Societal Burden and Engineering Challenges of Ageing Infrastructure

Ageing is an inherent feature of nature and, hence, of materials, structures and systems. Yet, it seems a rather new topic in both science and engineering. The main reason for increasing attention for ageing as a topic is the growing awareness that, particularly in industrialized countries, ageing of our assets is a financial burden for the...

Determination of Chloride Content in Cementitious Materials: From Fundamental Aspects to Application of Ag/AgCl Chloride Sensors

This paper reports on the advantages and drawbacks of available test methods for the determination of chloride content in cementitious materials in general, and the application of Ag/AgCl chloride sensors in particular. The main factors that affect the reliability of a chloride sensor are presented. The thermodynamic behaviour of silver in the...

Bio-inspired control of material properties in civil engineering: Current concept for corrsoion protection via the application of bacteria and bio-polymers

The improvement of material properties of cement-based materials e.g. reduced permeability, porosity, uniform distribution of hydration products, etc. is of a significant importance and related to durability and sustainability of concrete and reinforced concrete structures. With this respect, a recent and novel approach is to "create" self...