Abstract
The hydraulic infrastructure is constituted by the assets of two central elements: water supply and energy generation facilities. This study deals with the durability of the structures and their engineering materials. Four vital parts of this infrastructure were selected: dams, canals, aqueducts and hydroelectric stations, which are built of two basic materials; steel and concrete. The global climate change and warming and the greenhouse – gas emissions (all interrelated complex phenomena) affect these construction materials and structures, mainly by their extreme events such as torrential rains and flooding, dry and wet seasons, high and low humidity and solar radiation. This study presents a general global approach to the climate influence on the durability of those materials and structures and concludes with a description of a particular region: a section of the ‘Great American Desert’ on the Mexico–USA border.
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