Introduction to the ACI 562-16 Code
The necessity of advancing the assessment, repair, rehabilitation, and strengthening of concrete structures has continued to develop in the last century through a collaboration of design professionals, contractors, suppliers, manufactures, researches, educators, and lawyers. The annual cost to owners for repair, protection, and strengthening of existing concrete structures is estimated between $18 and $21 billion in the U.S. alone (Vision 2020). Simply put, even sound concrete may require repair, rehabilitation, maintenance, or strengthening throughout the service life of a structure. Accordingly, from 2004 to 2006, the Strategic Development Council (SDC), an inter-industry development group dedicated to supporting the concrete industry’s strategic needs, facilitated the development of, “Vision 2020: A Vision for the Concrete Repair, Protection, and Strengthening Industry,” to establish a set of goals that would improve the efficiency, safety, and quality of concrete repair and protection activities. One of the goals established by Vision 2020 was to create a concrete repair and rehabilitation code by 2015. The ACI 562-13 standard entitled, “Code Requirements for Evaluation, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Concrete Buildings and Commentary,” is the end result of that initiative. ACI 562-16 is the second edition of the Code with revisions, additions, and reorganized information to enhance the Code, providing more clarity and additional, updated information to assist the design professional.
The purpose of the ACI 562 Code is to provide minimum material and design requirements for the assessment, repair, and rehabilitation of structural concrete members. Like other ACI codes, ACI 562 is organized in a dual column format, with mandatory code provisions to the left of each page, and nonmandatory commentary to the right to provide additional guidance and information on the content presented in the code provisions. Unlike other ACI standards, ACI 562 includes both prescriptive and performance requirements. The performance requirements provide great latitude and flexibility to the licensed design professional in satisfying the requirements of ACI 562. Accordingly, ACI 562 serves to unify and strengthen concrete assessment, repair, and rehabilitation projects while accommodating the diverse and unique strategies and materials used in the industry.
In general, the overall use and function of ACI 562, with respect to existing concrete structures, can be compared to that of ACI 318-14, “Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary,” with new concrete construction. As with ACI 318 and the 2015 International Building Code (2015 IBC), plans are underway for ACI 562 to be adopted into the International Existing Building Code to address matters pertaining to assessment, repair, rehabilitation, and strengthening of concrete members within existing buildings. Local jurisdictions and building authorities can also adopt ACI 562 directly. Accordingly, while ACI 562 currently defines the standard for the concrete assessment, repair, and rehabilitation industry, the code provisions of ACI 562 will likely then become mandatory requirements as part of the governing building codes that regulate work in existing buildings.
Overview of the guide to ACI 562 Code Content
The primary purpose of this guide is to help licensed design professionals gain more knowledge, skill, and judgment to interpret and properly use the ACI 562 Code. Although specifically developed for licensed design professionals (LDP), this guide also provides insight into the use and benefits of ACI 562 for contractors, material manufacturers, and building owners and building officials. To achieve this goal, the guide is separated into two main components: Chapter Guides and Project Examples.
The Chapter Guides and Project Examples are provided in tandem for clarity and understanding of the relative portions of ACI 562 Code. The Project Examples illustrate the process of carrying out a concrete building assessment, repair, rehabilitation, or strengthening project from inception through completion. This guide, including the Project Examples, is intended as a supplement to the ACI 562 Code and not as a “how-to” manual for performing concrete assessment, repair, rehabilitation, or strengthening. Several additional documents are referenced in ACI 562 Commentary and this guide to assist in evaluating the various options and approaches to performing successful concrete assessment, repair, rehabilitation, or strengthening projects. The intent of each Project Example is not to be a prescriptive formula for each of the project scenarios presented, but to illustrate how various sections of ACI 562 are applied together to execute the project. For convenience, related provision numbers from ACI 562 are given at the top of each corresponding paragraph of the project example text. Five Project Examples are included within the guide:
1. Typical parking structure repairs
2. Typical façade repairs
3. Repair of historic structure for adaptive reuse
4. Strengthening of two-way flat slab
5. Strengthening of double-tee stems for shear
The Chapter Guides follow the general organization of ACI 562, broken down by the corresponding sections of ACI 562. Section numbers in Chapters 1 to 10 and Appendix A of this guide correspond to the provision numbers in ACI 562. The Chapter Guides include background information and an explanation of the various ACI 562 provisions, with particular insight into how the particular chapter and section of the Code fit within the project. Where applicable, flowcharts are provided to illustrate how to navigate the various provisions of ACI 562. References to Project Examples are provided where applicable to illustrate how specific provisions within each chapter of ACI 562 are incorporated into the design process. In some instances, additional limited-scope examples are included to better illustrate a point that is not covered by the Project Examples.
The first edition of ACI 562 was published in 2013, and was not available when the work for the projects discussed in the Project Examples was actually performed. All Project Examples assume that ACI 562 was available and accepted by local jurisdiction when the example projects were performed.
The second edition of ACI 562, published in 2016, includes additional definitions used in the Code, bringing it into conformance with 2015 IEBC and other similar standards for existing structures. The title of the ACI 562 was changed by replacing the word “Evaluation” with “Assessment.” The two terms, which are used interchangeably by other standards and the first version of this Code, have received distinct definitions in the second edition of ACI 562 (Stevens et al. 2016). Specific criteria requirements for assessment and design of repair and rehabilitation for varying levels of damage, deterioration, or faulty construction was added in Chapter 4 when using the Code with IEBC, and in Appendix A when using the Code as a stand-alone code. Chapters 1 and 4 were revised to include specific criteria requirements for assessment and design of repair and rehabilitation for varying levels of damage, deterioration, or faulty construction. Load combinations in Chapter 5, which defines the minimum strength of a structure with unprotected external reinforcement, were revised. Chapter 6 directs the design professional to provide an assessment before rehabilitation of an existing structure. This chapter includes historical material property data to help the design professional in the assessment if existing documents related to the existing structure are not available or physical samples cannot be extracted, because of the historical value of the structure. The interface bond provisions in Chapter 7 were revised to provide specific requirements based on shear test, as well as when to provide interface reinforcement, and commentary in Chapter 8 was clarified.
Lastly, a summary of the various provisions of ACI 562, as well as the corresponding location where each provision is covered within the guide, is provided in Provision Coverage Matrix at the end of this guide. This serves as a useful tool when searching for additional information to a specific provision of ACI 562.