Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation and Retrofitting

Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation and Retrofitting


In the light of the developments in the field of con-
crete structures the increasing attention for “design

for service life” is remarkable. The background of
this development is clear. Damage due to insufficient

attention for durability, or due to the use of inade-
quate criteria, have led to expensive repair and even

demolition and replacement. De Sitter (1984) made
a statement which perfectly touches the core of the
matter. This statement is known as the Rule of Fives:
“If no maintenance is carried out the later repair costs
will be five times the saved maintenance costs. If no
repair is carried out, the cost of renovation will be

five times the money saved by not repairing”. Mean-
while we have experienced the truth behind this say-
ing: expensive maintenance and repair measures are

necessary there, where in the past the need for the
aspect durability was ignored.


Design for durability has gained the same level of importance as design for safety and design
for serviceability. Many individual contributions to design for service life have been noted in recent years. Such
initiatives should, after some time, result in a consistent approach. When trials are made to develop such an

approach, inevitably “blind spots” are discovered. This paper gives an overview of the most important develop-
ments and moreover traces areas were knowledge is still inadequate and further research is needed.

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