ASSESSMENT OF DURABILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE NORMATIVE SERVICE LIFE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES UNDER CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF UKRAINE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31650/2786-6696-2026-16-65-74Keywords:
reinforced concrete structures, durability, normative service life, carbonation, reinforcement corrosion, concrete cover.Abstract
A significant share of Ukraine's prefabricated reinforced concrete building stock, constructed in the 1960s–1990s, is currently in service beyond its designed service life. The concrete cover in such structures often does not exceed 15-20 mm, which, combined with rising CO₂ concentrations in urban atmospheres and seasonal climatic effects, substantially accelerates concrete carbonation and reinforcement corrosion, reducing structural load capacity and durability. This paper develops and validates a methodology for assessing the compliance of reinforced concrete structures with normative service life requirements for five representative Ukrainian cities: Chernihiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Dnipro. The methodology is based on analytical carbonation and corrosion models and determines the critical time ‒ the moment at which reinforcement degradation reaches a threshold level beyond which structural load capacity falls below an acceptable limit. The results were compared with the normative service life requirements of DBN V.1.2-14:2018 for residential and public buildings. It was found that at a concrete cover of 20 mm, none of the studied regions meets the 100-year normative service life for residential buildings: the critical time ranges from 52 to 76 years, i.e. 24-48 years short of the normative requirement. For industrial buildings (60 years), the requirements are not met in Dnipro and Kyiv. Sensitivity analysis showed that increasing the concrete cover to 30 mm allows Chernihiv and Lviv to achieve the 100-year service life, while Dnipro, Kharkiv and Kyiv require additional protective measures. The results confirm previous research conclusions on the need for rehabilitation of Ukraine's reinforced concrete building stock and provide quantitative justification for regionally differentiated requirements for concrete cover and concrete class in the design of new structures.
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