Beeston Castle, Cheshire
Conisbrough Castle, West Yorkshire
St. Chad's Church, Essex
Reinforced concrete was first used in the construction industry in the late 19th Century. Concrete is very strong in compression but relatively weak in tension. Steel reinforcements were therefore added to overcome this limitation. The reinforcements may consist of steel bars, meshes, rods and wires.
Most early reinforced concrete structures now require some form of repair and conservation. The majority of damage that occurs to reinforced concrete structures is due to corrosion of the embedded steel reinforcements. As the steel corrodes, it can expand by up to a factor of 7, damaging the surrounding concrete.
Before any repair or conservation plans can be formulated, it is essential that a comprehensive concrete assessment is carried out in order to fully understand the nature of the damage and the causes of deterioration.
Rowan Technologies are specialists in concrete assessment, having inspected and reported on many historic and modern concrete structures.
Rowan Technologies’ concrete assessment services include:
• Full defect mapping
• Embedded metal survey
• Concrete strength testing
• Core sampling and carbonation testing
• Electrochemical potential and corrosion rate (LPRM) testing
• Chemical analysis
• Cover meter analysis
• Render analysis
• Conservation and repair strategies, workscopes and costings
Further Reading
Concrete Inspection Case Studies
(PDF File 2.8 MBytes)
Repair and Conservation of Reinforced Concrete
D.M.Farrell, K.Davies, Historic Churches, The Building Conservation Directory 2005. (PDF File 1.3 MBytes)
Tynemouth Coastal Battery - Traditional Repairs of Non-Reinforced Concrete
D.M.Farrell, Rowan Technologies Ltd Report & Repair Specification, 2009. (PDF File 8.9 MBytes)
