Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
(OP)
In the plant where I work we have large vehicles that move heavy vats of product around. The vehicles have hard solid tires. The pair of wheels in the front are located together in the center of the machine and rotate to do all the steering and drive the machine. But the front wheels rotate such that it operates similar to a forklift steering where the machine can make a complete circle with nearly a zero foot radius on the back wheel. The vehicles travel on elevated concrete floors. The concrete is always falling apart, ruts develop on the top surface and concrete spalls off the bottom surface. The spalling on the underside is probably due to inadequate design as the rebar is epoxy coated and looks to be in good condition, so it isn't a rust issue. I am guessing the issue at the top is just crushing from wheels traveling and pivoting over time. But the ruts create more dynamic loads on the slab and overtime the slab breaks all the way through with concrete falling out the bottom. It might just be shear failure from the get go, but I can't tell.
The loads on the front axle are 53 kips (static) and on the rear axle are 65 kips (static). The tires are about 16" wide and the imprint appears to be about 12" long on the rear tires and 6" long on the front.
I need to replace sections of the floor that have failed. The plant process makes it really hard to replace sections of floor without shutting down production, which just isn't allowed for any long period of time. I might get three or four days, maybe up to a week if I am lucky. I can try to design the slab for greater shear and bending strength, but I was trying to think of ways to reduce the top surface wear to keep it smoother and reduce the dynamic loads a bit that happen when the floor looses its smoothness. And I need to come up with a way to construct it quickly.
One thought I had was to use precast concrete panels with a steel plate on top, cast into the panels. Anyone have any thoughts on this? It might add that this is in a very corrosive salt environment.
The loads on the front axle are 53 kips (static) and on the rear axle are 65 kips (static). The tires are about 16" wide and the imprint appears to be about 12" long on the rear tires and 6" long on the front.
I need to replace sections of the floor that have failed. The plant process makes it really hard to replace sections of floor without shutting down production, which just isn't allowed for any long period of time. I might get three or four days, maybe up to a week if I am lucky. I can try to design the slab for greater shear and bending strength, but I was trying to think of ways to reduce the top surface wear to keep it smoother and reduce the dynamic loads a bit that happen when the floor looses its smoothness. And I need to come up with a way to construct it quickly.
One thought I had was to use precast concrete panels with a steel plate on top, cast into the panels. Anyone have any thoughts on this? It might add that this is in a very corrosive salt environment.






RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
The existing floor is 15" thick and the span ranges from 3'-6" to 8'.
Ron, do you have any specific product in mind? I googled high strength polymer concrete topping and there are several products that came up, but as I have no experience with them, I am curious if you have a recommendation that you have seen work well in the past.
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
http://www.super-slab.com/
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
This first picture is some cracking on the left and rough worn areas on the right that are more in the travel path (top surface).
This turns into more rutted areas over time like the picture below.
Then this turns into some really cracked and pitted areas.
From the underside, there are areas with pan deck and other areas without. Below is a picture in an area without the pan deck showing the cracking that starts to happen before large chunks fall out. The span between the beams in this picture is about 5'-8".
And here are a couple pictures of some areas (with pan deck) where chunks of concrete have fallen.
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
www.SlideRuleEra.net
www.VacuumTubeEra.net
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads
RE: Wearing Surface on Concrete for High Point Loads