8/30/2017

DrChitrarekha Kabre
Repair&RehabilitationofDistressed
Structures(Repair&Retrofitting)

Definition
A distressed building is considered to be any
residential commercial,
residential, commercial industrial,
industrial or mixeduse
building (excluding sheds and garages on
residential property) that is not occupied and has
visible signs of physical distress (boarded, burned,
open to the elements, or otherwise
deteriorated).
Buildings used for storage may be surveyed as
distressed if they are boarded or appear
otherwise unoccupied.

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Factors causing Building

Distress?
1. The reason for distress during service is the lack of
maintenance of the building which results in
deterioration/aging of materials and structural components
leading to corrosion and cracking.
2. Buildings or structures are damaged at different grades of
damage when they experience extreme loading conditions like
in severe earthquakes or cyclonic storms for which they are
not designed.
An impression exists that taller structures are seismically unsafe in
comparison with low-rise buildings. On the contrary, when properly
designed and built, taller structures are generally safer. It is to be
noted that most lives were lost in Kachchh ((Gujarat)
j ) earthquake
q of
2001 in one and two storeyed masonry buildings. Hence, all
buildings have to be built safe.
3. Buildings may also fail if the building including the foundation
is not properly designed and constructed following the
standard Codes of practice.

Factors causing Building

Distress?
4. Inadequacy of design and poor quality of construction and
maintenance are therefore the main reasons for the distress
seen in buildings during service or under natural hazards.
This is because building codes and byelaws are not
conscientiously followed in design and quality of
construction, nor in maintenance.
5. The current [Indian standard (I.S.)] building codes and
guidelines in India have been tested and found effective in
achieving safety of the residents during the last six
earthquakes (Uttarkashi 1991 to J & K 2005).
2005) Hence not
following these codes in design and construction is sure
recipe for distress in future.

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Condition Assessment of
Buildings
1. The building has not shown any signs of distress
and it satisfies all the safety and serviceability
requirements
i t according
di t relevant
to l t Codes
C d off
practice, hence no action is needed towards
retrofitting.
2. The building is seen to be deficient (or
distressed) but it can be repaired and
strengthened to satisfy the Codal safety
requirements or performance criteria set by the
user.
user
3. The building is badly damaged. It is to be
demolished and a new building may be built,
build back better

Main steps of condition

assessment will be
a) To record the damage if any, and find out the causes
for distress
b) To assess the extent of distress and to estimate the
residual strengths of structural components and the
system including the foundation.
c) To plan the rehabilitation and
retrofitting/strengthening of the building.

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Main causes of such distress in

buildings
1. Deficiencies in design
2. Poor detailing of reinforcement in RC structural
members and joints
3. Poor quality of construction
4. Corrosion of reinforcement due to aggressive
environment.
5. Inadequacies in the structural system to resist
lateral forces due to natural hazards like cyclones
and earthquakes.
6. Settlement or differential settlement of foundation
7. Extreme and unforeseen load

http://www.civil.mrt.ac.lk/ICSBE_2010/vol_01/31.pdf
STRUCTURAL REMEDIATION & RETROFIT OF
DISTRESSES PRECAST-PRESTRESSED T BEAMS
OF A PUBLIC UTILITY BUILDING, IN COLOMBO, SRI
LANKA A SITE CASE STUDY

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Summary
1. A public utility building of a
government department
situated in the central
business district (CBD) of
Colombo, Sri Lanka
comprises of the front tower
portion of basement +
ground + 14 upper floors
and a rear portion rising 4
floors high.
high The roof slab of
a portion comprises of
precast prestressed T
beams.

Summary
1. There was a huge fire in this building on 20th February 2009
and during the subsequent refurbishment of the building it
was noted that the majority of the 4th floor (roof floor) T
beams of the rear portion of the building were exhibiting
structural distress in the form of cracks.
2. The structural distress was due to event overloading onto the
roof slab during the fire fighting operations.
3. Certain remediation and retrofit measures to the distressed
elements were necessary to bring the T beams back to their
intended service performance level.
4. Repairs to cracks were carried out using multi-port, low
pressure resin injection, the retrofit was carried out using the
Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) system.

