. _ Prestressed concrete beam: a as controlled demolition and: z " prestress loss assessmentAl is the Construction Industry Research and Information Association. It is a non-profit-distributing organisation carrying out research on behalf of its members. CIRIA members include all types of firms and organisations which have an involvement with construction, including clients, designers, consultants, contractors and suppliers. CIRIA members collaborate in research aimed at improving the efficiency of design, construction and management, and the performance and service- ability of buildings and civil engineering works. They initiate and take part in the research programme, and have preferential access to the results of research projects. CIRIA projects are undertaken by a variety of organisations under the direction of CIRIA staff and members. CIRIAS publications are authoritative and independent. They are issued with the sole objective of improving standards and efficiency of work. CIRIA is financed by member subscriptions and special contributions, supplemented in some cases by public funds. For further details and subscription rates apply to The Secretary, CIRIA, 6 Storey's Gate, Westminster, London SWIP 3AU. Telephone 01-222 8891.TECHNICAL NOTE 129 1987 PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BEANS: CONTROLLED DEMOLETLON AND PRESTRESS LOSS ASSESSMENT P Lindsell and $ H Buchner ISBN 0 86017 277 5 ISSN 0305 1718 ©cixta 1987 Price £25 (210 to CIRIA members) CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY RESEARCH AND INFORMATION ASSOCTATION 6 Storey's Gate, Westminster, London SW1P 3AU Telephone 01-222 8891 Telex 24224 MON, Ref G (prefix 2063)FOREWORD The CIRIA research project on which this publication is based consisted of several phases concerned with research into the demolition of concrete structures. Phase 3, carried out under the direction of Dr P Lindsell of the University of Surrey, dealt with the monitoring of a number of pretensioned box beams during cutting and demolition and the assessment of their prestress losses. This work was carried out at Dow Mac Concrete Ltd, Peterborough. The project was guided by a project steering group comprising: Me P Campbell Campbell Reith and Hi11 Dr F K Garas Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd Me R A Hartland Sir Frederick Snow and Partners Mr J Heardman Health and Safety Executive Me TR Mills Griffiths-McGee Demolition Co. Ltd Dr P Waldron University of Bristol br RJ Woodward Transport and Road Research Laboratory Dr R M Lawson crIRTA Mr AR McAvoy GIRIA The project was funded by CIRIA, the Department of the Environment, the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, the Health and Safety Executive and the Central Electricity Generating Board. Dow-Mac Concrete Ltd donated the beams and provided valuable assistance. The demolition work was carried out by Griffiths-McGee Demolition Co. Ltd. ‘The CIRIA Research Manager in charge of the project was Dr RM Lawson, and the Technical Editor was Mrs J Orebi Gann. 2 CIRIA Technical Note 129CONTENTS Page No- LIST OF FIGURES 4 LIST OF TABLES 4 SUMMARY 5 INTRODUCTION 6 1.1 Objectives 7 1.2 Demolition trials 7 1.3 Assessment of prestress losses 8 COMPARISON OF DEMOLITION TECHNIQUES 9 2.1 Conventional methods 9 2.2 Explosive methods 10 2.3 Water jetting v7 2.4 Health and environmental considerations 19 2.5 Safety considerations 23 3. TESTING OF PRETENSIONED BEAMS 25 3.1 Laboratory tests 25, 3.2 Prestress losses 28 3.3 Load test 29 3.4 Test results 30 3.5 Comparison with other studies of prestress losses 37 3.6 Implications of the observations on design 38 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 39 4.1 Demolition trials 39 4.2 Prestress losses 40 4.3 Conclusions aL REFERENCES 42 CIRIA Technical Note 129LIST OF FIGURES Page No- 1. Cross-section details of test beam 6 2. Impact breaker and burners cutting a box bean 3 3. Diamond saw cutting one side of a bean B 4, Molten material produced by thermic Lancing 4 5. Inclined holes in web being charged with light explosive 14 6. Water-bag charged with gelignite within the box-section 15 7. Dust and debris emitted from the water-bag explosion 1s 8. Shattered section after firing the water-bag 16 9. Attaching the linear charge to the web surface 16 10. Rotating nozzle with two water jets 20 Ll. Hand-held jetting gun using an abrasive grit mixture 20 12. Web cut produced by abrasive mixture au 13. Jetting nozzle position of PEP system beneath the beam soffit au 14. Web cuts produced by FEP system 22 15. Recorded noise levels for demolition methods 22 16. Two-point load test arrangement 32 17. VW gauge positions on test bean 32 18. Compressive strains at top of web 33 19. Tensile strains on soffit 33 20. Shift in neutral axis at mid-span section 34 21. Mid-span deflections during load tests 34 22. Tensile strains on soffit during re-loading 36 LIST OF TABLES 1. Properties of concrete in the box beams 26 2. Elastic modulus of prestressing strands 27 3. Estimated prestress losses since transfer 29 4, Elastic modulus obtained from load/deflection tests 35 5. Prestress losses estimated from cracking moment 7 4 CIRIA Technical Note 129SUMMARY This Technical Note reports on two aspects of prestressed concrete of interest to designers: the performance of different methods of cutting or breaking up prestressed sections, and the long-term prestress losses, both of which may be assessed during controlled demolition. Firstly, the use of traditional and specialist demolition techniques are compared for the controlled cutting and demolition of a series of 29m-long pretensioned concrete box beams. The efficiency, safety and environmental implications of each method are considered. The traditional demolition technique of impact breaking and burning with an oxy-acetylene torch is concluded to be the most effective method, but recent