• Book Name: Repair and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Structures the State of the Art
• Pages: 266
• Size: 12 MB

Repair and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Preface of Repair and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Structures

Constructed infrastructure is essential for the development and progress of commerce and industry in all countries. Most of the buildings, highways, bridges, airports, and transit systems are deteriorating at a rate faster than our ability to renovate them. Reinforced concrete is nowadays the material most used in this context. The repair and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures involves a complex interaction of existing and new elements. Engineers are confronted with the continuous challenge of developing new methods to repair, replace or rehabilitate the existing structures. Several difficulties are encountered by researchers and design engineers in this effort. Engineering judgment, intuition, and experience have been used in many cases due to the lack of technical guidelines in a worldwide context. Different approaches are followed for solving similar problems in different countries, with different degrees of success. Still much information is needed to evaluate the performance, response and reliability of existing and rehabilitated structures. Our knowledge of the capacities of rehabilitation schemes and procedures for retrofitting structures must be improved.

Reinforced concrete is the most common construction material in the Americas. Significant changes in design requirements for such structures have been introduced during the last twenty years, motivated by an increasing knowledge of the behavior of materials, problems with older structures, and earthquakes. Active research continues in order to improve lateral load capacity, ductility, anchorage of reinforcement, column shear capacity, and other aspects of reinforced concrete structures. Structural problems in deteriorated systems, including corrosion, aging, lack of durability, hostile environmental conditions, structural deficiencies, and undesirable seismic responses are matters of continuous testing and research.

Advances in materials science have resulted in the development of new or improved polymers, carbon fibers, composites, polyaramic fibers, and other products. These materials are beginning to play an important role in the repair and rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures. The Structures and Building Systems Program of the National Science Foundation, the Science and Technology Program (CYTED in Spanish), the University of Zulia’s Center for Corrosion Studies in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and the University of Puerto Rico’s Center for Hemispherical Cooperation in Research and Education in Engineering and Applied Science (CoHemis) jointly sponsored an International Seminar, Workshop and Exhibition titled “The State-of-the-Art of the Repair and Rehabilitation of Reinforced Concrete Structures”, held in Maracaibo, Venezuela in April 1997.

The purposes of the Seminar/Workshop were to put together researchers and engineers from North and South America to address the state-of-the-art, future directions and possible joint research projects in repair and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures; as well as, to provide a mechanism of technology transfer and foster international collaboration. Potential speakers were identified and asked to provide an abstract of their recent work. These information was used to select sixteen experts from the United States, Latin America, and Europe. The topics covered during the Seminar included corrosion of reinforced concrete structures, durability and service life models, and new materials for repair and rehabilitation. To assure that the Seminar/Workshop was a technically rewarding experience, the activity included the following parts:

• Technical presentations during the three-day Seminar.

• Plenary round-tables on the experts fields with participation of the attendees to the Seminar.

• Discussion group meetings to identify topics for international collaboration in research.

• Exhibition of products and services by local and international companies.

• A one-day field-trip to the repair and rehabilitation works of the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge in Maracaibo.

This is one of the longest cable-stayed concrete bridges in the world. The 150 attendees from 12 countries included engineers, contractors, government officials, professors, students and researchers involved in the development and applications of technologies in the discussed fields. This volume contains the papers presented at the seminar, the summary of the workshop discussions and research needs, and other information related to the International Seminar and Workshop. These Proceedings include a broad diversity of on-going research activities and experiences in fields related to rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures from different points of view and in different countries. Each of the papers included has received two positive peer reviews. All papers are eligible for discussion in the Journal, Materials in Civil Engineering, and are eligible for ASCE awards.

It is expected that this document will be of benefit to researchers and practicing engineers by serving as a compendium of the state-of-the-art and future trends in repair and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures. Moreover, to emphasize the interest of the organizers in promoting international cooperation, the summary of the workshop results is written in both English and Spanish. Many people worked hard to make this Seminar/Workshop a successful activity and also contributed to the preparation of the proceedings. The Advisory Committee formed by Dr. Houssam A. Toutanji, Dr. Alberto Sagties and Prof.

Oladis de Rincon were essential during the organization of the technical sessions; also, the invited speakers were available for the peer-reviewing process of the selected papers. Special thanks and recognition is given to the personnel of the Center for Corrosion Studies of the University of Zulia, including Eng. Matilde de Romero, Eng. Miguel Sanchez, Reinaldo Gonzalez and all their staff and students. Also, special recognition is given to Luz Leyda Vega, Idalia Tomassini and the rest of the staff of CoHemis Center for their assistance since the beginning of this project until the final version of the proceedings. 

Repair and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete structures.