ABSTRACT
Prediction of service life of building materials and components is very dependent on knowledge about the material/component under investigation. To ensure that all necessary information is brought about it is of utmost importance that work is done systematically in order not to overlook anything. The paper suggests to take advantage of the methods and tools developed in working with the performance approach in building for assessing what sort of data is needed, how much information is desirable and what are the minimum requirements. Proposals for a systematic procedure and matching data sheets are given. The paper discusses the problems connected with whether testing should be performed on materials or components, the difficulties of “translating” results from materials to components or from degradation indicators to performance properties.
Sources of performance data & recommended formats are one of the work items of ISO TC59/SC 3/WG 9 on Design Life of Buildings. The paper may be seen as a first draft of the work on this subject and as an invitation to submit contributions to the continued work.