advances in water-jetting technology have created a technique suitable for the precise cutting of prestressed concrete structures. Further tests are considered necessary to develop the full potential of explosive techniques. Secondly, the long term losses of prestress in the pretensioned beams, and their overall load-carrying capacity, are assessed by three independent methods. Direct measurements of prestress forces were obtained from residual strain measurements on individual strands and the overall prestress losses were deduced from residual strains on concrete cores and from a full-scale cracking moment test. Satisfactory agreement was achieved from the three techniques and the average losses since transfer are estimated to be 28-32%, very close to the original design prediction of 27%. Some scatter in the results from the direct measurements and coring method was observed and it is recommended that further development and calibration work should be carried out in controlled laboratory tests. CIRIA Technical Note 129 5Le INTRODUCTION The magnitude of long-term prestress losses, and the behaviour of prestressed concrete structures during demolition, have both been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Valuable information fon both topics may conveniently be gathered during the dismantling and controlled demolition of existing structures, providing sufficient details are available regarding the original design assumptions and construction sequengpy AS a wide range of pretenstoning and post~ tensioning systems (1) is now available, information is needed on the performance of a number of prestressed structures, with the aim of achieving better design and safer demolition procedures. A comprehengive report on demolition techniques was sade by London Transport (2) in 1970 in which the relative performance and cost of each method was compared. This study was concerned primarily with the demolition of reinforced concrete and was largely based on information obtained from contemporary manufacturers and operators. There have pyegyother reports and surveys on available demolition techniques >), but only a limited number of full-scale trials to provide a meaningful comparison. When eight 29m-long pretensioned box-beams were offered by Dow-Mac Concrete Ltd for research purposes, CIRIA therefore decided not only to carry out a series of comparative demolition trials using a range of different techniques but also to investigate the levels of residual prestress in the beams. The eight pretensioned top-hat box-beams, of which a cross-section is shown in Figure 1, were originally designed by G Maunsell & Partners for the extension of Western Avenue in London. They were cast in 1968 lat the Dow-Mac precast works at Tallington and detailed records were available of both the design calculations and the construction, including the initial prestress. The eight surplus beams available for testing had not been used due to minor defects in thefr construction, and had remained outside for a period of 17 years. |_——sian J =! 165m 127 nm 210m) 1372. mm ‘44 No. 15mm dam, prestressing strands — Figure 1 Cros: CIRIA Technical Note 129lel 12 The beams were all designed to be simply supported and contained over 40 pretensioned strands, the precise number depending upon the depth of the section. Many strands in the bottom layers were purposely debonded towards the ends of the beams to avoid high stresses in areas where self-weight bending moments were small. The inner core of the beams was formed using a combination of plastic sheeting and a chicken-wire mesh. Additionally, in October 1983, CIRIA commissioned the University of Surrey to carry out a controlled demolition exercise on four 28m-long post-tensioned bridge beams at Basingstoke. The main purpose of this work was to compare the residual level of prestress in the tendons with predictions from the original design and with recent methods proposed by various international codes of practice. The observations are summarised in Section 3.5. The demolition was carried out in a conventional manner by exposing the tendons at intervals using a hydraulic powered breaker and cutting with an oxy-acytelene torch. Objectives Three main objectives were specified for this stud © To compare the relative merits of various techniques for cutting and breaking up prestressed concrete in terms of efficiency, safety and local environment * To measure the residual level of prestress by strain-gauging individual strands * To determine the cracking point of a beam subjected to a standard two-point load test, and to use the result as an independent check on the overall loss of prestress. Demolition trials The conventional techniques which may be used to break up or cut prestressed concrete elements include the demolition ball, impact breaker and burning, thermic lance, diamond saw and hydraulic jaw crusher. On low structures without any environmental restrictions, the demolition ball is the most effective method in terms of speed and cost. Complex structures such as bridges and multi-storey structures would normally require a combination of selective breaking and cutting, Which makes it difficult to evaluate the best method. In many cases cost and speed are not the only criteria, and so three other common methods were selected for comparison: impact breaking; thermic Lancing; and diamond sawing. Water jetting, less commonly used for prestressed structures, was also tested. Demolition by explosives has been widely used for reinforced concrete, masonry and steel structures, but experience with prestressed concrete is rare in the UK. It was therefore decided that a variety of explosive techniques should be tested to determine their potential both for selective cutting and for total demolition. In addition, it was decided to carry out a trial using thermite powder, which produces