Extending the service life of civil structures. Towards a shared innovation programme : Based on the Workshop held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands 27 November, 2014

Throughout Europe, structures such as bridges and viaducts are approaching the end of their service life. Material degradation is a direct consequence of ageing and leads to reduced resistance to environmental impacts. In the meantime, some of these environmental impacts, or loads for short, have increased. Traffic loads and extreme weather conditions such as wind loads or wave loads are not as predicted in the 1960s or 1970s when a significant proportion of the existing infrastructure was designed. As a result, the safety of structures is a matter for concern and in several European countries they will eventually have to be renovated or replaced. However, replacement and renovation are costly, and cause inconvenience to user