CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON STRUCTURE Climate change can be defined as a change in the state of the climate that persists

for an extended period, typically decades or centuries. There is widespread concern that climate change is taking place today mostly due to of greenhouse gas emissions. Physical infrastructure is a key component of human settlement and comprises buildings and the structures needed for the provision of transport, energy, water and communication. It is critical to a countrys social and economic function Structures provide a key component of human settlement and yet climate change is anticipated to have an impact on concrete structures through increasing rates of deterioration as well as through the impacts of extreme weather events. Understanding the implications of climate change on structures is vital for effective asset planning and management undertaken by governments. Structures are predominantly constructed using concrete and steel. Its performance, therefore, is vital to provide the nations essential services and maintain its economic activities. Buildings are designed to have at least a minimum resistance to the loads that act on the structure, and on building parts such as roofs and cladding. Changes in climate therefore may have consequences in the design of newly built structures, as well as the resistance in the existing building stock. Climatic actions on buildings such as wind, temperature, rain and snow - have intensities that vary in time. Increasing the lifetime of a structure therefore increases the probability that, in a given time frame, the intensity of one of these actions will exceed the value assumed in the design. Climatic actions are relevant in structural design of buildings and building parts, and these actions are all treated in building standards. For the impact of climate change on structural safety, the changes in the following climatic actions on buildings are studied following the four climate change scenarios: 1. Wind Load 2. Temperature Load 3. Water accumulation due to heavy rain 4. Snow Load

Deterioration of structure is caused by physical, mechanical and chemical factors and can be induced by factors external and internal to the concrete structure. Physical and chemical deterioration are the most influenced by climate. Consequently the performance of structures will be affected especially in the long term. CAUSES OF DETERIORATION IN STRUCTURES Chemical Attack The mechanisms of common deterioration processes in structures include choloride-induced and carbonation-induced corrosion, sulfate attack, alkali-aggregate reactions, and freeze-thaw cycle attack.The deterioration rate of such structures depends not only on the construction processes employed and the composition of the materials used but also on the environment. Changes to climatic conditions may alter this environment, especially in the long term, causing the deterioration processes to accelerate and consequently an acceleration of the decline of the safety, serviceability and durability of concrete infrastructure. For instance, the durability of maritime and coastal structures are most affected by chlorideinduced corrosion. Steel reinforcement used in concrete is protected from rust by a thin layer of oxide. However, this layer can be destroyed through a process named depassivation which chloride ions penetrate the concrete and them accumulate to a critical level on the surface of steel reinforcements. This causes corrosion on the steel surface and the corrosion products cause considerable expansion. This generates internal stress and causes cracking and spalling or delamination to concrete structure. Table 1: Factors and potential consequences of climate change in association with structures Climate Change Implications Elevated carbon concentration accelerates carbonation and Increase of carbon increases carbonation depth in concrete: this increases the concentration likelihood of concrete structures exposed to carbonation induced reinforcement corrosion initiation and structural damage Elevated temperature accelerates carbonation, chloride penetration temperature and corrosion rate of reinforcement that exacerbates the corrosion damage

Increase of carbon concentration

Change of temperature

Change of humidity

Lowered relative humidity may reduce or even stop carbonation Change of and chloride penetration in the area with yearly average RH humidity currently just above 40-50%, while increased humidity may result in them occurring in the regions where they are now negligible.

Structural Safety The calculation of building structures is based on a reliability analysis using probabilistic models for both the loads and the resistance of the structure. Traditionally, design codes have used past climatic load data to help forecast future loads on buildings. Since this extrapolation to the future is based on historic records of meteorological observations, as fundamental assumption, the possible existence of long term trends with a period of some decades or so is not taken into account. When climate change influences structural risks, the distribution of the load, from which the design load results, can probably no longer be based only on measurements from the past, since the future development of the load under climate change has to be included. Increment in mean wind velocity, the number of storms per year and their intensity lead to an increasing overloading risk. Ulbrich (2007) presented a range of wind climate scenario simulations and concluded that there is a consistent increase of intensity and frequency of extreme winds in northwestern Europe, with some variation in results from the models applied. ADAPTION MEASURES TO COUNTERACT CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT A. Development of Advanced Building Material I. Stainless Steel Reinforcement

