Testing requirements of Epoxy Bonded Anchors to achieve 100-year Design Life vs 50-year Design Life and Durability (Concrete 2021)

This webinar was recorded at Concrete 2021 and the speaker is Andrew Coumaros from Ramset Reid.
Due to several design parameters, including safety, infrastructure authorities are requesting increased years of design life for all construction supplier products used in critical concrete structures such as bridges and tunnels etc. As many applications require post-installed fixings of which Epoxy Bonded Anchors are a common method, the Design Life of these fixings must also be considered. These applications include but are not limited to hold down bolts, bridge strengthening, safety barrier fixings, safety rail fixings, electrical and mechanical services fixings. In the past, Epoxy Bonded Anchors commonly had European Technical Assessments (ETA’s) based on 50-year design life addressed through sustained load data (creep). Furthermore, there is very limited information on durability through ETA’s. Recently, European based suppliers have come together to develop a test method which extends the estimated sustained loading performance up to 100-years. This method was recently released to the public in the form of a European Assessment Document (EAD). This is helpful but does not address other influencing factors which contribute to the durability of the system during its intended design life. This paper provides the comparison between 50-year and 100-year design life addressed through sustained load data (creep) via the assessment of a well-recognized Epoxy Bonded Anchor. It also addresses some (but not all) key durability influencing factors such as corrosion on the steel element, potential crack widths along with water impact on structures exposing moisture to the epoxy bonded anchor.