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Durability and Serviceability

Durability

Durability of a product - the ability of a product to maintain its required performance


over a given or long time, under the influence of foreseeable actions. Subject to normal
maintenance, a product shall enable a properly designed and executed works to fulfil the
Essential Requirements for an economically reasonable period of time (working life of the
product).
Durability is thus dependent on the intended use of the product and its service
conditions. The assessment of durability can relate to the product as a whole or to its
performance characteristics, insofar as these play a significant part with respect to the
fulfilment of the Essential Requirements. In either case, the underlying assumption is that
the performance of the product will be maintained at an acceptable level, in relation to its
initial performance, throughout its working life.
Durability is the measures of length of a products life. Durability can be defined as the amount of
use one gets from a product before it deteriorates. It may also be defined as the amount of use
one gets from a product before it breaks down and replacement is preferable to continued repair.

A durable material helps the environment by conserving resources and


reducing wastes and the environmental impacts of repair and replacement.
durability and reliability are closely linked. A product that often fails is likely to be scrapped earlier
than one that is more reliable
durability figures should be interpreted with care. An increase in product life may not be the result
of technical improvements or the use of longer-lived materials. Rather, the underlying economic
environment simply may have changed
while in civil engineering, Durability is the

For example, the ability of concrete to resist weathering action chemical attack, and
abrasion while maintaining its desired engineering properties
The concept of durability is hard to quantify since durability is not a property of a concrete
material but a behaviour or performance of a concrete structure in certain exposure
conditions
the service life, which the concrete fulfils its performance requirement without intended
maintainance, is often used to describe the durability of the concrete
Different concretes require different degrees of durability depending on the exposure
environment and the properties desired. Concrete ingredients, their proportioning,
interactions between them, placing and curing practices, and the service environment
determine the ultimate durability and life of the concrete
Durability of concrete may be defined as the ability of concrete to resist weathering action, chemical
attack, and abrasion while maintaining its desired engineering properties. Different concretes require
different degrees of durability depending on the exposure environment and properties desired. For
example, concrete exposed to tidal seawater will have different requirements than an indoor concrete

floor. Concrete ingredients, their proportioning, interactions between them, placing and curing practices,
and the service environment determine the ultimate durability and life of concrete.

serviceability

In civil engineering, serviceability refers to the conditions under which a building is still
considered useful. Should these limit states be exceeded, a structure that may still be structurally
sound would nevertheless be considered unfit. It refers to conditions other than the building
strength that renders the buildings unusable. Serviceability limit state design of structures
includes factors such as durability, overall stability, fire resistance, deflection, cracking and
excessive vibration.
Serviceability as proposed should be a means of measuring or evaluating the performance of the "rated"
capacity under actual conditions to be expected in normal use
consumer can measure the safety factor or compare service expectancy to competitive products.

Serviceability is the speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair. Consumers are concerned
not only about a product breaking down but also about the time before service is restored, the
timeliness with which service appointments are kept, the nature of dealings with service personnel,
and the frequency with which service calls or repairs fail to correct outstanding problems. In those
cases where problems are not immediately resolved and complaints are filed, a company's
complaints handling procedures are also likely to affect customers' ultimate evaluation of product
and service quality.

A serviceability limit defines the performance criterion for serviceability and corresponds to a
conditions beyond which specified service requirements resulting from the planned use are no
longer met. In limit state design, a structure fails its serviceability if the criteria of the serviceability
limit state are not met during the specified service life and with the required reliability. Hence, the
serviceability limit state identifies a civil engineering structure which fails to meet technical
requirements for use even though it may be strong enough to remain standing. A structure that fails
serviceability has exceeded a defined limit for one of the following properties:

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