Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Structures or Buildings

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1375

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates
Interests: structures and computational mechanics; rehabilitation and strengthening of concrete structures; fire resistance; finite element analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Engineering, UWE Bristol, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Interests: performance-based earthquake engineering; seismic evaluation and rehabilitation of existing RC buildings; uncertainty and sensitivity studies in advanced structural analysis and design; thermal and structural behaviour of RC elements exposed to fire

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Guest Editor
Department of Architectural and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sven Hultins Gata 6, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
Interests: structural engineering with focus on strengthening and repair
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The structural integrity and longevity of buildings and infrastructure are vital in ensuring safety, functionality, and resilience. Over time, structures are subjected to various forms of deterioration due to environmental conditions, usage demands, change of occupancy, design and construction errors, and unforeseen events such as natural disasters and fire. Strengthening and rehabilitation techniques are critical to extending the lifespan of these structures, enhancing their performance, and ensuring they meet current standards and requirements.

This Special Issue aims to gather cutting-edge research and practical applications related to the strengthening and rehabilitation of structures and buildings. We invite high-quality manuscripts that explore innovative methods, materials, and technologies designed to address the complex challenges associated with the strengthening and rehabilitation of structural members such as beams, slabs, walls, arches, domes, beam-column joints, etc. Contributions may include, but are not limited to, studies on the following topics:

  • Advanced materials for strengthening and repair, such as conventional steel, aluminum and other metals, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, high-performance concrete, Engineering Cementitious Composites (ECC), and nanomaterials.
  • Innovative strengthening techniques, including unanchored and anchored external bonding, near-surface mounting, jacketing, and post-tensioning methods.
  • Seismic retrofitting and resilience enhancement strategies and design for earthquake-prone regions.
  • Rehabilitation of heritage and historic structures while preserving their architectural integrity.
  • Development and validation of design guidelines and standards for structural strengthening and rehabilitation
  • Nondestructive evaluation methods and monitoring techniques for assessing structural health and effectiveness of repairs.
  • Case studies demonstrating successful rehabilitation and/or strengthening projects and lessons learned.
  • Computational modeling and simulation of strengthened and rehabilitated structures under various loading conditions.
  • Impact of environmental factors and long-term durability of rehabilitation and strengthening materials and techniques.

We are excited to invite you to submit your research to this Special Issue and share this call for papers with your colleagues. Your contributions will play a significant role in advancing the knowledge and practice in the field of structural strengthening and rehabilitation, fostering innovation, and promoting safer and more resilient structures.

Prof. Dr. Rami Hawileh
Dr. Ghada Karaki
Dr. Reza Haghani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • strengthening
  • rehabilitation
  • FRP
  • composites
  • reinforced concrete
  • steel
  • modeling

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

31 pages, 7919 KiB  
Article
Numerical Study on Shear-Oriented Parameters in RC Beams with Openings Reinforced by Fe-SMA Rebars
by Mohamed Elkafrawy, Ahmed Khalil, Rami Hawileh and Mohammad AlHamaydeh
Buildings 2025, 15(12), 2028; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15122028 - 12 Jun 2025
Viewed by 971
Abstract
Reinforced concrete (RC) beams with openings in shear spans exhibited a significantly reduced structural performance due to disruptions in load transfer mechanisms. This numerical study investigated the influence of pre-stressed iron-based Shape Memory Alloy (Fe-SMA) rebars on the behavior of RC beams with [...] Read more.
Reinforced concrete (RC) beams with openings in shear spans exhibited a significantly reduced structural performance due to disruptions in load transfer mechanisms. This numerical study investigated the influence of pre-stressed iron-based Shape Memory Alloy (Fe-SMA) rebars on the behavior of RC beams with web openings, focusing on the effect of shear-oriented design parameters, including the stirrup spacing, stirrup diameter, and horizontal reinforcement around the opening. A nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) was conducted using ABAQUS/CAE software 2020 to simulate the response of RC beams under these conditions. The results showed that the presence of web openings in RC beams reduced the ultimate load capacity and stiffness. However, the pre-stressed Fe-SMA reinforcement effectively mitigated these adverse effects, restoring much of the solid beam’s performance. Among the studied parameters, reducing the stirrup spacing significantly improved the load-bearing capacity, with the smallest spacing (100 mm) restoring 86% of the solid beam’s ultimate load. Increasing the Fe-SMA stirrup diameter further enhanced performance, with T16 stirrups recovering 92% of the solid beam’s ultimate load capacity. The most substantial improvement occurred when horizontal reinforcement was introduced, particularly with T16 stirrups, achieving a 95% load recovery, nearly matching the solid RC beam structural performance. These findings demonstrated the promising potential of pre-stressed Fe-SMA reinforcement as a viable solution for restoring the structural strength of RC beams with web openings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strengthening and Rehabilitation of Structures or Buildings)
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