Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Register Log in
  • Congratulations cowski on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Chain Drag

Status
Not open for further replies.
BridgeEI

BridgeEI

Structural
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
224
Location
US
Is there a place to buy a chain drag to use on a bridge deck? Or does everyone make their own? I can’t seem to find a place that sells them as a piece.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
In my day we just bought a length of chain. Don't remember the weight. It was easier to hear than a multi-chain rig another crew used. We also used a steel rod (length of rebar) which I preferred. Basically like a hammer that can used standing up and while walking. The ASTM standard for sounding may have more information.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I used to use a 6’ piece of chain and would sweep it across the deck. When I get home tomorrow I’ll measure the link. The chain has been hanging in my garage for the last 20+ years. I remember some guys I worked with years ago had small lengths of chain attached to a 2x4.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I like the idea of the rebar, thanks for that!

I would be curious what size of link you used bridgebuster. If I do this, I only want to do it once instead of making several trips to the hardware store.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've used a chunk of 25M (#8) x 5' long bar, and it works better than a chain. Using a chain can be faster for locating areas of delamination, but the bar works well.

Dik
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I purchased one of these about 20+ years ago. Works real well - and very quick. Especially good for overhead soundings:

Delam-Tool-71_uwfd3g.jpg



From Sounding Technology: Link

Not associated with them - just a happy user.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ingenuity, that does remind me we used a crayon on a stick to mark out the area. Saved bending over. It might have been one of those old-timie wooden sticks used to hold chalk for teachers to write high on a blackboard.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If I find myself needing to chain drag a bridge deck again I think I will look into some sort of Infrared Scanning.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
30 years ago I was working as a resident engineer on a bridge rehab with a lot of deck patching. The scan was extremely accurate.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
bridgebuster you used Infrared Scanning back in the 80's? I didn't know it had been commercially available that long.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
OSU - yes, infrared scanning. Construction started around this time in 1988; the scanning was probably done about a year or so earlier (don't have the drawings in front of me). I saw photos of the operation: A van with a scanner mounted on a 15' pole. It had to travel at slow speed. The scanning was done by Donohue Associates from Wisconsin (that name might ring a bell with some of my fellow old-timers). Oddly enough, a couple of years later, the fellow who did the scanning and I wound up in the same company but different locations. The result of our respective companies being bought and sold.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top