Structural Evaluation, Retrofitting & BIM Modelling of a typical Reinforced Concrete Structure

Abstract

We live in a developing nation, which is excelling day by day with the advent of new buildings and roads. The construction sector – considered as the backbone of a nation in its economy, is appraised with loads of responsibilities in regards of strength and durability. Number of factors contribute to a well finished building which includes its design specifications, proper analysis on software, on-site implementation, use of good materials, strong foundations, quality control and soil properties, etc. Oftentimes is the case, the building was constructed but the structural elements and members started demonstrating failure afterwards which is unacceptable since safety is the primary objective of a structural engineer. In addition to that, in large cities and districts where the land in not available and the inventory is low, new buildings cannot be further constructed, and the old ones are rehabilitated to prolong service life and sustainability. In Pakistan some of the buildings are engineered and some are non- engineered. Especially after the earthquake in 2005, many anomalies were highlighted related to seismic performance. For that purpose, the building is evaluated and analyzed to highlight the elements contributing to its failure. Then various methods of rehabilitation are employed to meet the functional requirements. These primarily include restoration, renovation, maintenance, and retrofitting. These are basically the strategies so that the building is adapted to its new use, preserved for historical purposes, or improve its performance. The same is the case for our project work. We took up a case study in Peshawar related to the same points as mentioned above. The Peshawar Services Complex (PSC) was constructed in the 19th century during the British era, and it was later decided to rehabilitate it through new constructions. But as the building was completed, it displayed failure elements that needed to be rectified for serviceability and safety primarily due to seismic activity in future. For this purpose, the use of analyzing softwares i.e., ETABS and SAFE was put into use. The analysis was run after the building was modeled after defining materials and properties and the results were duly compared. ACI 440.2R-17 was used for strengthening of columns for increase in axial and bending forces. Finally, the adopted schemes of retrofitting were executed on ground and all the marked columns were wrapped with CFRP plies as suggested.