Structural Assessment & Strengthening
Structural assessment and strengthening: reassessing existing structures and strengthening them where the existing capacity falls short.
The reassessment answers whether the existing structure will carry the intended use. Strengthening deals with the places where it will not.
Reassessment
Analysing an existing structure to current codes often produces calculated shortfalls even though the building has stood for decades. So the reassessment uses the routes provided for exactly that: actual material properties, adjusted partial factors, more accurate models.
Strengthening
- Bonded overlays and added sections
- Bonded carbon fibre or steel plates
- Additional supports, downstand beams, transfer structures
- Punching shear reinforcement installed retrospectively
The cheapest strengthening
is often the one that becomes unnecessary because the analysis was done more carefully. Reassess first, then strengthen.