Environment factors may
affect the integrity of the concrete and/or steel reinforcement in combination
or independent
of operating environmental and accidental loads. The presented
paper will attempt to summarise some conclusion from a comprehensive
refurbishment program successfully implemented at one coal and one nuclear
power plant with totally 12 cooling towers. In practice we find that cooling
towers have frequently experienced accelerated
deterioration due to concrete
deterioration, reinforcing steel
corrosion, the temperature gradient and
freeze-thaw cycling. The varying exposures often act synergistically to impose
an increasingly aggressive attack on the shell and columns. The objective of
the initial inspection and testing was to establish the extend of deterioration
which will serve as a basis for service life prediction and repair methods of
cooling towers.