Strengthening Techniques for Greenhouses

Steel greenhouse structures are generally constructed by individual sole contractors using quick empirical structural calculations (pre-engineered solutions). It is also common to import standard greenhouses from other countries, mainly from the Netherlands, Italy, and France, and sometimes from Great Britain and Israel. Evidently, these countries differ concerning the local wind and snow conditions. Therefore, there is a need for a better design of structures accepted as satisfactory, while installation can be done in a different location. Many greenhouse structures incorporating poor designs or inappropriate pre-engineered solutions are currently in use. At the same time, demolition and reconstruction represent a very expensive solution considering the loss of crop production and the demolition and construction costs; thus, strengthening is a reasonable alternative. This paper presents strengthening techniques for steel greenhouses that are code-deficient according to EN 13031 and Eurocodes. Consequently, two case studies are presented as typical applications of greenhouse structure strengthening.