Retrofitting buildings in India for seismic resilience: Expert

Retrofitting buildings with concrete and polymer reinforced with fibre could make buildings in India more seismic resilient, thereby, enhancing their chances of surviving earthquakes, according to an expert. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, have previously investigated corroded reinforcement in beams and columns of buildings, both relatively new and old, in a laboratory settings. Aditya Singh Rajput, one of the reseachers of the study, IIT, Ropar put forth their observations and a few solutions in this regard in a webinar titled “Assessment and Upgradation of Deteriorating Reinforced Concrete Structures: A Researcher’s View”, conducted in association with Indian Concrete Institute, Chandigarh Centre on February 8, 2023. The study reporting the findings was published in 2019 in the journal Engineering Structures.

“Corrosion of reinforcement in otherwise code compliant reinforced concrete (RC) columns of buildings reduced their seismic performance significantly by