Estimation of the service life of concrete under different conditions with special reference to radioactive waste repositories

Abstract

A service life estimation system based on the deteriorated surface layer for 30–100 MPa concretes is briefly presented. Generally, the service life of concretes ranges from ten to one million years depending on the environment, strength and allowed deterioration of concrete. The analysis of archaeological and modern data, along with deterioration models, creates practical possibilities for the reasonable estimation of the long-term durability of concrete. Only poor design and planning, low grade concrete, and unrealistic or no long-term application objectives can lead to a miserably short service life of concrete structures. The great decrease in permeability of concrete over several decades, as the strength increases, creates a great growth in service life. If, in addition, the environmental strains diminish (e.g. no freeze-thaw effect, relatively permanent conditions), the service life increases still further. Concrete structures in repositories have still the additional benefit of often being relatively massive, which allows for surface layer damage. Therefore, the anticipated service life of good, strong concrete in repository applications is high.