sufficient heat on ignition to melt prestressing steel. Water jetting is a well-established method for cutting reinforced concrete, but recent developments have suggested it might be used for precise and selective cutting of prestressed structures. The basic cutting action of a high-speed water jet is produced by eroding the cement matrix and washing out the aggregate, but the introduction of a CIRIA Technical Note 129 713 fine grit into the jet and the use of much higher operating pressures changes the cutting action. It had been claimed that both aggregate particles and steel could be cut and a more regular slot produced. The beams to be tested were constructed with an extremely hard natural flint aggregate which, along with the prestressing strands, posed a very severe test for the two water jetting systems selected for trial. Assessment of prestress losses The long term losses of prestress in the eight pretensioned box beans were estimated by the original designers to be 27%. To enable the in-situ prestress losses to be estimated, a major priority was to obtain measurements of the residual strains in the prestressing strands by both direct and indirect methods and thereby to estimate the prestress loss. The full-scale testing facilities offered by Dow Mac also gave a unique opportunity to determine the cracking point of the beam. A beam was therefore selected for a two-point loading test and instrumented with vibrating wire strain gauges over the middle third of the span. Loading was to be applied in small increments so that the onset of cracking could be detected by both strain and deflection measurements. Allowing for the tensile strength of the concrete, the cracking moment would then give a reliable indication of the remaining level of prestress in the mid-span region. The results of this test are compared with the original design estimate, with code methods, and with similar prestressed concrete structures; see Section 3. CIRIA Technical Note 1292eLeL COMPARISON OF DEMOLITION TECHNIQUES Three of the eight pretensioned box-beams (see Section 1) were removed from the storage area and placed on large concrete blocks to raise them Am above the ground. Two beams were chosen for the diamond saving, thermic lancing, explosive and water jetting trials. The third beam was broken up by an impact breaker and the strands severed by burning. The remaining five beams were also broken up in this manner away from the trial area. In order to compare the various methods, a common task was set for each demolition operator. A complete cut was required down the web on one side and across the soffit of the beam. Access to the soffit was severely restricted by the height above ground level, and the large diameter saw and thermic lance could not be operated beneath the beans. Conventional method: The box-beams consisted of relatively thin webs and flanges, which affected the comparativ# performance of conventional demolition techniques. A different outcome might result when considering, for instance, a long straight cut through a post-tensioned concrete slab, and more general applications should be considered when assessing the significance of the tests. Impact breaker and burning ‘The heavy-duty Montabert breaker shown in Figure 2 was used to break up the concrete sections into 5m lengths. A cut was made by punching a hole through the top flange, which only took 2-3 minutes as there was very little reinforcement apart from shear stirrups. The flange was 160mm thick and the webs were 120mm thick. Each web contained one pretensioned strand at the top and 7-11 strands in the lower half. Consequently, progress was rapid on the upper half of the nearside web but was greatly reduced as the strands were encountered. Two men were needed to maintain progress with burning and removing the pretensioning strands and to permit access to the farside web and the lower flange. The burning operation was tedious due to the many strands present at each section and required caution on the part of the operators. All strands were fully tensioned in the mid-span areas and each one could whip-lash violently as it was cut, because of the length of strand exposed by the impact breaker. After the farside web was broken out, the lower flange was tackled. The section was propped clear of the ground at each cut point, so that concrete debris could be driven beneath the strands. This was particularly important for the lower flange, which was 180mm thick and contained 30 pretensioned strands in two equal layers. The horizontal spacing between strands was 40mm, and only 50mm separated the two layers. The time taken to burn and remove the strands was still the limiting factor, since the machine took only 7-8 minutes to break through each section. CIRIA Technical Note 129 922 2.163 2.2 2.2e1 10 Diamond sawing ‘The supporting track and shield for a large-diameter wall saw was bolted to the web of the box-beam in an upright position to produce a transverse cut through the web and flanges. The system could be operated with either a lm or i}m diameter saw-blade, depending upon the depth of penetration required. The saw was powered by a portable hydraulic system and required two operators to set it up and perform a cute The Im diameter blade illustrated in Figure 3 was chosen for this application and it produced a clean, accurate cut in a very short time During the first demonstration, the saw traversed down the web at a rate of 100 mm/min. It was clear that, once set up on a guide track, the saw would be most useful on a long length of cut where accuracy, speed and minimal damage are important factors. The teeth of the saw blades were sufficiently widely spaced to accommodate a T-wire prestressing strand. Consequently there was a risk that a strand might jam the saw or break off complete teeth; a slightly worn blade proved to be less prone to jamming