A rehabilitation study of sandwich GRC facade panels

Glass fibre-reinforced concrete (GRC) has been used for more than 30 years in the construction industry, especially in facade panels. In this paper, a rehabilitation case study is presented, of a building where cracking and excessive deformations were detected in the sandwich GRC facade panels due to thermal effects. The structural behaviour of the panels was simulated with a finite element method (FEM) model, validated by experimental tests performed on the facade, and then used to assess the efficiency of a repair technique, based on external insulation, which showed a good efficiency.