News – GEOSEC

Restoration of industrial floor slabs by injection of expansive resins

Roberto Fioretti — Thu, 25 May 2023 05:28:49 +0000

Industrial floor slabs must be continuous to prevent the accumulation of dirt and facilitate the movement of heavy machinery. Therefore, tight tolerances for level consistency across slab joints are necessary.

An industrial warehouse loyal customer contacted GEOSEC® for the repair to their industrial floor slab. The warehouse has an industrial floor with metallic construction joints, coinciding with the axes of the structure.

The floor has expansion joints and is divided by slabs of reinforced concrete with a polished surface finish. Differential settlement occurred across the slab joints, due to warping at the ends of the slabs. This warping was caused by irregularities in the granular support base in its levelling and compaction, as well as, by the presence of excessive humidity prior to the concreting of the slab.

Many of the slab edges were found to be chipped from the impact of forklift traffic. Injections were required along the edges of the deteriorated joints to stabilise the support base, and to re-level the slabs. Our team coordinated the resin injection works to occur during the warehouse’s tightly scheduled maintenance work. GEOSEC® carried out its patented SOIL STABILISATION process through injections of MAXIMA® expansive resin, eliminating the irregularities of the granular support base and re-leveling the slabs to within a 3mm tolerance. The building is divided into two independent but interconnected modules.

The total size of the project was 733 linear meters of slab joint restoration, with 279m in module 1 and 455m in module 2, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Once the primary issue (weak soil support base) was solved, the joints were repointed with special mortars.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The injections were made along the slab joints. The injections were made at staggered intervals on both sides of the slabs, to avoid differential movements of one slab with respect to the adjacent ones (Figure 3). At all times, the grouting process is controlled by high-precision laser sensors and receivers positioned on the surface to control the slabs and deformations of the screed itself.

Figure 3

The intervention was carried out over a 4-day period without interrupting normal business operations. With all industrial warehouses, operating time is critical. Breaking out and repouring a slab is an invasive and time-consuming process. In contrast, resin injection for re-leveling a warehouse concrete slab offers a more efficient and less disruptive solution. The resin injection process minimizes downtime in warehouse operations and eliminates the need for extensive excavation. Additionally, it is more cost-effective and environmentally friendly as it reduces waste generated from removing and disposing of the old slab. Furthermore, the fast curing time of the resin allows for a swift return to normal operations, ensuring minimal impact on productivity.

In most circumstances, plant and machinery can remain in place during resin injection restoration, as this is achieved through small 8mm perforations in the slab spaced around 1m apart, through which the injection lances are placed.

Floor slabs are classified as structures and their performance is influenced by the stresses they encounter and the characteristics of the supporting environment. Depending on the underlying soil conditions, the slab may encounter issues such as:

• longitudinal and transverse cracking
• cracks and breaks in slab corners
• lifting of slabs
• pumping effects
• settlement of isolated slabs
• staggering of slabs in areas adjacent to joints
• loss of surface regularity (peeling, crocodile skin, potholes)
• defects in the texture of the finish (loss of surface adherence)

In the joints:
• issues may include transverse breaks
• excessive openings
• sealing defects
• defects in alignment or dowel work.
Addressing the root cause of visible surface problems begins with an initial phase of ground improvement.

When industrial floors are designed and installed correctly, maintenance and repair needs are low. If an unsuitable floor is chosen for a factory, it will require more maintenance and frequent repairs. If your floor slab needs maintenance, using resin injection methods such as GEOSEC’s SOIL STABILISATION is a highly effective and recommended solution.

L'articolo Restoration of industrial floor slabs by injection of expansive resins proviene da GEOSEC.

Drought and subsidence of foundations: GEOSEC technical solutions.

geosec — Wed, 10 May 2023 09:16:18 +0000

Drought and subsidence: The news of these days refers more and more frequently to “unforeseen” and harmful phenomena for the population, agriculture and the environment in general caused by drought. There is often much talk about the damage caused by climate change in recent times, but as often happens, the international community hesitates in wanting to take important and courageous decisions to counter this phenomenon which has now become a natural catastrophe in various countries of the world. This is the case of our continent, where for many years now climate change and drought have been putting a strain on the surface soils of urban built areas. The soil is made up of a solid, a gaseous and a liquid part. As there is no water contribution to the soil due to the torrid heat and the absence of rainfall for long periods, the soil inevitably dries up, shrinks in volume and then yields. It is quite clear that a building, whatever it may be, built on that land may also undergo subsidence up to the final collapse of the structures with possible consequences in terms of stability.

GEOSEC SOLUTIONS:

Targeted expanding resin injections and hydraulic-pressed micropiles for deep foundation consolidation. No more cracks in walls!
Expanding resin injections to stabilise and lift the structure of subsided surfaces. Learn more about GEOSEC solutions.

L'articolo Drought and subsidence of foundations: GEOSEC technical solutions. proviene da GEOSEC.

ROBOPILE, the new GEOSEC patent for driving GROUNDFIX micropiles.

geosec — Wed, 10 May 2023 08:51:49 +0000

To celebrate its 20 years of activity, the #GEOSEC group, specialized in consolidating soils and foundations using expanding injections and micropiles, presents a world preview of ROBOPILE®, an innovative semi-automated robot machine capable of quickly and sequentially laying targeted structural steel micropiles in the foundation soil of the buildings and rigid floors for the safety and stability of the works over time.

GEOSEC ROBOPILE, the semi-automated machinery for driving up to 80 micropiles per day. It is an innovative and unique machine of its kind. In fact, ROBOPILE® is the latest technological frontier in the installation of structural steel micropiles for deep foundations. The industrial application is mainly intended for new and large works, but also for constructions, paving and already built infrastructures. With #ROBOPILE® automated piling technology it will be possible to: improve application efficiency and laying effectiveness in consolidation with steel micropiles (more than 80 piles / day for a minimum diameter of 62 mm – more than 60 piles / day for a maximum diameter of 152 mm). improve the safety conditions of site workers by significantly reducing manual handling activities on board the machinery. In fact, the machinery is highly automated and remotely controlled, perfectly capable of electronically transposing a work plan and applying the consequent control protocol, furthermore the machinery is suitable for moving in different operating contexts thanks to a multiplicity of electronic sensors capable of provide for the necessary safety reading of the work perimeter. advance each micropile, without removing soil, modulating the driving method according to three different options: 1) by driving, 2) by vibro driving, 3) by combined by + vibro driving so that this innovative system will advantageously allow to overcome the limits of by driving due to the ballast of the machinery weight; expand the operating field of micropile laying, i.e. the possibility of laying at greater depths than with traditional machinery, therefore not only in cohesive soils but also granular and mixed, thanks to the computerized system for switching the driving method according to the progress response in the ground of the first module at the tip; Reduce the disturbance of the mechanical characteristics of the soils compared to ordinary drilling techniques. With the same boundary conditions, the reduction of the mechanical characteristics produced by drilling is much more marked than that of driving; The GEOSEC micropile driving technology has obtained from ICMQ, an independent third-party body specialized in inspection activities in the construction sector, the positive technical opinion regarding the compliance of the application procedures with reference to the EN 12699, EN 1997 standards (EUROCODE 7) , EN 1993-5 (EUROCODE 3 part5).

L'articolo ROBOPILE, the new GEOSEC patent for driving GROUNDFIX micropiles. proviene da GEOSEC.