Welcome to MCS !
The Structural Maintenance and Safety Laboratory (MCS) mission includes the development of examination methods for existing civil structures (“Examineering”) with the ultimate goal of limiting construction intervention to a strict minimum. If interventions are necessary, their objective must be to improve the structure, not just to repair it. This goal is in agreement with the principles of sustainable development.
- Development of further “examineering” methods for civil structures towards more sustainable maintenance and life cycle approaches
- Dissemination of MCS’s innovative approach for durable maintenance interventions on existing concrete structures using advanced cementitious and other improved materials
- Consideration of sustainable development indicators, in particular the user’s perception, in maintenance strategies for civil structures.
The continued use of existing structures is of great importance because the built environment is a huge economic and political asset, growing larger every year. The evaluation of existing structures is now a major engineering task. The structural engineer is increasingly called upon to devise ways for extending the life of structures whilst observing tight cost constraints. For this reason the EPFL created the Structural Maintenance and Safety Laboratory (MCS) in 1995. The mission and goal of MCS is to teach, conduct research and co-operate with practising engineers in order to :
- Promote accurate and pragmatic approaches for safety evaluations of existing structures
- Study appropriate measures for improving durability and extending service life both of existing and new concrete structures
- Develop tools for managing structures to ensure adequate reliability of structures the infrastructure, with a view to optimal use of available resources.