Gustavo Tumialan, Ph.D., P.E., is Senior Project Manager at Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. Gustavo may be reached at gtumialan@sgh.com.
After overcoming the initial growing pains (insufficient experience, track record, and knowledge overshadowed by overzealous euphoria with “magic” material capabilities), externally-bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) systems have become one of the preferred technologies for repair and strengthening of concrete and masonry structures in the United States. …
As discussed in Load Testing of Concrete Structures – Part 1 (STRUCTURE® magazine, April 2014), load testing can be used to determine the ability of a structure to carry additional loads, to establish the safety of structures, to validate strengthening, to gain knowledge on the behavior of a structure, and to supplement, validate or refine analytical work models. Part 1 discussed different aspects of in-situ load testing including the load test program, methods of load application and instrumentation. Part 2 describes the load test protocols and presents case studies to illustrate the use of in-situ load testing in the evaluation of existing concrete structures. …
While it is usually possible to demonstrate the safety of an existing structure through calculations based on general accepted engineering principles, this is not always the case. Sometimes there are structures for which calculations alone may not be sufficient to demonstrate fitness for intended occupancy or use. …