PILE REPAIR BREAKTHROUGH

Pile Repair Breakthrough - By: Mo Ehsani Ph.D


How a University professor created a new material that repairs badly damaged piles in a few hours!

A brand new FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) invented by Professor Mo Ehsani forms a perfect cylinder around a damaged pile or column. When filled with grout or epoxy this external column provides strength better than original and requires only a few hours to install. Cost is around half that of other pile repair methods. The filler material can be pressured up to 800 psi, which greatly increases its strength and enables it to penetrate cracks and voids.

Dr. Ehsani has been working with FRP for over 20 years, and is a world renowned expert. Around 20 years ago Professors Ehsani and Saadatmanesh introduced Structural Repair with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) to the construction industry. Since then the use of FRP has grown tremendously all over the world. However, the way to apply these materials has remained virtually unchanged. The process is still very labor intensive, requires laboratory testing of the layup, and needs highly trained installers.

In the original wet layup method, carbon or glass fabric is saturated in the field with epoxy resin and then bonded to structural elements like beams, columns and walls. The material cures in less than a day, and provides a reinforcing skin that is two to three times stronger than steel. However this technique is very labor intensive and requires highly trained installers. The installers have to make sure that the fibers in the fabric are aligned properly during the installation and that no air bubbles are trapped under the fabric.
Each day samples of the saturated fabric are sent to a test laboratory to verify strength of the installed products. Results don’t come back for several days, and a project can be close to completion before a problem turns up. Rework is difficult, time consuming and very expensive.

The new SuperLaminate™ FRP developed by Dr. Ehsani completely solves these problems. 70% to 80% of the construction activity has been moved away from the field and takes place in the production facility. Repair time is much less, and the quality of the finished installation is much better. Unlike the wet layup method, the strength of the laminates can be tested prior to installation. There is no expensive rework.

SuperLaminate™ is produced in the QuakeWrap plant in Tucson, Arizona. One or more layers of glass or carbon fabric are saturated with resin and then passed through specially designed equipment that applies uniform heat and pressure. This proprietary process produces a very thin solid laminated sheet; anywhere from 0.010 to 0.025 inches thick, 50 inch wide and 150 feet long. Tensile strength is around 155,000 psi.

SuperLaminate™ is coiled in the field to create a shell, like an extremely strong and durable Sonotube. This unique new method is used to strengthen deteriorated and corroded columns, as well as utility poles and damaged underwater piles. It is faster, stronger and much easier than all other repair systems. A version of SuperLaminate™ called PipeMedic™ is used to repair and strengthen water or gas pipes that operate under pressure.