Service life prediction of coastal infrastructures in Australia

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Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Chun Qing Li, Sujeeva Setunge

Friday 3 july 2015

13:45 - 14:00h at Africa (level 0)

Themes: (T) Managing deltas, (ST) Adaptive delta management

Parallel session: 16K. Managing deltas - Adaptive delta management

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Infrastructure management and maintenance is more challenging in coastal areas. That is due to the harsh environment which is created by presence of aggressive chemicals in the sea water. Chloride and other salts accelerate deterioration of coastal infrastructures. These chemicals together with high humidity target both steel and concrete structures and infrastructures in coastal regions. As a main part of infrastructure management, prediction of service life of existing in-service infrastructures is vital. Accurate service life prediction of coastal infrastructures can help asset managers and decision makers to prioritize repair and rehabilitation of those parts of coastal infrastructures with higher risk of failure. It also helps to prevent sudden collapse of in-service coastal structures and/or infrastructures. In this paper, three stochastic methods which are appropriate for service life prediction of structures are presented and the methods will be developed to be used for service life prediction of deteriorating coastal infrastructures. A case study of a concrete sea wall at an Australian coast is presented and one of the proposed methods is used for service life prediction of the sea wall. The output of this research can help asset managers to choose better strategies for maintenance and rehabilitation of coastal infrastructures.