Hyperbolic natural draft cooling towers and other concrete structures can experience various types and degrees of concrete deterioration caused from years of service in industrial operating environments. Concrete erosion, corrosion of embedded reinforcement, and other deterioration mechanisms can introduce operational risks and significantly reduce the integrity of the structure, ultimately leading to the end of service life. To manage cooling tower assets and plan effective maintenance and repair strategies, the expected condition of the tower over time and its remaining service life must be considered.
In this article, engineers Matt Gries, Elizabeth Wagner, and John Lawler introduce common deterioration mechanisms that affect concrete cooling towers and provide examples of how such mechanisms can be modeled with calibration specific to the subject asset. A framework is presented describing how deterioration predictions can be used to inform estimates of the remaining service life of the structure.
This article originally appeared on CTI.org.
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