The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has set a new standard that will see engineers, builders and regulators design structures that can resist environmental and mechanical stresses and material degradation.
The ISO 13823:2008 - General principles on the design of structures for durability, recommends procedures for the verification of the durability of structures subject to known or foreseeable environmental actions, including mechanical actions, causing material degradation leading to failure of performance.
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It will help to ensure reliability of performance throughout the service life of the structure.
AM Brandt, chair of ISO/TC 98, Bases for design of structures, said: "The general principles in the verification and design of structures and components for durability in this International Standard should be used whenever a minimum service life is required for new structures as well as for the assessment of existing structures."
The standard is intended to serve a similar harmonisation role that ISO 2394:1998, General principles on reliability for structures has, over the past 30 years for the verification and design of structures against failure due to mechanical stress from gravity, wind, snow and earthquakes.
According to the ISO, the goal is to ensure that all analytical models are incorporated into the limit states method, which is currently used for verifying structures.
But the standard did not mention sustainability for structures. It claimed that most considerations of sustainability, such as the choice of material as it affects waste and energy consumption, are outside its scope but said durable structures indirectly improve infrastructural sustainability.
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