Concrete Solutions 2011

The Concrete Solutions series of International Conferences on Concrete Repair began in 2003, with a conference held in St. Malo, France in association with INSA Rennes, followed by the second conference in 2006 ( with INSA again, at St. Malo, France), and the third conference in 2009 (in Padova and Venice, in association with the University of Padova). Now in 2011, the event is being held in Dresden in Germany and has brought together some 112 papers from 33 countries. Whereas electrochemical repair tended to dominate the papers in earlier years, new developments in structural strengthening with composites have been an increasingly important topic, with a quarter of the papers now focusing on this area. New techniques involving Near Surface Mounted (NSM) carbon fibre rods, strain hardening composites, and new techniques involving the well established carbon fibre and polyimide wrapping and strengthening systems are presented. Seventeen papers concentrate on case studies which are all-important in such conferences, to learn about what works (and what doesn’t work) on real structures. Thirteen papers are devoted to new developments in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). Other topics include service life modelling, fire damage, surface protection methods and coatings, patch repair, general repair techniques and whole life costing. This book is essential reading for anyone engaged in the concrete repair field, from engineers, to academics and students and also to clients, who, as the end user, are ultimately responsible for funding these projects and making those difficult decisions about which system or method to use.