Traditional Solutions for Strengthening Reinforced Concrete Slabs

Different strengthening techniques have been developed so far for the reinforced concrete slabs with or without cut-outs. The development of these methods was a necessity due to different causes, such as inadequate maintenance, overloading of the reinforced concrete member, corrosion of the steel reinforcement and other different situations that appeared in time. Each of the techniques that are presented in this paper is better suited for a given situation and come with their advantages and disadvantages. These techniques are considered to be traditional do to their long usage in time and that they involve only traditional construction materials such as concrete and steel. The five techniques from this paper have been and are the most effectively used, in the past and present days, worldwide and a short presentation of the methods and the way they are applied is presented in this paper. The selection of one of these methods is imposed by a sum of technological and economical factors.