Overview
ISO/TS 15686-9:2008, "Buildings and constructed assets - Service-life planning - Part 9: Guidance on assessment of service-life data," is a Technical Specification from ISO that provides guidance for the derivation and presentation of reference service-life data (RSL data). It supports service-life planning for buildings and constructed assets by setting out how manufacturers and producers should document service-life information for use with the ISO 15686 series. The document is voluntary and intended to improve transparency, comparability and usability of service-life information.
Key Topics
- Reference service life (RSL): Definition of RSL and what must be included in a data record (RSL value plus descriptive information on validity and conditions).
- Estimation principles: How to build component and whole-building service-life estimates from RSLs, and which influencing factors to consider (inherent performance, design, workmanship, indoor/outdoor environment, usage, maintenance).
- Sources of data: Emphasis on using well-documented performance-in-use data where available, with guidance on using feedback data and prediction procedures.
- Testing approaches:
- Direct testing (evidence of performance e.g., abrasion, fatigue) and indirect (proxy) testing (measurements correlated to performance).
- Long-term (field exposure, experimental buildings) and short-term (accelerated or in-use short exposures) tests.
- Caution on accelerated tests to ensure mechanisms are not altered.
- Performance characteristics and environment: Specify relevant performance properties and the intended range of in-use environmental conditions (UV exposure, marine environments, etc.).
- Degradation agents and intensities: Identify and document relevant degradation agents and their intensities for realistic RSL derivation.
- Data quality and presentation: Requirements for documenting methodology, assumptions, test regimes, and reliability of the RSL data.
Applications and Users
Who uses ISO/TS 15686-9:2008:
- Manufacturers and producers publishing reference service-life data for products, components and systems.
- Product standard committees defining performance characteristics.
- Specifiers, architects and engineers integrating RSLs into design and specification documents.
- Lifecycle/cost analysts and facility managers performing service-life planning, life-cycle costing and maintenance planning.
Practical benefits:
- Improves comparability of service-life claims.
- Supports performance-based specifications and whole-life decision making.
- Enables transparent inputs for service-life prediction, LCC and environmental assessments.
Related Standards
- ISO 15686-1, -2, -3, -5, -6, -7, -8 (Service-life planning series)
- See ISO 15686-8 for detailed treatment of reference service life and service-life estimation.