The service life of tunnels today is designed to last at least for one hundred years—in the case of the Brenner basis tunnel it is even 200 years. The problem with this: “The service life is currently calculated on the basis of theoretical key figures and empirical values. Environmental conditions such as chemically aggressive groundwater, for example, can possibly lead to cost-intensive maintenance measures earlier than expected,” says Florian Mittermayr, researcher at the Institute of Technology and Testing of Construction Materials at Graz University of Technology.
Click here for original story, Sustainable shotcrete mix-designs for tunnels with longer service life
Source: Phys.org