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OBJECTIVES:STRUCTURALREPAIR&
RETROFIT
Restoring the structural integrity of the cracked
beam elements i.e. repair
p
Recommended repair technique was surface
mounted, multi-port low viscosity epoxy resin
injection into the cracks
Enhancement in the flexural capacity of the
repaired beams i.e. retrofit
Conventional techniques such as concrete
j k ti or steel
jacketing t l plate
l t bonding:
b di i
invasive,
i ti
time
consuming process and additional dead loads
Recommended retrofit technique was carbon
fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) wrapping

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The central twelve beams

categorized as severe cracking

The other remaining beams

categorized as minor cracking

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Crackinjectionresinproperties
An appropriate crack injection resin was
selected based on the following physical and
mechanical criteria:
1. Viscosity low enough to have good
penetrability into hair line cracks.
2. Pot life long enough to facilitate the
proposed low pressure, surface mounted,
multi p
port injection
j technique.
q
3. Good mechanical properties such as bond
strength, tensile strength, slant shear
strength.

Repair & retrofit sequence

Identifying on site and demarcating the
various categories of beams viz.viz beams
requiring no intervention, beams requiring
crack repairs & detail 1 CFRP wrapping and
beams requiring crack repairs & detail 2
CFRP wrapping.
Carrying out repairs to cracks by low
pressure, low viscosity multi port epoxy
resin injection.
Carrying out CFRP wrap installation onto
beams

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The crack injection works comprised

the following activities
The crack lines on the beams
were identified and
demarcated.
Paint, surface finishes and
other deleterious materials
were removed by means of
wire brushing or grinding to
clean the crack line.
Injection port locations along
the crack line at appropriate
spacing were then marked.

Marking port locations

The crack injection works comprised

the following activities
Surface mounted injection
ports were then fixed along
marked locations with epoxy
putty.
The rest of the crack line was
sealed with cementitionus
non-shrink grout.

Fixing surface ports with epoxy putty

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Fixing surface ports with epoxy

putty

The crack injection works comprised

the following activities
The two parts of epoxy resin were mixed in small batches
according to the mix ratio as specified by manufacturer.
The low pressure auto injector syringes were then filled with
the mixed resin and fixed onto the installed port for auto
injection.
The auto injector syringes were replenished with fresh resin
mix as and when they were depleted.
Injection for a crack line continued until all the ports no longer
accepted any more resin.
Injected resin was allowed to cure and the ports were then
removed.

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Low pressure, multi port epoxy

resin injection

Retrofit with CFRP the

preparatory work
Beams requiring the appropriate type of wrap detail were
first identified and demarcated on site.
The areas of wrapping (beam soffit and some portion of
the side faces) were then ground off using diamond cup
grinders to remove paint and make the surface free of
protrusions.
The ground surface was then air cleaned and localised
punning with polymer modified cementitious skim coat
was carried
i d our to
t fill up small
ll pin
i holes,
h l undulations
d l ti and
d
surface defects to make the surface fairly smooth.
After adequate water curing, the surfaces were then
sanded using sand paper to smoothen out any fine
protrusions thereby making the surface ready to receive
CFRP application

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Sizing carbon fibre fabric

The carbon fibre fabric was sized and
cutt to
t th
the required
i d dimensions
di i that
th t
were obtained from site measurements.

Retrofit CFRPWrapInstallation
The two components of the saturant resin matrix were mixed
together in the ratio as per manufacturers specifications.
Sized fabric was then manually saturated from both sides with
the mixed resin matrix.
Saturation was carried out manually using fabric rollers.
The saturated fabric was then rolled onto spools and taken to
site for installation.
Prior to installation of the CFRP wraps, the prepared surface
was first wet primed with a coat of saturant resin.
The saturated fabric was then installed onto the primed surface
by evenly rolling out the spool along the primed surface.
The CFRP strips were adhered onto the surface using uniform
hand pressure along the main fibres, thus ensuring removal of
any entrapped air voids behind the CFRP wrap.
Additional layers were installed on wet strips to build up to the
required number of layers as specified

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Installing saturated fabric onto

element

STRUCTURALRETROFITTING:CASE
STUDY

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Summary
The subject building is ground + 12 upper floors RC
framed residential building structure with masonry
infills and is more than 30 years old.
The building belongs to Syndicate Bank namely
Panchratna CHS Ltd., 4-E, Damodar Park, Ghatkopar
(W), Mumbai 400086.
The building was identified as dilapidated structure
by Municipal Corporation (MCGM) for immediate
demolition within 30 days

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Approach for retrofitting

1. It was important to understand the damage occurred in the
structure due workmanship, lack of codal provisions followed
at the time of construction and poor maintenance.
2. To save the building from the immediate threat of collapse
due to dilapidated columns at the ground floor.
3. To identify the repair measures to the damage, which are not
very significant and to make the same good.
4. To identify the repair measures to the damage, which are
structurally very significant and to evaluate the possibility of
replacing the same.
5. To evaluate the different strengthening measures against the
possibility of redevelopment from the techno-commercial
viewpoint.

