CARBON FIBER COMPOSITE REPAIRS
on the
HARRIS COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
HOUSTON TX
Concrete Repairs with CARBON FIBER COMPOSITE / epoxy laminations.
Overview:
Age and exposure to the elements, coupled with poor location of the reinforcement steel, caused spalling and cracking of the structural portions of the outside perimeter of the Harris County Administration Building in Houston, TX.
As a sub contractor to NOREX ENGINEERING, I was asked to document the extend of the damage, taking thousands of pictures, then relating most of them to their corresponding location of the building. Photos were easy, documentation of exact locations, turned out to be a very time consuming and error prone undertaking. The end result, however, was sufficiently accurate to be the basis for the bid package of repairs to be undertaken, submitted by Harris County administrators to qualified contractors.
The Repairs consisted of crack injections with Epoxy, Spall repairs and CARBON FIBER COMPOSITE REPAIRS to large portions of the concrete beams. Due to my considerable experience in the design of composite structures in many applications, I was asked by NOREX to provide some calculations and material guidelines for the repairs of the HC Admin. Building. The goal was to apply Carbon Fiber laminations to all damaged and suspect areas of the outside building perimeter. The repairs were to add load capacity; EQUAL or BETTER than the original capacity of the affected concrete beams. I chose different fabrics and varying number of laminations, for specific areas of the building components. NOREX engineering staff agreed with my recommendations. Only minor changes were made, mostly driven by financial considerations. The task has now been completed to the customers satisfaction.
Some pictures and words of the repairs: (not yet added as of Nov 08 2015)
click on the "pics" to enlarge or go to their subject pages