Adhesion and the new series of european standards on protection and repair of concrete structures

Within the last years great effort has been made to harmonize the standards for products and systems used in the field of protection and repair of concrete structures within the Member States of the European Union. The standard on General Principles has been published recently. The regulations of it mainly address to the design engineer. They include: - inspection, testing and assessment before, during and after repair; - protection from, and repair of defects caused by the influence of the environment or other chemical substances; - repair of defects from such causes as mechanical damage, differential settlement, loading (including seismic and impact loading), biological attack, inadequate construction or use of unsuitable construction materials; - protection and repair in order to decrease the progress of alkali-silica reaction; - meeting the required structural capacity in repair by replacement or addition of embedded or external reinforcement or by filling of external voids between elements to ensure structural continuity; - meeting the required structural capacity by replacement or addition of concrete; - waterproofing as an integral part of protection and repair; - protection and repair of pavements, runways, hard standings and floors, as an integral part of protection and repair; - methods of protection and repair. The selection of products and the relevant requirements are derived from the intended uses of the products or systems. The intended uses are consequences from principal solutions and specific methods to achieve the relevant aims. Much freedom and responsibility is given to the design engineer. The material specification standards are in the draft status at the time. But it is already possible to refer to these standards concerning the central importance of adhesion tests and adhesion requirements.