DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL MONITORING TECHNIQUES IN LARGE RC BUILDING: A CASE STUDY

Resumo

Civil construction area is in continuous technological evolution, either related to new material and
execution techniques or development of analytical and design methods. In Brazil, particularly, standard
codes have been created and updated in the last 10 years due to new studies related to a better behavior
of concrete structures, i.e., ABNT NBR 15961 (2011), NBR 16055 (2012), NBR 15575 (2013), NBR
6118 (2014), etc. These standard codes are fundamental to ensure the safety of structures, qualifying
them for their use. Nowadays, however, it is still able to find recent buildings with obvious pathologies
which are consequence of error and mistakes in different stages of the construction and might cause
the building interdiction or even collapse. Excessive displacements and crack openings in reinforced
concrete constructions represents examples of pathology and require structural intervention to eliminate
or mitigate these effects. After the pathologies correction, it is important to verify the structural behavior
regarding to acting forces, in order to ensure safety and the correct structural performance. In this paper,
a retrofit study was conducted in a large RC building after the structural intervention to correct some
pathologies found. Vertical displacement of slabs and supporting beams was measured in specific points
with auxiliary of dial gauges and precision geometric levelling as the load was applied in increments. In
addition, numerical models were created using the computational programme TQS, which allowed for
grid analogy method, in order to compare its results with experimental values. The results showed good
agreement in terms of vertical displacement and structure behavior. It was possible to validate numerical
results obtained by grid analogy and also certify both the safety and the performance of these structural
elements.