Concrete Repair at the Threshold of the 21st Century: Focus on Strengthening of Existing Structures

A large variety of materials and techniques are available to increase strength of existing concrete structures in an effort to extend their service life. The way to make repaired and strengthened concrete structures durable is to ensure that the new composite system is tailored to serve the intended service life, and that the composite human system, the team involved with a project, is knowledgeable and experienced enough to recognize the complexity of their task. The paper reviews traditional methods and also offers a review on the use of advanced composite materials for strengthening existing concrete structures. The advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are presented.