Page 157 - AWSAR 2.0

The Sky is Falling!
|| 133
Ms. Dyana Joseline*
Email: dyanajoseline@gmail.com
Chennai is a remarkable city. It has amazing beaches, scenic places, industries and what not? I have been in Chennai all my
life. I love it, but I must admit. It can get really hot at times. Half an hour on the road is enough to convince you that the sun is syphoning off your energy with a straw. My survival strategy is to somehow get ahead of fellow travellers and to drive under the huge highway and metro bridges spread across the length and breadth of the city. Often, I get lost in my own thoughts. “Oh my! Aren’t these bridges life savers? They help us travel across the city without hassle and also provide us shade from the sun and the rain. They are so widespread and long like a protective sky under the actual one. What will we do without them? Our future generations will be so proud of us for establishing such systems for them to use.”
But then being a research scholar working on service life estimation and condition assessment of bridges, I get confronted by my inner critic, who does not bother to cover up the reality with frills; reality we as bridge owners, or users, may want to run away from. “Though these bridges are an indispensable part of our lives, they have a finite life span.” They have been designed to take the expected loads. I argue. “Ha! That would work, had this been a perfect world! What about the deterioration of material and environmental effects? During its life, the structure can be exposed to chlorides or carbon dioxide that can diffuse through concrete and cause corrosion initiation. Corrosion (electrochemical reaction that converts iron to rust) of embedded steel reinforcement can result in premature end
* Ms. Dyana Joseline, PhD Scholar from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, is pursuing her research on “Electrochemical Characterization and Corrosion Assessment of Prestressed Concrete Structures”. Her popular science story entitled “The Sky is Falling!” has been selected for AWSAR Award.