fib Bulletin 35 is the first bulletin to publish documentation from an fib short course. These courses are held worldwide and cover advanced knowledge of structural concrete in general, or specific topics. They are organized by fib and given by internationally recognized experts in fib, often supplemented with local experts active in fib. They are based on the knowledge and expertise from fib's ten Commissions and nearly fifty Task Groups. fib Bulletin 35 presents the course materials developed for the short course "Retrofitting of Concrete Structures through Externally Bonded FRP, with emphasis on Seismic Applications", given in Ankara and Istanbul in June 2005. The course drew on expertise both from outside Turkey and from the large pool of local experts on this subject. In most countries of the world, the building stock is ageing and needs continuous maintenance or repair. Moreover, the majority of existing constructions are deficient in the light of current knowledge and design codes. The problem of structural deficiency of existing constructions is especially acute in seismic regions, as, even there, seismic design of structures is relatively recent. The direct and indirect costs of demolition and reconstruction of structurally deficient constructions are often prohibitive; furthermore they entail a substantial waste of natural resources and energy. Therefore, structural retrofitting is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the world. Externally bonded Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) are rapidly becoming the technique of choice for structural retrofitting. They are cleaner and easier to apply than conventional retrofitting techniques, reduce disruption to the occupancy and operation of the facility, do not generate debris or waste, and reduce health and accident hazards at the construction site as well as noise and air pollution in the surroundings. fib Bulletin 35 gives state-of-the-art coverage of retrofitting through FRPs and presents relevant provisions from three recent standardisation milestones: EN 1998-3:2005 "Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance - Part 3: Assessment and retrofitting of buildings", the 2005 Draft of the Turkish seismic design code, and the Italian regulatory document CNR-DT 200/04, "Instructions for Design, Execution and Control of Strengthening Interventions by Means of Fibre-Reinforced Composites" (2004).

Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are used to strengthen reinforced concrete (RC) structures. A large amount of research now exists on this. This book brings together all existing research into one volume.

"This CD-ROM consists of eight papers that were presented by ACI Committee 440 at the Spring Convention in Atlanta, GA, in April 2007"--Site Web de l'éditeur

In December 1996, the then CEB established a Task Group with the main objective to elaborate design guidelines for the use of FRP reinforcement in accordance with the design format of the CEB-FIP Model Code and Eurocode2. With the merger of CEB and FIP into fib in 1998, this Task Group became fib TG 9.3 FRP Reinforcement for concrete structures in Commission 9 Reinforcing and Prestressing Materials and Systems. The Task Group consists of about 60 members, representing most European universities, research institutes and industrial companies working in the field of advanced composite reinforcement for concrete structures, as well as corresponding members from Canada, Japan and USA. Meetings are held twice a year and on the research level its work is supported by the EU TMR (European Union Training and Mobility of Researchers) Network "ConFibreCrete”. The work of fib TG 9.3 is performed by five working parties (WP): Material Testing and Characterization (MT&C) Reinforced Concrete (RC) Prestressed Concrete (PC) Externally Bonded Reinforcement (EBR) Marketing and Applications (M&A) This technical report constitutes the work conducted as of to date by the EBR party. This bulletin gives detailed design guidelines on the use of FRP EBR, the practical execution and the quality control, based on the current expertise and state-of-the-art knowledge of the task group members. It is regarded as a progress report since it is not the aim of this report to cover all aspects of RC strengthening with composites. Instead, it focuses on those aspects that form the majority of the design problems. several of the topics presented are subject of ongoing research and development, and the details of some modelling approaches may be subject to future revisions. as knowledge in this field is advancing rapidly, the work of the EBR WP will continue. Inspite of this limit in scope, considerable effort has been made to present a bulletin that is today’s state-of-art in the area of strengthening of concrete structures by means of externally bonded FRP reinforcement.

In most parts of the developed world, the building stock and the civil infrastructure are ageing and in constant need of maintenance, repair and upgrading. Moreover, in the light of our current knowledge and of modern codes, the majority of buildings stock and other types of structures in many parts of the world are substandard and deficient. This is especially so in earthquake-prone regions, as, even there, seismic design of structures is relatively recent. In those regions the major part of the seismic threat to human life and property comes from old buildings. Due to the infrastructure's increasing decay, frequently combined with the need for structural upgrading to meet more stringent design requirements (especially against seismic loads), structural retrofitting is becoming more and more important and receives today considerable emphasis throughout the world. In response to this need, a major part of the fib Model Code 2005, currently under development, is being devoted to structural conservation and maintenance. More importantly, in recognition of the importance of the seismic threat arising from existing substandard buildings, the first standards for structural upgrading to be promoted by the international engineering community and by regulatory authorities alike are for seismic rehabilitation of buildings. This is the case, for example, of Part 3: Strengthening and Repair of Buildings of Eurocode 8 (i. e. of the draft European Standard for earthquake-resistant design), and which is the only one among the current (2003) set of 58 Eurocodes attempting to address the problem of structural upgrading. It is also the case of the recent (2001) ASCE draft standard on Seismic evaluation of existing buildings and of the 1996 Law for promotion of seismic strengthening of existing reinforced concrete structures in Japan. As noted in Chapter 1 of this Bulletin, fib - as CEB and FIP did before - has placed considerable emphasis on assessment and rehabilitation of existing structures. The present Bulletin is a culmination of this effort in the special but very important field of seismic assessment and rehabilitation. It has been elaborated over a period of 4 years by Task Group 7.1 Assessment and retrofit of existing structures of fib Commission 7 Seismic design, a truly international team of experts, representing the expertise and experience of all the important seismic regions of the world. In the course of its work the team had six plenary two-day meetings: in January 1999 in Pavia, Italy; in August 1999 in Raleigh, North Carolina; in February 2000 in Queenstown, New Zealand; in July 2000 in Patras, Greece; in March 2001 in Lausanne, Switzerland; and in August 2001 in Seattle, Washington. In October 2002 the final draft of the Bulletin was presented to public during the 1st fib Congress in Osaka. It was also there that it was approved by fib Commission 7 Seismic Design. The contents is structured into main chapters as follows: 1 Introduction - 2 Performance objectives and system considerations - 3 Review of seismic assessment procedures - 4 Strength and deformation capacity of non-seismically detailed components - 5 Seismic retrofitting techniques - 6 Probabilistic concepts and methods - 7 Case studies