Problems in selecting durability indicators for elements of buildings and structures at the design, construction, and operation stages

Abstract

Using residential buildings erected during the period of mass industrial housing construction as a case study, the article examines the impact of selecting an optimal combination of standard and design service lives for structural components, individual elements, engineering systems, and the building as a whole on ensuring its reliability throughout the entire life cycle. It is shown that a mismatch between the service lives of load-bearing and enclosing structures, finishing layers, internal engineering systems, and equipment leads to a premature decline in the facility’s operational performance, an increased need for repairs, higher total costs, and reduced efficiency in the use of the housing stock. The necessity of an integrated assignment of durability indicators already at the design stage is substantiated, taking into account construction conditions, operational features, maintainability, accessibility of technical servicing, and the economic feasibility of the decisions made. Methodological approaches are proposed for selecting rational technical, organizational-technological, and economic solutions that ensure the required level of reliability of buildings and structures at the design, construction, and operation stages. A theoretical framework is presented that makes it possible to relate the durability of individual elements to the integral reliability of the building, assess the influence of service life on its functional stability, and provide a basis for improving design practice, regulatory requirements, and strategies for housing stock operation. Particular attention is paid to buildings of the first mass-produced series as the facilities that most clearly demonstrate the consequences of errors in assigning service lives. The practical significance of the results lies in the possibility of using them to substantiate major repairs, modernization, and reconstruction of the existing housing stock under current conditions.