Distress
The major type of distress observed in RC elements
were of moderate damage level.
Age related distress and fatigue were identified in all
RC members.
Distress were in the form of cover failure to
reinforcing bars, spalling of concrete due to
corrosion born internal stresses, Open cracks etc.
Foundation was inspected up to pile cap then further
digging was stopped as concrete found was sound.

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Overhead water tank

Overhead water tank was showing major sign of
distress and stored water was continuously
leaking from the cracks. The columns supporting
the over head tank were showing the cracks
running above the line of reinforcement and
were uniform in width.

There were 8 columns at ground

floor, which severely damaged (see
Photograph 2, 3 & 4). The loss of
main reinforcement was more than
70% and concrete has eroded in the
core portion. The sizes of these
columns were reduced 10% of
original.
original
In column no C1
and C2 the cross
section was nil as
concrete was fully
disintegrated. This
resulted the tilt of
about 25mm of the
building. These
columns had
become a potential
threat to stability of
the building.

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HeightandUnprotectedSurface

Diagnosis
Step 1: Categorisation into one of the three manifestation
of concrete damage g cracking,
g, spalling
p g or disintegration.
g
Step 2 : Error in design (not available)
Step 3: Relate basic symptoms to potential causes.
Step 4: Eliminate the possibilities which are readily
identified like corrosion of Reinforcement, Reinforcing bars
rust and cover spall, Parallel cracks along reinforcing bars
and Rust stain
Step 5: Analysis of available clues like Disintegration of
surface, Unsound material, Weathering conditions,
Abrasion action, Swelling of Concrete, Chemical reactions,
Moisture absorption, Crack penetration / depth of crack and
Cold or construction joints

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Causes of damage: 1. Workmanship

No design / drawing pertaining to structural details were

available,, nothing
g much could be diagnosed
g on this p
part.
Building was old and at the time of design the Indian
Standard Code followed for was IS 456:1964. The code did
not have any say on durability aspect of the RCC. Thus the
durability parameters like water/cement ratio, minimum
cement context, maximum size and particle size
distribution, crack width calculations, minimum grade of
concrete, expected environmental exposure condition,
minimum concrete cover to reinforcing bars, etc. were not
given much importance.
These resulted into a fast propagation of damage to the
structure. Also growing pollution has severely affecting the
RC building.

Causes of damage: 2. Corrosionof

EmbeddedMetal
Corrosion is an electrochemical process requiring an
anode, a cathode and an electrolyte.
A moist concrete matrix forms an acceptable
electrolyte, and steel reinforcement provides the
anode and cathode.
Electrical current flows between cathode and anode
and the reaction results in an increase in metal volume
as the Fe (Iron) is oxidized into Fe(OH)2 and Fe(OH)3
and precipitates as FeOOH (rust colour).
Water and oxygen must be present for the reaction to
take place. In good concrete the corrosion rate will be
very low.

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Causes of damage: 3. Carbonation

In good quality concrete, the carbonation
process is very slow.
slow An estimate rate of
carbonation penetration is 1 mm. per year.
Also, the carbonation process requires
constant change in moisture level dry to
damp to dry.
The Indian Standard Code followed at the
time of design of building, ignored the
thickness and quality of concrete cover to
reinforcing steel bars.

Causes of damage: 4. Moisture

Vapour
Water vapour travels through concrete when a
structural / non
nonstructural
structural member
memberss surface are
subjected to different level of relative humidity
(RH).
Moisture vapour travels from high RH to low RH.
The amount of moisture vapour transmission is a
function of RH gradient between faces and
permeability of the cementitious product.
product
One of main causes to severe damage to ground
floor columns could be attributed to the same.

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Causes of damage: 5. Heightand

UnprotectedSurface
The high energy released upon hitting the
building faade surface,
surface especially near
the sharp edges of corners and parapet
causes abrasion of surface by rubbing and
friction.
Generally surface is uniformly worn away,
including cement matrix and aggregates
aggregates.
If plaster has high level of porosity, the
abrasion rate would be high.

