Rehabilitation Techniques
Abstract
Repairs and Rehabilitation Techniques engineering being a specialized field calls for skills and abilities far beyond the construction engineering and has to be a balance amid advanced technology and trends, management, feasibility and economy. Experimental studies from past few earthquakes states, Most of the long-standing buildings that collapsed were found deficient to meet-up the requirements of present day seismic design standards. Frequent earthquakes continue shaking the land every now and then.
Due to faulty construction practices, disinclination to seismic design compliance and the construction that has taken place in the past without seismic standards or awareness calls for the Rehabilitation of the existing structures showing signs of descent. This has to be done to save the lives and the economy.The purpose of this paper is to present the process of rehabilitation,retrofitting characteristics and technical aspects of the major intervention methods. In addition, selected tests and feasible techniques as per the latest advances in the industry to be used for health assessment, retrofitting and rehabilitation are presented in depth with example calculations.
Conclusion
Given that we live in an increasingly global world, the approach in the course of Construction Rehabilitation aims to train students in the same basic elements in all Civil Engineering studies worldwide. However, the course proposed in this paper should be considered as a general guide, in such a way that each university must pay special attention to the topics that are most common within its own area’s construction practices, considering both the regional and national levels. Furthermore, eac university should review the course’s contents to adapt them, in every moment, to the needs of the industrial sector, and society in general.
After an extensive study in which university professors from carefully selected countries have participated, we have proposed topics that should be considered within a Construction Rehabilitation course. Moreover, we have also proposed that this course should involve 60% of autonomous work by students, of which the so-called individual reflection, based on the assimilation of meticulously prepared case studies, should have particular relevance. The other 40% would be traditional lectures with explanations of content by teachers, including demonstrations. In this way, we wish to highlight the importance of previous study to achieve appropriate diagnosis, a key phase, in the authors’ opinion, in any rehabilitation process.