and breakage. All the strands in one web were cut cleanly and smoothly without any interruption to the sawing process. Thermic lance In contrast to the saw cut, the web-cut produced by the thermic lance, as shown in Figure 4, was irregular and considerable damage was created in the surrounding concrete but, since demolition was the prime objective, this method proved to be very effective. The complete web- cut of 1.4m took about 30 minutes, and required two operators. ‘The oxygen needed for the thermic lance was supplied from a large spherical tank mounted on a lorry. The operator performing the cut needed to be on the sane level as the beam to gain access and to penetrate the concrete without being exposed to molten debris- Consequently a working platform at beam level was necessary to give the operator freedom of movement to handle the changing length of the lance as it was consumed. Explosive methods Two separate procedures were used to determine the potential for explosive techniques. The first method was to remove concrete from the prestressing strands without severing the steel, which could be a preliminary stage for transverse cutting. The second method was to cut the steel directly using shaped charges, either before removal of surface concrete or after exposure of the prestressing strands. Concrete removal by explosives The position of the beams within the precast yard severely limited the size of the charge that could be safely fired. In addition, work was not allowed to commence before mid-day so that there was insufficient CIRIA Technical Note 129time to carry out several of the intended techniques. However, the two explosive engineers performing the trials were able to use four distinctly different methods for removing the concrete at a sections Vertical holes in top slab The object of this demonstration was to produce a small hole in the top slab of a box unit. A conventional rock-drill was used to drill five 25mm dia. vertical holes in a pentagonal pattern about 150mm wide, to a depth of 115mm in the 160mm slab. The holes were filled with an aerosol foam explosive and the charges fired simultaneously using 12g/m detonating cord. The chosen explosive had a low density of 0.22g/ml and a velocity of 2,400m/s which was insufficient to remove the concrete plug, although a more powerful explosive would probably have succeeded without difficulty. In situations where access is restricted, this method would be a useful alternative to conventional core drilling. Inelined holes in web A pattern of eight 25mm holes was drilled downwards into a web at an angle of 45 degrees to the surface. The holes, made with a lightweight jack-hammer, were spaced at 300m intervals and arranged in two rows 200mm apart. This was a difficult operation, requiring two men. The holes were charged with a total of 150gm of light explosive and were plugged with clay as shown in Figure 5. The web face was packed with sand bags and a rubber mat placed over the top of the beam to reduce the amount of flying debris. The charges were initiated simultaneously; the concrete was successfully stripped from the web and the steel, unaffected by the blast, was exposed. Water-bag inside box A heavy-duty plastic bag filled with water formed the basis of this test. The bag was made of 0.5mm PVC in the shape of a 600mm cube. It contained a 600mm-long, 100mm-diameter tube attached to the middle of one face to allow the bag to be filled with water. The bag was inserted into the box-section through a vertical hole in the top slab. Three 10mm reinforcing bars were used to support the bag on two sides, while the other two sides were confined by the webs of the box-beam ‘The bag was filled from the top using a hose pipe and formed the shape illustrated in Figure 6. An explosive charge was prepared from 5 cartridges of gelignite to give a bundle approximately 500mm in length with a total explosive content of l.Ikg- The charges were threaded together by a double strand of detonating cord (12g/m) and a single length of light detonating cord (3g/m) attached to the two ends to form a fuse. The charge was lowered into the water so that the bundle of cartridges lay transversely to the longitudinal axis of the beam, and on the bottom of the bag. The beam was covered with three sand bags and two lm wide strips of rubber sheeting. The result of the explosion is shown in Figure 7. The concrete section around the water-bag was completely shattered and separated from the prestressing strands and the ordinary reinforcement, but little damage was caused to the steel by the blast. Distortion of the reinforcement was caused primarily by the collapse of the beam. The high efficiency CIRIA Technical Note 129 an2.2.2 12 of this technique was demonstrated by the manner in which all the concrete aggregate in the congested bottom flange was fragmented; only a few particles of aggregate remained around the strands in the flange region, as illustrated in Figure 8. There is little doubt that this type of technique could be adopted for similar forms of prestressed concrete demolition, where the explosive force is confined. The preparation time is likely to be very short and the relative cost of materials compared with other explosive methods is most favourable. The main limiting factors are likely to be the location and form of the structure. Hemiepherical-shaped charge The purpose of this trial was to demonstrate that a cutting charge could generate a small hole with the minimum of time in any location. A 15mm diameter hole was produced in the 150mm thick top slab of a beam using a hemispherical-shaped charge, consisting of 20g of plastic explosive within a 40nm-diameter hemispherical steel liner. The prepared charge has the advantage of portability and can cut through any steel which is encountered. Its drawback is that it makes an exceptionally loud noise in relation