Long-Term Field Exposure Data: Interpretation and Exploitation

Book chapter, 2026

This chapter provides an overview of models used for interpreting and exploiting long-term exposure data in marine environments, particularly focusing on chloride ingress into concrete. Reliable models are essential to interpret and exploit the obtained long-term exposure data and achieve the service life design through a performance-based approach. Various models addressing durability issues, especially chloride ingress into concretes, have been proposed in research literature and national/international committees. This chapter reviews the existing models for the prediction of chloride ingress, most of which were outlined in the works by RILEM TC 270-CIM and RILEM TC 289-DCM. Still, some new models are updated for interpreting and exploiting chloride ingress data. It should be noted that the effect of cracks is not specifically covered in this chapter. A review of benchmarking results is followed to provide a holistic view of models’ capabilities for prediction. Additionally, some alternative indicators for engineering use are synthesized, enhancing the exploitation of the long-term exposure data.