Immediate Remedial Measures

1. Propping (Dead shore)
Immediate threat to the building stability
was due to dilapidated columns at the
ground floor and same could not be left
unattended.
It was recommended to provide the load
release system.
Such system was proposed based on the
load on the columns. These columns are
shown in the figure 2.
The props were planned in such a
manner that each prop should temporally
relieve the loads of slabs contributing to
the dilapidated columns.
The estimated load on each props were
120KN. To achieve the proper contact of
slab to slabs / beams the adjustable bolt
were used

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Immediate Remedial Measures

2. Restoration of severely damaged RC columns

It was mandatory to see

that these columns do not
jeopardise the stability of
structure during
restoration.
It was recommended to
build up the original profile
of columns and pardis
using non-shrink
non shrink super
fluid micro-concrete.
New rebars were to be put
in position.

Immediate Remedial Measures

2. Restoration of severely damaged RC columns

The form work should

be in steel plates duly
coated with
anticorrosive chemical
from in side.
These plates were to
be left permanently to
act as casing and hoop
confining materials.

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Immediate Remedial Measures

2. Restoration of severely damaged RC columns

To fill the cavities of

disintegrated column
concrete, high
pressure grouting of
very low viscosity
epoxy was done.
For this purpose the
holes were left in the
steel plates, which
were plugged after
grouting.

Immediate Remedial Measures

3. Restoration of mildly damaged RC elements
While recommending following parameters were considered
besides compatible properties of general RCC repair materials.
1. Low shrinkage properties
1
2. Requisite setting / hardening properties
3. Workability
4. Good bond strength with existing substrata
5. Compatible coefficient of thermal expansion
6. Compatible mechanical properties
7. Minimum curing
8. Alkaline character
9. Low water permeability
10. Cost
11. Durable, nondegradable or nonbiodegradable due to various forms
of energy like ultra violet rays, heat, etc.
12. Nonhazardous / nonpolluting

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1.LatexModifiedCementitious
Mortar
The most suitable material for RC repair is Latex
Modified Cementitious Mortar.
The advantages of such mortar are underlying in its
properties of control strength gain, set time and
reduce shrinkage.
These contain Polymers to improve low permeability
and to enhance the adhesion.

2. Micro-concrete

High Strength free flowing Cementitious Repair

Concrete.
Properties of micro-concrete are similar to latex modified
cementitious mortar.
It has the added advantage of its flowability which
enables it to encapsulate the steel bars where access is
not possible.
Due
D to t Rheoplastic
Rh l ti nature
t it can be
b utilized
tili d as groutt to
t fill
the large cavities. The added advantage of this material is
its ability to eliminate honey combing in areas of high
steel congestion.
In addition the material is free flowing, self compacting,
shrinkage compensated and early strength gain.
Early stripping time of formwork and very low
permeability are another good feature.

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3. Replacing Concrete
Areas of concrete which have been cut away
were made good depending on situation,
situation scope
of work and type / importance of member under
repair.
Recasting of broken chajjas (sun sheds), coping,
etc. were done using ordinary concrete.

4. Grouting
There were certain
locations where
h
honeycomb b or rockk
pockets existed.
Such locations required
the packing by non
shrink low viscosity
material.
The existing cracks in
RC were sealed by low
viscosity and very low
viscosity.

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5. Polymer Fibre Reinforced

Mortar
To reduce the risk of cracks resurfacing due to shrinkage
and to ensure full contact with host concrete, the
proprietary ready to use structural repair mortar is
recommended.
This material possessed a good bond characteristics to
steel reinforcement and concrete, reinforced with
Polymer Fibre, shrinkage compensate, high strength and
extremely low permeability ensured the success and
longevity of repair.

6. Fibre Reinforced Polymer Jackets

1. Ground floor of the building
had soft storey as there are
minimal infill walls. It was
proposed to wrap the concrete
with a continuous FRP jacket
at Ground floor and 1st floor
to resist the transverse
expansion of the concrete.
2. This resistance provided a
confining pressure to the
concrete. The improvement to
the behaviour of concrete was
quantified based on the fact
that concrete wrapped with
FRP jacket exhibits a bilinear
stress-strain response.

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6. Fibre Reinforced Polymer Jackets

3. Initially the stress strain behaviour is unchanged from that of
unconfined concrete. However, beyond the peak stress for
unconfined concrete, the stress level in confined concrete
continues to increase with increasing strain. The rate of
increase is roughly proportional to the stiffness of the
confining jacket.
4. Moreover the acceleration is not increased due to no
increased stiffness, thus attracting much less lateral forces.
5. FRP, in turn, will extremely light weight and thus will not
increase the mass of the structure and also it will not add
significantly towards the stiffness of the structure and basic
behaviour of the structure will be unaffected.

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