Discussion: Behaviour and strength of FRP-strengthened RC structures: a state-of-the-art review

I would like to ask the authors Teng, Chen, Smith and Lam the following:-I assume that for such strengthening methods to be successful the original structure has to be in good condition and in particular free of cracks. It has recently been my experience to adopt such a strengthening method, using CFRP plates, to strengthen a structure so that it could accept seismic loads. A large wall with vertical cracks at mid-span, varying in width of up to 3 mm wide, had been declared capable of resisting a postulated seismic load. It was not straightforward to subsequently confirm, analytically, what influence the crack had on the wall’s capacity for lateral loading. It was assumed that it was likely that the horizontal reinforcement had yielded across the crack and thus the basis of the strengthening scheme was to replace it with external reinforcement in the