The Impact of Sea-Level Rise on Corrosion of Buried Steel

Abstract While various sectors of the civil engineering industry consider the corrosion of buried steel an important component regarding design, construction and maintenance of critical assets, are we lagging in adopting new standards and technologies to keep up with changing subsurface conditions? Sea level rise and ground water rise pose a viable threat to the way civil engineers design foundation elements susceptible to corrosion in challenging areas where fresh-water and saltwater interact. In review of existing literature, there are common trends between climate change researchers, environmental engineers, hydrologists, habitat conservationists and civil engineers to advocate for integrating advanced data analytics to improve decision support systems in infrastructure management. This would facilitate in more precisely pinpointing where and how climate change related corrosion of buried steel component impacts overall infrastructure resiliency and could help to develop cost-effective and impactful actions. Resiliency and life-cycle cost analysis are increasingly pertinent in the realm of civil infrastructure and consequently crucial for the design, maintenance, and sustainability of coastal structures further exacerbated by climate change and rapid urbanization.