Introduction -

Till to date,earthquakes are one of the most unpredictable and devastating

natureal disaster which cause extensive damage to the building / structures.
This damages results in loss of lives and property.
Thus it is very important on the part of civil engineers to built structures with high
seismic performance.
But here the question arises. What to do with high seismic performance. But here
the question arise. What to do with the present old / weak or earthquake damaged
structures?
It has been observed that majority of such structures/ buildings may be safely
reused if they are made seismically strong by usingsome methods/techniques
(retroftting techniques).
Two types of building need to be retrofitted
1. Earthquake damaged building
The buildings which are damaged or weakened by the earthquakes thusmaking
them unfit or unsafe for future use.
2. Weak building -
Building which have not experienced sever earthquake but are seismically weak
and are vulnerable to earthquake.
 Various codes and standards are published by Bureau of lndian Standards to help
the structuralengineers in this field.
This chapter explains various strengthening and retrofitting methods used for
traditionally built buildings and RCC buildings.

Need of Retrofitting
As discussed above the need of retrofitting and strengthening is to increase the
available seismic resistance of the weak/old or earthquake damaged buildings.
In addition to this retrofitting of a building is also required to be done in the following
cases.
1. Up gradation of acode -
As the experience of the civil/structural engineers in increasing codes/standards
are also bring upgraded from time to time.
Thus the building designed by the code, which has been revised need to be
retrofitted to fulfill the latest codal provisions.
2. Change in use of buildings -
Whenever there are changes in the use/occupancy of a building, for example public
building converted to an industrial building or residential building to office building
etc. there is a need to retrofit or strengthen the building to satisfy the codal
provision as per the present class of the building.
3. Important buildings -
Important buildings such as hospitals,schools, historical monuments, etc. need to
be strengthen and restored form time to time to counter the effects of aging and
weathering.
4. Retrofitting and strengthening -
It is also needed in the case of extension or expansion of the building.
Note -
The relative cost of retrofitting to construction determines what is to be done .if the
cost of retrofittingis less than 50 %of the reconstruction cost these retrofitting is
done.
Retrofitting of buildings -
Various methods /techniques are used for retrofitting of buildings. These methods
are broadly classified into two types
1. Local retrofit method
2. Globalretrofit method
1. Local Retrofit methods -
These arethe most commonlyused methods which results into the upgradation
of the individualmember/elements of a building which are seismically weak.
These are economical as compared toglobal retrofit methods.
These retrofitting methods do not lead to any change in the design or geometry of
the building
For example - Repair of cracks in a wall, jacketingof beams or columns etc.
Global Retrofit method -
These methods aim to increasing the seismic resistance of the structure as a
whole in terms of stiffness, strength and ductility.
These are costly methods and may results in change in the geometry of the
building.
For example - adding new elements to the building like shear wall, infill wall,
column etc.

RC
Foundation Shear
Wall
Retrofitting of traditionally build constructions -
Bureau of Indian Standards has published IS 13935:1993 code for repair and
seismic strengthening of masonry building which includes various guidelines and
methods regarding retrofitting and strengthening measures for a masonry building
some conventional method of retrofitting of brick and stone masonry construction
are explained here with their suitability conditions.
Grouting -
Repairing of cracks is an important feature of retrofitting/strengthening. Alltypes
of cracks must be repaired as they tend to reduce the strength of masonry.
It consists of pressure injection of epoxy or cement mortar into the crack
Cracks up to 1 mm width epoxy injectionunder pressure
Cracks up to 5 mm width ---- Cement mortar with epoxy (reinforcement along with
the wire mash)
Epoxy Injection
The stepwise procedure for grouting is as follow -
Clean the outer surface of wall and remove the plaster form area near the crack.
Clean it thoroughly with air and water jets.
Plastic injection ports are placed along the cracks on both sides of the member at
suitable spacing.
Port should be secured in place with some sealant. After the sealant has set, a
pressure injection of epoxy resin or cement grout is applied at the bottom of the
crack, if it is a vertical crack and at one end of crack, if it is a horizontalcrack.
The process of injecting grout is done till the epoxy or cement grout penetrates into
the crack fully and is seen flowing form opposite side of the member.
Guniting
For cracks wider than 5 mm or for area where the masonry or concrete has crushed,
the process of repair is slightly different, and is called as guniting.
Guniting is application of expansive cement mortar or quick setting mortar or epoxy
cement mortar, pneumatically on the surface of the masonry in the form of slab.
It may be done on both sides of the wall, if necessary. The thickness of granite layer
is 8- 10 cm
The stepwise procedure for guniting is as follow.
1. Remove allloose material and prepare the surface by making it rough and wet.
2. Apply gunit (expensive cement mortar or quick setting cement etc.)under
pressure on the prepared surface.
3. In the case of crushed walls, which need to be strengthened reinforcement in the
form of wire mash is placedon the damaged / cracked surface and nailed / bolted
properly to the wall, then it is covered by mortar to give strength and protections eh
reinforcement.
Insertion of through/bond stones (stone masonry)
Stone masonry houses have very thick wall which tend to bulge and separate into
layers. For such wall, through stones of length equal to thickness of wallare
inserted at regular intervals into the wall along the vertical as wellas horizontal
direction.
These stones are fixed with cement and mortar.
Inthe care of bulged wallthe affected portion of the wal is removed reconstructed
and voids are filled with cement grout.
Top of
coping
stone

