Seismic Retrofitting and Strengthening of Structures

Retrofitting the seismically damaged structures and strengthening the existing structures due to the upgradation of seismic zones continuously taking place. In fact, learning from occurring earthquakes and study of structural damages has become a very important aspect of earthquake engineering. Most of the developing countries have large numbers of habitats made of masonry, while the focus on the safety of these poor men’s habitats is relatively very less. Developing countries can also afford concrete structures for dwellings, while steel structures are mostly used for industrial purposes. On the other hand, the developed countries have large numbers of steel structures as well as shear wall based structures as they can afford the cost of the same. To have a comprehensive idea about retrofitting and strengthening measures for all categorial structures, the current chapter is an attempt to bring together the existing techniques for retrofitting and strengthening all the structures under separate subheadings and also underlines the promising new techniques which are coming up for this purpose. At the end, the chapter summarizes a few important points on this aspect. The chapter may be helpful for having an overall picture of the retrofitting and strengthening of structures.