Project Profile:

The durability of concrete highway structures is a widespread matter of concern. As the rate of degradation and the corresponding repair and maintenance costs keep increasing, it has become a challenge for owners to make the best possible use of allocated budget and resources to maintain their structures inventory in a safe and acceptable condition for the users.

Traditionally, repairs have been performed for cosmetic reasons, in accordance with standard typical procedures, without considering how long these repairs would last, if the root cause of degradation was eliminated or if money and time were spent efficiently.

Optimized preservation strategies must integrate and prioritize cost-effective and preventive interventions. This can be achieved through an approach that combines a good knowledge of the concrete properties, the current structure condition and the degradation mechanisms, with reliable service life modeling tools. The presentation provides details about such an approach and shows examples for which material engineering and service life modeling were combined to evaluate and compare different interventions in terms of their respective cost and expected performance. This approach can be used to identify a most cost-effective intervention on a given bridge, prioritize interventions to be carried out on different bridges, or determine the best timing for a given intervention. Intervention costs, timing and expected service life can then be integrated in a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to determine an optimized preservation strategy not only at a single structure level, but also for clusters of structures.

Presenter:

Richard Cantin, P.Eng., Ph.D. | SIMCO

Dr. Richard Cantin, Associate Director of Engineering, SIMCO Technologies, presented the ISO 16311 Maintenance and Repair of Concrete Structures.

Dr. Richard Cantin has a unique expertise in managing large-scale infrastructure projects, as well as in conducting inspections, condition assessments, characterization of damaged concrete infrastructure and service-life evaluations. He can effectively identify the possible causes of concrete degradation and proposes cost-optimal repair and rehabilitation solutions to extend the useful life of concrete structures.

Disclaimer: Digital Screenshots could be taken at today's virtual event. By taking part in this event you are granting Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Edmonton Section full rights to use the images resulting from the digital screenshots at this event. This might include (but not limited to), the right to use them in CSCE Edmonton Section's printed and online publicity and social media.