrastructure having reached their expected service life. Therefore, the objectives of the current research program lie in the development of A) optimized innovative tools for condition assessment and prediction of future behaviour of aging concrete infrastructure; B) technical knowledge for understanding the interactions between the material’s distress and the structural performance/behaviour of concrete members/structures affected by various pathologies; C) time-dependent performance models for distressed, aging infrastructure allowing for reliable and timely management actions for such structures; and D) eco-efficient/environmentally friendly high performance concrete mix designs for the sustainable and resilient development of the construction industry. The results of the proposed research will contribute to the development of testing procedures, models and behavioural laws as well as reliable management recommendations/practices for either extending the design life of new concrete constructions or the service lives of aging concrete structures.