2. Predicting the service life of a new or existing structure

2.1 Introduction

The new approach to durability can also be used in a more quantitative sense to predict the service life of a new structure in the design phase, or to diagnose and predict the residual service life of existing (possibly degraded) structures.

In this case, the proposed approach to sustainability prediction is based on three essential tools: sustainability indicators, predictive model(s) and service life indicators (see figure 6 ).