Stainless steel reinforcement is often applied to reinforced concrete structures in corrosive environments due to its high corrosion resistance. The general atmospheric corrosion rate of stainless steel is at least one thousand times slower than for carbon steel. The use of stainless steel reinforcement enables durability requirements to be met under corrosive environment however the price of stainless steel is 5.6 and 7.8 times more than carbon steel reinforcement for bars less than 20 mm and over 25 mm, respectively. But its

significance is best demonstrated by the considerable reduction of maintenance costs over the service life, II. Reinforcement with Fiber-reinforced Polymer (FRP) In addition to the use of stainless steel as reinforcement, FRP bars are increasingly used in structures such as bridge decks because of their non-corrosive nature, high stiffness-toweight ratio, high strength, good fatigue properties, ease of handling, and cost-effectiveness. Among FRPs, glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) is emerging as the most practical and widely accepted option due to its low cost-to-performance ratio III. Concrete Polymer Composites Concretepolymer composites are materials made when part or all of the cement hydrate binders of conventional mortar or concrete is replaced with polymers, and by strengthening the cement hydrate binder with polymers, to improve concrete workability and durability (Ohama, 1997). Concretepolymer composites have many advantages: rapid curing at ambient temperatures; high tensile, flexural and compressive strengths; good adhesion to most surfaces; low permeability to water and aggressive solutions; good resistance to chemicals and corrosion; and low weight. They can be costly, however, and there are some safety issues involving the use of volatile, combustible and toxic ingredients. IV. High Performance (HPC) and Ultra-high-performance (UHPC) Concrete HPC is defined as low water/binder-ratio concrete which receives adequate curing (Aitcin, 2003). HPC is essentially high-strength concrete, which possesses high strength and displays enhanced performance in durability and abrasion resistance. UHPC is a new class of concrete that makes use of advances in cement-based, fibre-reinforced composite materials. Good reviews of the mechanical and durability properties of UHPC are provided by Graybeal and Tanesi (2007) and El-Dieb (2009). Compared to HPC, UHPC shows advanced mechanical and durability properties due to: internal fiber reinforcement to ensure non-brittle behavior high binder content and special aggregates very low water content with adequate rheological properties through a combination of optimised granular packing and the addition of high-range water reduction admixtures.

Durability is strongly affected by the curing treatment. Notably, the use of steam treatments significantly decreases the ability of chloride ions to penetrate the concrete and increases abrasion resistance. V. Strengthening Concrete Structures with Fiber-reinforced Polymer Composites (FRPC) While not a development of advanced concrete materials, fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) can be used to strengthen concrete structures and enhance their durability. FRPC sheets have high specific strength and stiffness, low density, high fatigue endurance, high damping, and a low thermal coefficient in fibre direction. With such good engineering properties, FRPC sheets have been used widely to strengthen and/or protect concrete structures against environmental attack.

B. Adaption Measures for Chloride And Carbonation Induced Corrosion Climate adaptation is considered as a process of deliberate change in anticipation of or in reaction to climatic stimuli and stress, in order to moderate or reduce adverse effects onto the system of our interest (IPCC, 2007). The critical component in climate adaptation is the adaptive capacity that measures the capability of the system to maintain its functionality and integrity under the disturbance of external stimuli and stresses. Enhancement of climate adaptive capacity, along with reducing vulnerability, is considered as one of prime approaches to counteract the changing climate. For existing concrete structures under changing climate, the climate adaptation in terms of the enhancement of adaptive capacity can be done by developing new technologies for maintenance to counter the impact of increasing corrosion risk under changing climate. On the other hand, there is a wide range of conventional maintenance and retrofitting options that can enhance the durability of concrete structures and these can be applied to reduce the adverse affects of climate change. The maintenance options generally include surface coating, realkalisation, chloride extraction, cathodic protection, and cover replacement. Extraction and cathodic protection is more commonly carried out for structures with high corrosion risk to reduce the ingress of deleterious agents. The cover replacement is most effective, but also the most expensive option, followed by cathodic protection that also has

operating cost and then realkanisation or chloride extraction. The surface coating is the cheapest option, but is also less effective.

