Comparison of the service life, life-cycle costs and assessment of hybrid and traditional reinforced concrete through a case study of bridge edge beams in Sweden

Abstract

The edge beams of reinforced concrete bridges with de-icing salts sprayed experience extensive corrosion damage. The average service life of edge beams needing replacement in Sweden has been reported as only 45 years, causing great economic loss to both owners and users. Hence, finding a durable solution for edge beams would benefit society. Hybrid reinforced concrete structures, produced by adding a low-to-moderate fibre content into traditional reinforced concrete, can effectively limit the service crack width and improve resistance to chloride-induced corrosion damage. In this paper, different alternatives of hybrid and traditional reinforced edge beams were designed for a case study. The service life of the alternatives was compared by conducting chloride diffusion calculations and by applying a corrosion-induced cracking model. The economic and environmental (indicated by greenhouse gas emissions) benefits of using hybrid reinforced edge beams were assessed by life-cycle cost analysis and life-cycle assessment. The results showed that the service life of edge beams made of hybrid reinforced concrete can be prolonged by over 58%, thereby enabling a significant reduction in the total life-cycle costs and annual total greenhouse gas emissions.

Life cycle assessment of next generation non‐metallic bridges

“…Society costs are concomitant to the environmental impacts and accidents. 31 Koch et al in 2002 32 reported that approximately 15% of 583,000 bridges in the United States in 1998 were structurally deficient, primarily due to corrosion of steel and steel reinforcement. And the detailed LCCA indicated indirect cost to the user due to traffic delays and lost productivity more than 10 times of the direct costs of corrosion maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation.…”

“…Costs incurred from traffic delay and vehicle operations during the maintenance period are user costs. Society costs are concomitant to the environmental impacts and accidents 31 . Koch et al in 2002 32 reported that approximately 15% of 583,000 bridges in the United States in 1998 were structurally deficient, primarily due to corrosion of steel and steel reinforcement.…”

Residential Construction with a Focus on Evaluation of the Life Cycle of Buildings

“…Many authors examine the life cycle costs of individual building materials, especially concrete [32][33][34]. They often focus on the link between the energy consumption needed to produce the building material and the overall environmental footprint [35][36][37] and the use of this material over its lifetime.…”

Analysis of the flexural response of hybrid reinforced concrete beams with localized reinforcement corrosion

“…18 Furthermore, hybrid-RC has also been recently shown to be a more sustainable solution for crack control than RC from a life cycle perspective. 19 Despite the positive effects of hybrid-RC, to completely suppress corrosion is a challenging pursuit. To that end, developing tools and models to estimate the residual structural behavior of corroding RC members is crucial.…”

“… 18 . Furthermore, hybrid‐RC has also been recently shown to be a more sustainable solution for crack control than RC from a life cycle perspective 19 . Despite the positive effects of hybrid‐RC, to completely suppress corrosion is a challenging pursuit.…”