An AIT investigation of the structural integrity of Din Daeng apartment buildings located in central Bangkok has revealed that 20 are severely damaged buildings and at risk of continuing deterioration at an alarming rate. They all need reconstruction.
The findings come from a 4.5 million baht project conducted by Dr. Pichai Nimityongsakul and his team from the Structural Engineering Field of Study at the School of Engineering and Technology of the Asian Institute of Technology. The results of the investigation were presented at a seminar organized by the National Housing Authority (NHA) and AIT at Grand Rachada Hotel, on 14 May 2007. Officials from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, Ministry of Interior, National Housing Authority, and National Safety Council of Thailand were in attendance.
In 2003, the team had investigated the structural integrity of 87 buildings in Din Daeng, which was assigned by the National Housing Authority (NHA), and found that about 20 buildings are damaged and at high risk. This year, Dr. Pichai was assigned by NHA to investigate damages to these 20 buildings and to propose remedial solutions to ensure safety of the residents living in the buildings.
“We found that the rate of deterioration of such materials in these 20 buildings as concrete and reinforcements had increased considerably and in some cases at an alarming rate. We therefore proposed remedial solutions or repairs to strengthen the existing structural members namely slabs, beams, and columns. And, we also performed an on-site demonstration of ferrocement jacketing, a repair technique of choice,” Dr. Pichai explained.
Dr. Pichai said that the service life of these buildings is about 40 years, but only the structural integrity of the repaired part can be guaranteed. “What actually happened is that in these buildings, the damage or deterioration of the concrete and the corrosion of the reinforcing bar has been continuing over time, non-stop. We can’t predict when damage will surface. Suppose we are repairing one cracked column, in which we can see corrosion of the rebars, but deterioration in the surrounding columns may not be observed,” he added.
He went on to explain that because of this, the safety of the repaired buildings cannot be guaranteed; there is continuing deterioration of the concrete and reinforcements. Besides, the cost involved in repairing these buildings will be very high since the repair work will be endless and in the end everything will have to be completely repaired in the buildings.
“We are not in the position to decide whether the buildings should be demolished. AIT’s tasks are to identify the damages and propose remedial solutions. But, I was asked whether it is better to demolish the buildings and construct a new one. I said it would be uneconomical to repair the buildings,” Dr. Pichai added.
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