Overhead Installation of Injection-Type Adhesive …

1 40 JULY 2016 | Ci | Installation of Injection-Type Adhesive Anchors An evaluation of two available methods and recommendations for ACI s installer certification program by John SilvaThe Installation of Adhesive anchors in horizontal to upwardly inclined orientations is the focus of several code provisions in ACI These provisions are intended to ensure that Adhesive anchors installed in these orientations (referred to as Overhead Installation in this article) are safe and reliable. The provisions also include requirements on the qualification of the anchor system according to the ACI standard, design for sustained tension loads, and the training and certification of workers that perform the Installation of such recent laboratory study, in which the two currently available methods for installing Injection-Type Adhesive anchors (the most common Adhesive anchor type) in the Overhead position are assessed for their effectiveness, is summarized herein.

2 This study was undertaken in the context of mounting anecdotal evidence that Overhead Installation of Injection-Type Adhesive anchors without the aid of a device such as a piston plug may be unworkable and therefore unsafe. BackgroundOn the evening of July 10, 2006, a vehicle entering the I-90 eastbound connector tunnel of Boston s Big Dig en route to Logan International Airport, Boston, MA, was struck by a 20 x 40 ft (6 x 12 m) section of concrete ceiling falling from above, resulting in the death of a passenger in the vehicle and injury to the The ceiling panels had been hung from the concrete tunnel roof using 5/8 in.

3 (16 mm) diameter Injection-Type Adhesive anchors embedded 8 anchor diameters into the tunnel roof. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) highlighted the use of an Adhesive not suitable for sustained tension loads, but also noted that poor Installation may have played a role in the failure. The investigation and repair resulted in closure of the affected section of the tunnel system for nearly a year. Six years later, on December 2, 2012, a similar collapse of ceiling panels occurred in the Sasago Tunnel in Japan, killing nine motorists. The anchors in this case were capsule-type Adhesive anchors, not Injection-Type response to the Boston collapse and the subsequent report of the NTSB, which noted the lack of guidance on the design and use of Adhesive anchors in construction, ACI developed design and qualification procedures for Adhesive anchors that were implemented in the ACI 318-11 Code5 and a new ACI standard.

4 In addition, at the request of ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code, the ACI Certification department fast-tracked the implementation of a certification program for installers of Adhesive anchors using input from industry subject-matter experts. These efforts have resulted in substantial improvements in the safety of Adhesive anchors, which continue to be widely used in construction due to their remaining area of uncertainty concerns the two methods of injecting Adhesive into holes in horizontal to upwardly inclined 1 (that is, Overhead ) orientations that are recognized by the ACI/CRSI Adhesive Anchor Installer (AAI) certification Both methods are included in evaluation reports issued by ICC Evaluation Service, LLC.

5 The reliability of these two methods is the subject of this and Piston Plug MethodsThe Overhead Installation procedure used for the Boston tunnel ceiling anchors is generally referred to as the end-cap method. Adhesive injection proceeds through a plastic cap designed to seal the bottom of the hole against Adhesive leakage (Fig. 1(a)). Extension of the mixing nozzle usually with flexible vinyl tubing is used to reach the back of the CiOverhead installations of Adhesive anchors are shown in a movie, available at | Ci | JULY 2016 41end capmixingnozzleflexibletubinganchor rodadhesiveboreholepiston plugadhesivehole for embedment lengths that exceed the reach of the mixing nozzle.

6 The method requires the installer to withdraw the injection tube at a rate corresponding to the degree to which Adhesive has filled the hole. As documented in testing conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),7 this procedure can result in significant voids in the injected Adhesive mass, the presence of which can impede the insertion of the anchor rod and reduce the bonded area of the anchor (Fig. 2).The piston plug method (Fig. 1(b)) uses a cylindrical attachment, usually made of molded plastic, to improve the Installation reliability of cartridge Adhesive anchor systems. The piston plug method was developed to reduce the like-lihood that air voids will be encapsulated in the injected Adhesive for the Installation of post-installed reinforcing bars (an application that often involves deep embedments).

7 It has since been adapted for anchor applications and is now offered by most manufacturers of Adhesive anchor systems. Adhesive injection with a piston plug begins by securing the piston plug to the end of the extension tube and pushing it to the back of the drilled hole. As Adhesive is expressed through the injection tubing and the attached piston plug (which is matched to the drilled hole diameter), the pressure of the injected Adhesive drives the piston plug back out of the hole (Fig. 1(b)). Unlike the end-cap method, the piston plug automatically meters the withdrawal rate and thus reduces the likelihood that air will be trapped in the injected Adhesive ongoing use of the end-cap method by some manu-facturers of Adhesive anchor systems has led to mandatory inclusion of this procedure in the ACI/CRSI AAI certification Since its inception in 2011, certification under the program has been contingent on the successful completion of at least one blind injection in a clear acrylic tube with both the end-cap and piston plug methods.

8 Although the tube diameter and length (7/8 x 9 in. [22 x 229 mm]) are representative of what should be an uncomplicated Installation , anecdotal evidence indicates that the failure rate of test-takers attempting the end-cap Installation has been high. This, despite the facts that the installers should have practiced the method prior to the exam; the Installation is usually being conducted in a conditioned, well-lit interior environment; the position of the installer is essentially adjacent to the hole instead of directly under it; and the installer is permitted to retry the Installation if he or she believes the initial attempt was completion of the AAI certification examination authorizes the examinee to install any qualified system in the Overhead position using either a piston plug or the end-cap method.

9 It may be inferred that a single successful Installation at the diameter and length included in the AAI program qualifies the certified installer to perform these installations for all diameters and embedments. Currently, two Adhesive anchor manufacturers include the use of the end-cap method in evaluation reports issued under ICC-ES AC3088 for the Installation of injection Adhesive Fig. 1: Methods for Overhead Installation of injection Adhesive anchors: (a) end-cap method; and (b) piston plug method Fig. 2: End-cap Installation with voids (Ocel et )(a)(b)42 JULY 2016 | Ci | Overhead for embedments up to 25 in.

10 (635 mm) with, for example, 1-1/4 in. (32 mm) threaded rod. It is, therefore, reasonable to ask whether a single successful attempt of the end-cap method under the AAI performance examination conditions is sufficient to verify the ability of the candidate to repeat this procedure consistently and reliably on a the lack of data concerning the relative effectiveness of these two Installation procedures, and in the interest of reliability and safety of Overhead installations used to carry sustained tension loads (as in the Boston tunnel ceiling), an extensive investigation was conducted in late 2015 at the University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany.