¿Por qué fallan los anclajes adhesivos?

Quiroga, Pedro Nel | 2014

Adhesive anchors are used to anchor structural and non-structural elements to concrete or masonry elements. They are also used in reinforcement work to connect elements or portions of reinforcement elements to existing concrete. However, the behavior of these anchors is extremely sensitive to environmental factors, the type of resin used and the quality of the installation; to the point that numerous failures have been reported worldwide, some of them catastrophic. One of the best known anchorage failures is that of the ceiling in one of the Boston "Big Dig" tunnels, which led to the creation of ACI/CRSI (American Concrete Institute / Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute) for adhesive anchor installers. The ceiling panels are held in place by bolts anchored to the top of the tunnel structure. Due to installation deficiencies and the use of an adhesive not appropriate for the operating conditions, some anchors failed within six years or so of being installed and in July 2006 resulted in panels falling onto a car resulting in the death of one person and injury to the driver (Meinheit, 2014; NTSB, 2006).