Strengthening Haussmannian and Ski Resorts Hotels Wall Openings with Steel Beams and Steel Portal Frames

Existing structures must be adapted to comply with current standards or for space efficiency requirements. This adaptation may include the need to create openings in existing walls. In load bearing walls, the loading path is locally altered and the new path needs to be strengthened. In this paper, a strengthening practice technique based on the introduction of steel beams and steel portal frames and currently applied in Haussmannian buildings and French Alps Ski resort hotels is described. This technique is widely used and applied to walls with different materials and thicknesses or different openings geometry and for a high variety of loadings, presenting acceptable results along time. The knowledge presented in this work is intended to give guidance to numerical and experimental research related to opening strengthening, to strengthening guidelines definition and at the same time to support and encourage the development of innovating wall openings strengthening techniques.