ABSTRACT
A significant portion of the world’s civil infrastructure, including highways, bridges, buildings, hydraulic structures and dams, is constructed with reinforced concrete. After years of service, many of these structures are deteriorating. To recover the original factor of safety, strengthening of the structure needs to be performed. Also, for many structures, the current load demand is significantly beyond the value adopted in the original design many years ago. As a notable example, there are 40,000 bridges in the United Kingdom falling short of the new requirements of European highways to carry 44-tonne vehicles. Such bridges have to be strengthened to satisfy current needs.