Through
stone

Fulling
stones
Shotcrete

<
Shotcrete
It is a very important technique to strengthen the load bearing masonry wallwhich
are weak or damaged.
Shotcrete is cement mortar or cement concrete mortar (coarse aggregate size
should be less than 10 mm) conveyed through a hose pipe and pneumatically
applied toa prepared concrete or masonry surface under high velocity.
The stepwise procedure for shotcrete is as follows -
1. Clean the surface and remove allloose material
2. Wet the surface properly and make it rough for bonding. If required, apply suitable
epoxy material for adhesion.
3. Apply shotcrete very carefully so that it form a homogenous layers and the
appearance of building is not altered
4. Proper curing time is give n toavoid shrinkage and cracking
5. In case of damaged masonry wallreinforcement is also put before shotcrete to
strengthen the masonry.
Splint and bandage system
Bandage splint

Welded Wire Mesh

>Connector
Splint and bandage system
It is a very common method of strengthening the masonry buildings. It is done by
providing verticaland horizontal reinforcement (wire mash) on both outer and inner
surface at critical section of the buildings.
The horizontal bands are called as bandage and the vertical steel is called as splint.
Advantages of this system are following -
1. The reinforcement provides additional strength to the masonry
2. Ductility is increased
3. This system binds the masonry element together so that the act as one unit and
box action is achieved.
Confining the masonry -
In order to increase the structural integrity, reinforcement concrete elements
(columns) may be inserted, around the wallpanels or in the middle of the wall.
This will not only make the masonry confined but also increase the ductility and the
strength.

Lintel Band Plinth Band

SillBand

RCVertical Eleiens Toothing in Wall

 Prestressing
-

It is a technique by which internal stresses of suitable magnitude are induced in the

structure so the stresses form the external loads are counteracted to desired
degree prestressing is used for strengthening and retrofitting of seismically weak
and damaged walls.
Prestressing not only increase the strength of the wall but also help in achieving
integral behavior of the wall (box-action)

Reinforced Conerete <>stressed Concrete

Retrofittingof R.C.C. building -
1. Local Retrofitting methods -
Various types of local retrofitting method are used for enhancing the strength of the
individualelement of RCC building (beam, column etc.)
Jacketing -
Jacketing -
It is the most commonly used technique for strengthening column and beams in a
weak, old or damaged RCC building.
Jacketing results in increased moment resisting capacity of the member due to
additional steel reinforcement.
For strengthening column an additional area of longitudinal street and lateral
reinforcement is provided all around the existed column and concrete ispoured in
to cover it properly.
Jacketing of RCC beam can be done by providing extra reinforcement and covering
it by proper thickness of concrete cover.
Seismicaly weak columns are also strengthened by jacketing it with steel plates. In
this method steel plates are glued to the existing column by epoxy materialand by
anchor bolts.
Use of Fiber Reinforced plastic/ Polymer -
Use of Fiber Reinforced plastic/ Polymer -
Use of fiber reinforced plastic sheets is very popular now a days.
These are used for strengthening beams, columns and slabs.
For strengthening column FRP sheets are gluedon to the concrete all around using
epoxy resin.
For beams the FRP sheets are used as follow
a. For strengthening of the tension zone by gluing FRP sheet to the tension face.
b. For strengthening against the shear by gluing FRP sheet on the vertical side of the
beam near the supports.
Before sticking FRP sheets the cracks should be repaired with epoxy resin.
Cement plaster or shortcrete can be done over FRP sheets to protect them form
weathering.
Replacing the Damaged/worn out Steel -
In the case of very oldor damaged beams andcolumns sometimes the
reinforcement is worn out buckled or damaged such that it does not serve its
purpose.
In these case the concrete cover is removed from the affected portion and worn
out or buckled steel is removed.
New steel reinforcement is placed and welded properly to the old steel and cover is
provided by high strength cement grout.

<>
Global retrofit method -
These methods results in the overall increase in the seismic resistance of the
structure.
These are costly methods as compared to localmethod and generaly cause
change in the design/geometry of the structure.
Most common method under this category are discussed below
Adding shear walls/infillwal/Bracing -
a. Shear wall are used for increasing the lateral strength of RCC building. Thus
addition of new shear wall is the best and simple method for improving the seismic
performance of a building the new shear wall should be placed in a symmetrical
manner.
b. Infillwall are also used with proper anchorage to the frame as a retrofitting
technique for improving strength of the building.
c. Steel bracing may be used for increasingstrength and stiffness of the building.
Shear Wall

RC
Shear
Wall