How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
(OP)
I have a 100 year old building with these beautiful 12" diameter cast iron columns with a 1" wall thickness. A test lab cut a coupon and they did a tensile test on these columns and they're no good. Brittle Failure – no necking, no elongation. So has anyone every dealt with these type of columns in older building and how did you deal with them? How do you reinforce these columns w/o replacing them? Thank you.






RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
They can do this for beds, why not structural steel?
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
Filling these columns will concrete would significantly increase the load on the existing footings.
I've thought about using a channel on each corner and bolting everything together, that's really the only idea I have.
I've posted a pic in my first post. There's probably 24 of these columns and they're 3 stories tall, supporting a 2nd floor and a roof.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
Are you involved in adding more load or being required to confirm seismic capacity?
There are many buildings of that era with cast iron columns still in service.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
Here's what the test report shows:
As per your request to set new expansion bolts to frame new steel beams into the existing columns, the following is noted:
1. The material is brittle.
2. The weldability is poor, would require extensive preheating., slow cooling, qualification of procedures, personnel, etc.
3. The strength and toughness are inferior to those of structural steels.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
1)pre-qualify the weld process and the welders using preheat and suitable materials for both materials.
2)addition of interior HSS to strength existing section may be necessary depending on the added loads proposed.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
It came as a cloth like material which was applied with resin to the surface of the column.
In your case, with round columns, it could be applied easily. It would not improve the compressive strength but you would provide extra bending capacity and confinement.
Another idea would be to provide half circular pipes, with an inner diameter slightly larger than the original column OD and cut outs for the beams. Once installed, weld the two vertical seam welds and install brackets to support the beams around and any new beams. The apparience would not change a lot and you would not need to provide falsework as if you were replacing them.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?
Boston Building Code 1926 =>Max fiber stress 9000 psi-60L/r with a limiting L/r of 70.
Attachments are another problem. You cannot weld to cast iron. Your picture shows bearing seat through bolted to the cast iron, which was commonly done. However, I would not recommend doing that today. Boxing the cast iron in full height plates or channels for connection points and load transfer to foundations maybe worth pursuing.
But, adding stories, load, etc triggers conforming to lateral seismic requirements which is another series of problems to solve.
RE: How do you reinforce a 100 year old cast iron column?