Research Agenda for Test Methods and Models to Simulate the Accelerated Aging of Infrastructure Materials

by Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment, National Research Council, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems

In the next several decades, a significant percentage of the country's transportation, communications, environmental, and power system infrastructures, as well as public buildings and facilities, will have to be renewed or replaced. Next-generation infrastructure will have to meet very high expectations in terms of durability, constructability, performance, and life-cycle cost. One way of meeting future expectations will be through improved, high-performance materials, but before new materials can be confidently deployed in the field, a thorough and comprehensive understanding must be developed of their long-term performance in a variety of applications and physical environments. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has launched an initiative to promote the development of innovative short-term laboratory or in-situ tests for making accurate, reliable predictions of the long-term performance of materials and requested that the National Research Council (NRC) conduct a workshop as a reconnaissance-level assessment of models and methods that are being used, or potentially could be used, to determine the long-term performance of infrastructure materials and components.

155 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1999