Structure Birth Certificate for Service Life Design and Through-Life Management

Management of structural assets such as bridges and buildings involves a structured process for the through-life management of the various phases in the life of that asset - Design, Construction, Conservation, Intervention, and De-commissioning. A key component to the proposed through-life management concept is that of a Birth Certificate. The Birth Certificate Document contains engineering documentation on the design, construction, and in-service phases in a structure’s life, with the primary goal of predicting its service life and/or its residual working life. The concept of a Birth Certificate is identified in the fib Model Code 2010, and is being increasingly adopted by owners as a state-of-the-art means of managing their assets. This paper will outline the key components of a Birth Certificate and show how the recorded information may be used to help develop future decisions on the viability of the structure to remain in service.