Structural Strengthening, why do we need it in UAE.

Structural strengthening as is evident with the name is done to fix a structure or parts of the structure to avoid further deterioration. It may be also be done to avoid further problems due to excessive or unwanted loads coming on load bearing members. Uae is full of rcc structures and it will not be a surprise if we call it a concrete jungle with high rise towers, sky scrapers at each and every corner. The real estate market is booming and so the necessities of building usage is also increasing. Every real estate owner wants to accommodate more and more people to take benefit from the the real estate market boom. So there are residential buildings wherein the owners want to increase the number of floors, there are hotels wherein the owners either want to add in more rooms or additional restaurants. For enhancing the size of the building, there is always a need to add more capacity to the load bearing members of the building. Even the malls were there is a big flow of consumers post covid would require adding more space or more retails centers to accommodate more and more people. There are also cases where the buildings were left for a long time due to financial situation now the building owners want to restart it again. Structural strengthening plays a key role in all these cases. There are various techniques involved which help in enhancing a structure. The most widely used technique is strengthening through carbon fiber. It is the most efficient way where in enlargement of columns is a challenge due to restriction in space or wherein shut down is a major issue. It is a great material in terms of the weight as it adds very less dead load to a structure and if we see the tensile strength of it, it would be around 10 to 12 more than of traditional steel. It is a great alternative to add more tensile strength as a secondary treatment. The other ways to strengthen any structure is adding more steel and micro concrete and increasing the size of load bearing members. This technique can also be followed wherein there is time for shutdown and increasing the thickness doesn't have any space constraint or aesthetic irrelevance. This will continue to go and in terms of the process it is good that repair of any structure is possible because of modern techniques. We don't need to make another structure from scratch to accommodate more people or to adjust more space. This is the future of construction without doubt.