Damage function, theoretical

An important consequence of acid rain and dry deposition of SO2 and HNO3 is the rapid weathering and destruction of exposed carbonate stone buildings and monuments (cf, Baedecker et al. 1990). Lipfert (1989) has proposed a theoretical damage function equation to describe the weathering of carbonate stone between pH 3 and 5, which is... 

Corrosion rate was evaluated with respect to, 1) flux of pollutants (sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, oxidants, and particles) to the steel during both wet and dry periods, 2) temperature, and 3) exposure history. Different definitions of when the steel was wet were evaluated to determine the most likely "critical relative humidity." Non-linear multiple regression techniques were used to determine the statistical significance of each factor and develop a theoretically consistent environmental damage function. 

We have seen how consideration of theoretical deposition velocities has identified potential biases in economic assessments. An additional consideration is the relative uncertainties in the determination of theoretical vs. experimental deposition velocities. The heat transfer data on which the theoretical deposition velocities are based are generally very precise, within a few percent. In contrast, the damage functions developed by Lipfert et al. (3) for metals from extant corrosion test data are only capable of predicting corrosion losses at a given time and place within a factor of two, although the individual regression coefficients are much better than that. Most of the uncertainty in the experimental approach is felt to be in test site characterization rather than... 

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