New Books on Concrete Repairs Offer a Unique Perspective

Concrete, once considered to be a miracle material, is showing its age. One hundred years ago, people thought that structures built of concrete would last forever. But that perception has changed as signs of deterioration have become increasingly apparent. In Europe alone, it is estimated that approximately half of construction budgets are being spent on the repair of existing structures—and as time goes on, the need for repairs will only increase.

Yet as work has been undertaken to fix these structures, one thing has become clear: not all repairs are created equal. In fact, the durability of concrete repairs is known to be very poor. The large number of premature repair failures on concrete structures in North America and around the world is at least partly due to the lack of comprehensive data on the performance of repair products and on incompatibilities between repair materials and substrate concrete.

Durable repairs clearly are needed, and for that reason CONREPNET was founded in 2003. Funded by the European Union, CONREPNET is a network of companies and research organizations that want to provide reliable information on how different types of concrete repairs have performed over time. The group hopes that by doing so, it can offer building owners and contractors guidance on effective repairs for different applications.

The results of CONREPNET’s work can be seen in two books recently published by IHS BRE Press, an IHS company that produces papers, reports and guides for the Building Research Establishment (BRE).

One of the books, Concrete Repairs: Performance in Service and Current Practice, presents information on how repairs have actually performed. It is based on an extensive survey of repairs undertaken on structures throughout Europe, and assesses case histories gathered from owners of concrete structures along with repairers and research institutes. It was found that 20 percent of concrete repairs failed in five years, 55 percent failed in 10 years and 90 percent failed in 25 years.  Using this information, the book analyzes problems associated with concrete durability and examines current sustainability issues and differing expectations of what concrete repairs should achieve.

“It may seem odd that such information is not collected on a routine basis, but this book is quite unusual in gathering and presenting such information,” says IHS BRE Press publisher Nick Clarke.

The second book is called Achieving Durable Repaired Concrete Structures: Adopting a Performance-based Intervention Strategy.

“Achieving Durable Repaired Concrete Structures is trying to shape the way in which designers and specifiers think about the whole subject in the future, and to put it into a ‘performance-based approach.’ In other words, what performance do I want from this structure? What intervention should I consider making that will enable me to achieve that most economically? How can I make decisions about this on a rational basis, and not just on the basis of what the salesman for the repair materials tells me?” Clarke explains.

“These books are part of the output from an international project funded by the European Commission, so there has been a wide range of input and review,” he continues. “This makes them valuable as they have more status and authority. They should be read by government agencies, transportation departments and engineering consultants around the world who manage the built infrastructure.”

While the books draw on European experiences, they also can be referenced when assessing repairs to concrete structures in the United States. “The U.S. has a wide range of climates and concrete materials, just like Europe, but the structures are pretty similar, so again, the book will be interesting for organizations responsible for repair and maintenance. There’s growing awareness of the importance of maintaining infrastructure—for example, the recent collapse of the Mississippi River bridge in Minnesota, even though it was a steel structure, illustrates this,” says Clarke.

The two books are available individually and as a set through IHS BRE Press. To order copies, visit www.ihsbrepress.com.

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