Structural Geometry Effects on the Life-Cycle Performance of Concrete Bridge Structures in Aggressive Environments

The effects of structural geometry and reinforcement layout on the life-cycle performance of concrete structures in an aggressive environment are investigated. Life-cycle performance is evaluated by using a general procedure for time-variant analysis of concrete structures in aggressive environments. The application to a box cross-section, typical for bridge piers, shows that the equivalence of cross-sections with the same initial performance in the undamaged state is generally lost in time due to damage, and that the loss of performance strongly depends on both geometrical parameters and spatial distribution of the aggressive agent.