Performance evaluation of patch repairs on historic concrete structures (PEPS): a methodology for in situ and laboratory analyses

¹ Getty Conservation Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA, USA
² Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, 29 rue de Paris, 77420 - Champs-sur-Marne, France
³ Comue Paris Est Sup, 6-8 avenue Blaise-Pascal Cité Descartes - Champs-sur-Marne 77455 Marne-la-Vallée, France
⁴ Sorbonne Universités, Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation (CRC, UAR 3224), Museum national d’Histoire naturelle, Ministère de la Culture, CNRS; CP21, 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France
⁵ Historic England, The Engine House, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EH, England
⁶ Rowan Technologies Ltd, 1 Barnfield, Urmston, Manchester, M41 9EW9DX, England
⁷ Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Chicago, Illinois, United States
⁸ Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Los Angeles, California, United States

^* Corresponding author: swilkie@getty.edu

Abstract

While there have been many studies on the performance criteria of concrete patch repairs, there are few specific studies on the long-term performance of patch repairs designed to preserve the aesthetic significance of the original fabric of culturally significant concrete structures. In order to address this issue, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), Historic England (HE) and the Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques (LRMH) commenced work on an international collaborative research project, ‘Performance Evaluation of Patch Repairs on Historic Concrete Structures’ (PEPS). Begun in 2018, the PEPS project aims to produce practical guidance that will help those repairing historic concrete through the assessment of case studies in the USA, England and France within a variety of climatic and environmental conditions, typologies and repair materials. The operational phases of the research project consist of in situ tests and laboratory analysis performed on both the original concrete and previous patch repairs. This paper provides an overview of the assessment methodology that has been developed by an inter-disciplinary team of professionals working in the field of concrete conservation, and includes a variety of traditional and non-traditional non-destructive, mechanical, chemical, and electro-chemical characterization and diagnostic techniques.