The increasing demands for our infrastructure and the need for sustainable solutions for the large number of existing concrete structures make structural strengthening a crucial research area. Concrete structures are generally quite durable, yet over time doubts may arise about their load-bearing capacity due to, for example, degradation, loads, and ageing, thus compromising their structural safety. Moreover, strengthening concrete elements should not only improve structural capacity, but also be cost-effective and sustainable.

This project develops a methodology to optimise strengthening techniques, with a focus on structural performance over the lifetime, through a cost optimisation procedure. To this end, numerical models will be developed that can accurately predict the structural behaviour of strengthened concrete elements.