to the size of the charge, and the provision of unwieldy sound-proofing material could be far more difficult than placing the charge+ Cutting tendons Prestressing steel is normally contained deep within a concrete section, unlike conventional reinforcement which is deliberately spaced just beneath the surface. It therefore presents special problems for demolition because it must be precisely located before cutting. Post- tensioned sections contain relatively few tendons, which may be displaced during construction. Pretensioned elements contain many accurately placed strands, but they are widely dispersed throughout the concrete section- Linean-chaped charge on surface ‘The Linear-shaped charge demonstrated in Figure 9 contained 0.5kg of very high detonation velocity explosive, about 8,000m/sec. The concentrated blast had obviously been widely dispersed and there was ao sign that the steel had been cut in this area. A second attempt was made with another linear-shaped charge that had originally been prepared for cutting vertically upwards through the beam soffit. This charge was only 300mm in length and contained 0.75kg of explosive; it was placed directly against the concrete covering the prestressing strands in the bottom of the web. The increase in the explosive charge had no visible effect on the steel, however; it was evident that the concrete was very effective in diffusing the blasts and a two-stage process would be needed to cut the tendons. CIRIA Technical Note 129Figure 2. Impact breaker and burners cutting a box beam Figure 3 Diamond saw cutting one side of a beam CIRIA Technical Note 129 13Figure 4 Molten material produced by thermic lancing Figure 5 Inclined holes in web being charged with light explosive 4 CIRIA Technical Note 129Figure 6 Water-bag charged with gelignite within the box-section Figure 7 Dust and debris emitted from the water-bag explosion CIRIA Technical Note 129 15Figure 8 Shattered section after firing the water-bag Figure 9 Attaching the linear charge to the web surface 16 CIRIA Technical Note 1292.263 2.3 2.361 Cutting charge placed between strands Access to the strands in the bottom flange was extremely difficult since only 40mm separated the layers. Two holes were drilled horizontally within the strand layers, one 38mm, the other 20mm in diameter. If the space between layers had been larger, a 50mm-diameter hole would have been made and a shaped charge with sufficient power to cut both layers of strand simultaneously would have been inserted. A double strand of detonating cord (40g/m) was inserted in the 20mm hole so that about 70g of explosive was contained across the width of the beau. The concrete cover beneath the lower layer of strands was completely removed by the charge. This allowed an improvised steel-lined cutting charge containing 280g/m of explosive to be attached to the lower layer of strands, most of which were cut by the blast. This approach would be very successful after a few additional trials to determine the most effective cutting charge. A similar charge with about 350g/m of explosive was inserted in the 38mm hole, orientated to cut upwards into the second layer of strands. Again, most of the strands were cut or severely danaged. ‘Theraite powder Thermite powder is based on a mixture of aluminium and iron oxide and produces a very violent heat-generating reaction when ignited, making molten iron in the process. The object of this experiment was to generate sufficient heat to weaken the prestressing steel across a section. A 32am-diameter hole was drilled horizontally between the two main layers of strands in the bottom flange, and a short vertical hole was drilled through the bottom flange to connect with the horizontal hole. The latter was covered with an aluminium sheet that would melt under the action of the burning thermite powder. About 20kg of thermite powder was used. The subsequent reaction was very violent and generated an enormous amount of heat and charring, but it appeared that the flow of molten iron had been obstructed within the horizontal hole and the method had not succeeded in weakening the tendons. Water jetting Two water-jetting systems based on completely different principles were used for the trials; both systems had been tested on ordinary reinforced concrete in the past. Trial cuts were made across the soffit and through the web of a beam for direct comparison of their performance. A minimum of two men would be needed to operate both systems effectively on a full-scale job. System operated by Sheldon Ltd ‘The equipment used in the demonstration was powered by a 200hp diesel engine and a HOP 220 Hanmelman pump. ‘The water jet was applied at approximately 800 bar, at flow rates of 80-100 litres/min, and with a stream of abrasive grit added for greater penetration. The abrasive used was a copper slag grit at a rate of 5kg/min which was sucked dry into the jet. CIRIA Technical Note 129 72.362 18 Single jet on soffit The jetting gun was initially mounted in a vertical position underneath the soffit of a beam, supported by a steel frame bedded on timber sleepers. A proportion of the abrasive grit bounced directly back into the nozzle, however, which quickly became clogged with grit. ‘The gun was able to traverse to and fro across the soffit and, had it been inclined a few degrees away from the vertical position, the penetration would have been considerably more effective. Unfortunately, the frane had not been designed to allow angular rotations of the gun, but this could easily be rectified. Multiple jete on soffit A rotating nozzle with two jets set at 20 degrees to provide drive was substituted for the single jet. The nozzle rotated at 150 rpm and the jets did not require the addition of grit abrasive, since they were designed only to strip off the concrete cover to the bottom layer of strands. It took about one minute