Search

• The paper addresses the ageing management of nuclear concrete containment vessels. • An approach to quantify the benefit of an extended in-situ monitoring is presented. • Measuring concrete moisture could enhance predictions based on strains monitoring. • Current monitoring devices don't meet specifications to achieve this goal. This paper discusses some reasons for measuring moisture in concrete structures. Within the framework of the prestressed concrete containment monitoring of the French nuclear reactors fleet, a method is proposed to assess the possible contribution of concrete moisture monitoring in ageing management strategy. Based on sensitivity and variance analysis, it aims at clarifying the conditions necessary to enhance the identification of some model parameters for concrete shrinkage and creep. In-situ water content monitoring could be beneficial to improve ageing predictions if some conditions are met. However, the estimated measurement uncertainties to reach this goal seem to exceed current devices capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]