Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 4658: The Use of Bolted Side Plates for Shear Strengthening of RC Beams: A Review (Sustainability)

Reinforced concrete (RC) beams may need to be strengthened because of material deterioration, structure aging, change of building function, defective design, and the decrease of structural reliability caused by accidental disasters such as earthquake and fire. Thus, the retrofitting of RC beams has become a crucial problem, especially for the old buildings constructed before 1980 in mainland China. A variety of studies have proven that the bolted side-plating (BSP) method is feasible and effective for rehabilitating RC beams in existing buildings and infrastructures. The aim of this paper is mainly to review the previous studies conducted by the authors on the shear performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams retrofitted using the BSP technique, including experimental, theoretical, and numerical studies.