for the nozzle to pass across the soffit, and only four passes were required to expose the bottom strands fully; details of the rotating nozzle can be seen in Figure 10. Single jet on web The web-cutting capabilities of this water-jetting system were tested with a hand-held jet using a single nozzle. Two forms of cut were produced, the first using only water and the second incorporating the abrasive grit; Figure 11 shows the second type of cut being made- Both cuts were very effective but rather irregular. In the first case ‘a rough circular hole was produced, with extensive shattering of the surface concrete. The cut was achieved primarily by erosion of the cenent matrix and the steel reaained unaffected. The result of the cut with abrasive included in the jet can be seen in detail in Figure 12 again much of the concrete surface around the cutting area was eroded, but the prestressing strands were cut very easily. Holding the jetting nozzle for long periods of time would be a tiring and difficult task, since the operator has to provide a reaction against the jetting thrust. For general application, operator comfort and safety would be increased by the provision of a self-reacting frame or rig. System operated by FEP Ltd The equipment supplied for the trials was a standard FEP jet~cutter unit, with a new nozzle design and with the flow adjusted specifically for cutting a good quality concrete. The water jet was supplied by a high pressure water pump at pressures exceeding 700 bar and with typical flow rates of 50 litres/min. The FEP system was fundamentally different to the Sheldon system, since it incorporated a slurry unit- A dry copper slag abrasive with a grit size of 0.15 - 0.2mm was supplied to the slurry unit at a rate of up to 7kg/min, together with water from a normal low-pressure tank. The slurry unit was powered by a separate compressor which fed the slurry mixture under pressures of 100 bar and at a flow rate of approximately 30 litres/min into the jetting gun. The high-pressure water jet and the slurry mixture were combined in the gun and produced a very effective cutting action. CIRIA Technical Note 1292b Soffit cut ‘The jetting nozzle and the supporting track are illustrated in Figure 13. The nozzle was inclined approximately ten degrees to the vertical in making the flange cut, and no problems were encountered from abrasive grit blocking the jet as it rebounded from the beam. The system was remote controlled so that the nozzle could pass across the soffit or up the web without assistance from the operators. The nozzle was positioned approximately 10mm from the soffit. During an 8-minute demonstration, a 150mm deep cut was produced over a length of 150mm. The resulting cut was very precise and comparable in quality with that obtained with the diamond saw. Web cut The web was cut both horizontally and vertically to demonstrate the versatility of the system. An excellent result was again obtained, with both the concrete and the prestressing steel precisely cut (Figure 14). With this system the jetting action did not produce any spalling of the concrete surface. Health and environmental considerations The four principal areas assessed in this study relating to the health of the operatives and the effects on the local environment were the noise, dust, fumes and vibrations produced. In some cases, the operatives were subjected to levels of continuous noise beyond the limits recommended by the Health and Safety Executive ©). Even without a noise meter, it was readily apparent that the two techniques producing the greatest noise were the Montabert breaker and the water~jetting systems. The operatives working with the Montabert were subject to excessive noise as the machine broke into the top slab and nearside web. The men burning the prestressing strands were often within 5m of the breaker and were subjected to over 110dB at frequent intervals. Even the machine driver experienced a general noise level of 90d3, and this Increased to 95dB when the cab door remained open. Detailed measurements were taken of the noise levels produced at various distances from the source, and the results are shown in Figure 15. Clearly, it is necessary to provide ear protection for all operatives working in the vicinity of this type of machine. The noise was accompanied by excessive structure-borne vibrations, dust and fumes, the last produced during burning of the rubber hose-pipe in which many of the strands were enclosed. The hand-held jetting gun operated by Sheldon required a man to work within 2m of the source of noise, in which position he had to wear ear protection constantly as the noise level was about 110dB- The noise attenuation with distance followed a similar profile to that of the Montabert breaker and is included for comparison in Figure 15. ‘The remotely-operated water-jetting system developed by FEP allowed all personnel to stand well clear of the jetting gun. At 2m from the jet, the noise level was 102dB, considerably less than with the Sheldon system, but the operators were stationed next to the generator and CIRIA Technical Note 129 19Figure 10 Rotating nozzle with two water jets Figure 11 Hand-held jetting gun using an abrasive grit mixture 20 CIRIA Technical Note 129Figure 13 Jetting nozzle position of FEP system beneath the beam soffit CIRIA Technical Note 129 a22 Figure 14 Web cuts produced by FEP system Noise (484) Nontabert breaker in0 eo ae ‘e aC SX ~ Wg WAU Wie RaQ rs , murine so] £89 pm gears 7 “S55 “2 1? unter jet_——/ ee Noise threshotd for 8 hour day SS 18 20 Distance fram source (m) Figure 15 Recorded noise levels for demolition methods CIRIA Technical Note 1292.5 slurry unit, where the noise levels were even higher. At the generator the constant noise recorded was 106-107dB, decreasing rapidly to below 95dB at a distance of Sm. The reduction in noise level vith distance is included