Spread and codification of FRP innovative technology in light rehabilitation design

The concept of rehabilitation design, often ruled by preservation as proposition of original techniques or application of conventional techniques, comes to new life thanks to research and experimentation of new materials and innovative technologies. The evolution of intervention techniques to recover structural parts and elements has been speeding up in the last few years thanks to technology transfer processes and the results of applied research. Many advanced techniques have been used in rehabilitation of existing structures, proving to be extremely versatile, efficient and less invasive than conventional solutions as well as solutions that are deeply rooted in the traditional building practice. In the field of building rehabilitation, the technical and linguistic-morphological compatibility of both preservative and transforming interventions is a much-discussed question, since not all techniques are suitable for the formal or the general performance outcome or for of the degree of “hardness” with which they affect buildings, where the original organizational rules and building criteria are visible. This is the field of application of fiber-reinforced polymers, a spreading technology that is able to provide a substantial increment of mechanical resistance and ductility. In comparison with conventional technologies it is able to join high performance levels with a good technological integrability and technical compatibility in order to safeguard and make more valuable the buildings’ architectural qualities. Nowadays, FRP technology places itself between a basic level, where its most well-known components are frequently used – bonding and wrapping with FRP laminates and sheets – and an advanced level of experimental applications that are constantly in progress by definition. They are advanced solutions, often applied in particularly complex rehabilitation design together with other techniques, that constantly increase the number of technological options. Nevertheless, even if they will presumably affirm widely in the next years, the competence of the different operators could not be adequate to the required technological levels or to further progresses of the technology itself.