(a) Film-forming coating

(b) Surface-penetrating coating

Figure 1: Protective coatings to prevent the ingress of atmospheric contaminants Source: RTA

(a) Sacrificial jacket

b) Bridge columns protected by sacrificial jacket\

Figure 2: Protecting concrete structures from corrosion using a sacrificial jacket Source: RTA

Figure 3: Protecting a concrete bridge structure with sacrificial discrete anodes Source: RTA

(a) Metal ribbon anodes

(b) Anodes connected to a DC power source

Figure 3-8 Impressed current cathodic protection applied to bridge structures Source: RTA The selection of protection options for a concrete structure depends on the deterioration processes affecting it. If carbonation is at the initiation stage, anti-carbonation coatings and realkalisation could be considered, while protective and waterproofing coatings could be used to slow the corrosion rate or to prevent further corrosion. For the prevention of chlorideinduced corrosion, protective and waterproofing coatings are most cost-effective at the early stages of corrosion initiation and, for structures with relatively little damage, during the corrosion propagation stage. Chloride extraction, corrosion inhibitors and cathodic protection and repair are more effective for stopping chloride-induced corrosion initiation and propagation, especially for structures with significant safety and serviceability requirements. C. Adaption Strategies for Extra Loading The most direct way to deal with effects of climate change in structural engineering, is to adjust the building codes. Increasing the loads due to wind, precipitation and temperature, may create a more robust set of building standards with respect to the loads. The extent to which these standards should be adapted is not yet determined. It requires a more detailed study to the extent of which these loads will change. Such studies should include the climate information on the spatial and time scales, relevant for structural design. The translation from climate change scenarios towards loads on buildings now requires very rude assumptions, thus introducing uncertainties. These may lead to conservative, uneconomic design, or to designing at a too high risk, being unsafe. Also, the occurrence of very rare

events, which have not yet been observed, but may become relevant in typical design life times, should be included in such a study. CONCLUSION This paper focuses on the effects of changing extreme climate events to structural loads on structures, and the possible needs to adjust building standards. Building standards are used for new design of buildings or building elements. The existing building stock is usually not included. There is, on a European scale, no code available for checking existing structures. If we consider existing buildings, designed and built according to the current loading standards, we find that the overall level of safety will decrease with increasing climatic loads. Adaptation of existing buildings is very difficult to organise. It is the responsibility of building owners, and it could be stimulated to take climate change effects into account when maintenance is carried out or additions to buildings are planned. We need to develop instruments for building owners to make proper decisions on this matter, and to design and carry out measures to cope with these effects. Since risk is defined as probability of failure times the consequences of that failure, an analysis of the risk of structures requires knowledge on the trends in the loads, but also a critical view on the trends in consequences of failure of structures. Changes in climate do not occur from one day to another. The current safety philosophy is based on an accepted risk during the lifetime of the structure. If e.g. the wind loading is the leading effect, an increase of 8% in 100 years may be relevant. The uncertainties involved however are large. Structural safety deals with extreme effects which may last only seconds (e.g for wind loads) or minutes (e.g. ponding). The climate effects are described in the scenarios in terms of days or longer. We now assume that the trends for the short terms are similar to the trends in the longer time scales; however we do not know whether this is right. Besides, we are sometimes interested in combinations of climate effects. Extreme snowfall is related to precipitation extremes and temperature. These combinations require combined statistics. We need more, and more reliable, information on the climate effects, before we can definitively changes building standards or guidelines. Finally, we must also not forget those scenarios, which may lead to lower loads, which may be the case for snow loads. It is time to carry out objective research to the impact of our

climate to building structures, in order to distinguish between realistic developments and hypes. Alternatives As described previously there are many options for combating the deterioration process, including the creation of barriers on surfaces, the reduction of diffusivity, the reconditioning of alkalinity in concrete, cathodic protection, and repair. These options essentially act to reduce environmental attack by delaying or retarding the penetration of deleterious substances or by increasing the resistance of reinforcement to deterioration. The timing of application of mitigation or adaptation measures has a considerable effect on their success. Modelling and simulating such timing effects would be a major undertaking. It is preferable to implement corrosion mitigation and adaptation strategies during construction rather than when the concrete is in service (e.g. when corrosion damage occurs), as the latter would incur higher direct and indirect costs and cause inconvenience to users.

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