in Figure 15; it was clearly considerably affected by noise reflection between the beams and the concrete base slab. ‘The diamond-sawing process was relatively quiet and pollution-free, but the thermic lance required extensive protection for the operator; the molten material showered backwards from the web of the beam, as illustrated in Figure 4, and a complete heat- and flame-proof suit and helmet were essential. In confined conditions breathing apparatus would be needed, as the fumes are harmful and affect the lungs very quickly. Explosive methods of demolition fall into a separate category with respect to health and safety. Preparations for blasting work involved traditional rock-drilling and hand-held jack hammers, with the high noise and vibration levels associated with these tools and the customary hazards in handling then. Safety considerations ‘The demolition methods used in the trials were also assessed in relation to the safety of the operatives and the public. In a normal work situation, the beams would be part of a bridge or elevated structure, creating hazards additional to those identified during the tests. The effective working of a Montabert breaker relies upon the powerful impact of the chisel point. This creates two hazards; large pieces of falling debris, and the possible sudden collapse of a section. Collapse may be caused either by lateral instability due to the horizontal impact of the chisel, or by vibration due to the vertical punching action. An additional hazard for the operators burning prestressing cables can occur when long lengths of cable are exposed by the breaking operation, as a single strand can easily slash an arm or leg as it is cut. The effectiveness of the high-pressure water jet relies upon the introduction of an abrasive grit into the water supply. A large proportion of the water and grit is reflected at high speed from the cutting position and operators therefore need to wear goggles for eye protection. Bystanders are less likely to be affected as the rebound distance is only 2-3n. However, this system can be remote-controlled, with obvious advantage in potentially hazardous situations. The diamond-sawing technique creates very little danger for the operators. A large saw may be difficult to manipulate into position but, once the system is set up with a purpose-made guard and guide track, it can be operated remotely from a control panel. Potential hazards may occur if the blade jams or has to be repositioned once a significant portion of the section has been cut. In using the thermic lance, falling molten debris is an obvious hazard and can easily set fire to clothing or wooden scaffold planks. The operators must be totally protected by special heat- and flame- resistant overalls, with darkened face-masks to protect their head and eyes. CIRIA Technical Note 129 2324 The explosives engineers were well clear of the area during firing and the main dangers arose from air-borne vibrations and flying debris. Bystanders may be affected directly by flying debris, or indirectly by the damage caused to windows in adjacent property. There is a variety of methods for dealing with these problems, but it is often impossible to prevent dust and debris from escaping and covering the area. The demonstration blast in Figure 7 is a clear illustration of the amount of dust and small debris emitted from a beam that had been sandbagged and protected by rubber blast mats. With thermite powder the main concern was the black smoke and heat caused by the violent and uncontrolled reaction. The operator and all other personnel had to be kept well clear of the trial section and subsequent inspection was particularly difficult due to the heat and severe charring- 4A potential danger in all the above operations occurs when an attempt to cut or collapse a section or element is not completely successful. A prestressed concrete element with partly severed tendons can collapse without visible warning. CIRIA Technical Note 129Belel TESTING OF PRETENSIONED BEAMS One of the eight pretensioned box~beams used in the CIRIA trial (see Section 1) appeared to be in particularly good condition and was selected for the full-scale load test. Several other beams had been cast with a few prestressing strands left exposed over short distances. These provided an ideal opportunity to determine residual levels of prestress directly from the exposed strand. Laboratory tests A number of laboratory tests were carried out to supplement the measurements made during the in-situ tests. The laboratory work consisted of compressive strength tests on the concrete, and elastic modulus tests on both the concrete and the prestressing strands. Further tensile tests on the prestressing steel were made to calibrate the instrumentation used to record the strain changes on the strands. Conerete cores Three cores were taken from each web of the chosen test beam, to test the compressive strength and the elastic modulus of the concrete. The thickness of the webs varied considerably, due to the method of construction, but the minimum depth at the coring positions appeared to be approximately 120mm. To ensure the 2:1 length to diameter ratio required for testing purposes, 60mm-diameter cores were taken. Two 50mm vibrating wire strain gauges were used to measure the strain changes induced in each core during the elastic modulus tests. Each core was subjected to four load increments up to approximately one third of the specified compressive strength of the concrete. Because of the restricted diameter of the cores, this cannot be considered a standard test but it provided a useful indication of the elastic modulus. As an additional check on the conerete’s properties, ultrasonic testing equipment was also used. The cores were then crushed to determine the compressive strength of the concrete; any slight non-verticality of the cores