Replacement, concrete rehabilitation

Each state department of transport (DOT) has its own specifications and criteria for rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete bridge components. The following example illustrates the decision process for rehabilitation or deck replacement. 

In the last two decades, there has been an increasing effort to migrate reinforced polymer composites into the construction industry for structural load-bearing applications where they have established themselves as a viable and competitive alternative for rehabilitation and retrofit of existing civil structures, as a replacement for steel in reinforced concrete and, to a lesser extent, for entirely new civil structures. There are many reasons to consider fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in civil engineering applications. This section is intended to provide a brief summary of these reasons along with the issues that have slowed down a widespread acceptance of these composites in the construction sector. 

The rehabilitation or upgrading of concrete infrastructures by externally bonded FRP composites is a well-established technique developed in the 1990s. It is considered to be an efficient and inexpensive alternative to the replacement of damaged or structurally deficient RC elements. This method covers several specific applications ... 

The durability of structures is a subject frequently considered in investigations, reported in published papers and in contributions to many conferences. This is justified by poor durability of concrete structures in many countries. It is openly admitted that the structures require repair, rehabilitation and replacement often only a few years after completion. 

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