Geopanel for the restoration of deteriorated pillars
by Nikola Tosic, 19 March 2018
Geopanel of Geoplast, the reusable and modular formwork in ABS for walls, is particulartly suitable for the restoration of deteriorated columns. Especially in the event of concrete deterioration and exposure of the reinforcements, as its elements can be easily installed around existing structures. Geopanel also has a definite advantage over classic metal formwork in terms of size and weight.
It can be:
- Quickly assembled
- Practically moved on-site
- Reused more than 100 times
Restoration of a viaduct in Southern Italy
Recently, Geoplast has contributed to the restoration of the pylons of a viaduct, dating back to the 60’s in which, due to prolonged exposure to atmospheric agents, corrosion of the reinforcement bars and swelling of the cortical part of the concrete took place.
Geopanel enabled a quick intervention. Weighing only 11kg, it can be moved quickly on site without the use of cranes or mechanical means and was a perfect alternative to automated climbing systems, which are more cumbersome and expensive
Despite the limited room of action on site and the absence of any mechanical lifting system, it was possible to infill the pylons using Geopanel , suitably integrated with steel angular elements to follow the geometries of the pylons : the formworks were anchored to the existing structure through Ø10mm rods fixed with chemical anchors at a depth of 10 cm.
Once the formwork operations were completed, a concrete casting was carried out.