severely affected the validity of the results and two of the six cores taken had to be discarded. The results of both the elastic modulus and the crushing tests for the four accurately drilled cores are shown in Table 1. The equivalent cube strengths were estimated from cylinder values using a conversion factor \/). The aggregate used in the mix was a particularly hard natural flint gravel and the typical 28-day cube strengths ranged from 59-69 N/mm*. Therefore, allowing for ageing effects, the range of equivalent cube strengths appeared to be consistent with the original test data. CIRIA Technical Note 129 25Table 1 Properties of concrete in the box-beam BeLe2 26 Core Equivalent cube Elastic modulus strength Static Dynamic N/mm’ KN/am? N/mm? 1 85 34.3 38.5 2 95 35.4 35.8 3 68 31.5 34.0 4 3 7 2 In view of the hard aggregate and the high cube strengths, it was anticipated that the elastic modulus would be nearer to 40 kN/mm?. In the fullscale deflection test described in Section 3.4, the effective modulus of the concrete was in fact estimated to range between 45-48 KN/mm. The reason for this discrepancy appears to lie in the method of casting, since the inside faces of the webs were supported by a mesh of chickenwire and plastic sheeting. Bulging of the mesh was inevitable during compaction of the concrete, and the results of the core tests specifically reflected the concrete modulus perpendicular to the plane of the web. Therefore, for the purposes of analysing the strain gauge data obtained from the web faces, an average value of 47 kN/anm? was assumed to represent the modulus in the plane of the web. Prestressing strands Several lengths of prestressing strand were retrieved from the box- beams for laboratory tensile tests. Individual wires were instrumented using demec gauges attached by rapid-hardening resin. The strand was restrained by ‘jubilee’ or 'bull-dog’ type clips and measurements were made of the overall extension of the strand as well as that of the wires within the group. Each of these methods had been used on site, and the laboratory tests were a means of calibrating the site measurements. The effective elastic modulus obtained from the group action of the strand might be different to that of the individual wires. The prestressing strand was therefore tested in two ways- Firstly, it was subjected to a tensile test in which the load was increased in five increments up to 100 kN; this load was chosen because it approximated to the estimated residual force in the strands in the beans. The load was then reduced gradually to zero and reapplied. To simulate the sudden release of force experienced during the site measurements, the 100 kN test load was released by cutting the strand. The values of the elastic modulus obtained from the tensile tests on the strands are shown in Table 2. The results quoted for the two sets of gauges X and Y attached directly to the wires and for the gauges attached to the jubilee clips represent an average of six separate readings. The test load is split into two ranges, since it was immediately apparent that all the load/strain graphs displayed a distinct change in gradient above a load of 40 kt During the first application of load, it was found that the gauges on the wires indicated an effective elastic modulus of about 250 kN/am® at loads below 40 kN. However, the group effect achieved with the jubilee and bull-dog clips indicated low values of around 150 KN/nm?. The reason for this appeared to be tightening of the wires in the strand, which had tended to spring apart during de-stressing and removal from the beans. CIRTA Technical Note 129Table 2 Elastic modulus of prestressing strands Test Load Elastic modulus (kN/mu?) range citi) Wire gauges Strand gauges in the form of: Jubilee Bull-dog x x clips clips Firet 0-40 253 245 154 129 loading 40-100 219 25 189 W7 Second 0-40 2u7 204 172 145 loading 40-100 298 = 280 179 152 Above a load of 40 kN, the wire gauges produced an effective modulus of between 215-220 kN/am and the group effect detected by the gauges on the clips ranged between 180-190 kN/mm’. Consequently the overall behaviour approximated to an anticipated value of 200 kN/mm* for steel. Releasing the load gradually to almost zero and then applying the full 100 kN again produced further complications. The initial loads of up to 40 kN confirmed that tightening of the strand had occurred, and typical results for the elastic modulus were 205-215 KN/mm* for the wire gauges and 170-175 kN/mm? for the group effect. The jubilee clips continued to register an effective modulus of about 180 kN/mm? at higher loads, but the wire gauges suggested very high values, between 280 and 300 KN/am?. Therefore it appeared that further tightening of the strand could occur, and the wire strains did not represent the group behaviour. Tt should be remembered that the gauges on the wires were applied to a group of wires twisted spirally to forma tendon, and this must have had some influence on the difference in effective moduli. The cutting test performed on the strands under full load produced the most interesting results. The strand was restrained by jubilee clips and bull-dog clips at regular intervals, to prevent springing of the wires. Exactly the same system had been used for the site measurements on the exposed lengths of strands prior to cutting. The average strain recorded by the gauges on the jubilee clips for a load of 100 kN was 4124 microstrain. After cutting the strand, the gauge readings on the wires produced an average result of 4178 microstrain. It appears, therefore, that in these circumstances the strain-release measurement on the wires actually represents a group effect and corresponds to an effective modulus of approximately 175 KN/am?. This value was later adopted for interpretation of the direct readings from the box-beams. CIRIA Technical Note 129 27