Project Description
We look at a commonly used element in construction - adhesive anchors, which consists of a metal inserts fixed in a drilled hole in concrete using epoxy as a bonding agent. Hole cleaning is critical, but often time ignored in the fields, leading to greatly reduced capacities. This is partially responsible for the ceiling panel collapse in 2007 in Boston, MA, which killed a traveler and injured another. We have invented a tool to improve the epoxy-concrete interface. Our laboratory tests have shown the new method fundamentally changes behavior and greatly improves resilience. The UWM Research Foundation has filed a provisional patent for the tool and the method. Moving forward, we need to 1) further develop a working prototype tool; and 2) verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods for other adhesive materials.
Tasks and Responsibilites
We are interested in the behavior of adhesives when used 1) in uncleaned holes, 2) in moisture concrete, 3) under elevated temperature, and 4) under sustained loading.
The student will review the related literature and draft a summary report. The research will guide our laboratory tests in the next stage. We need to know the adhesive materials that we must test in order to demonstrate the developed method/tool. I have a PhD student, who is using UWM Advanced Analysis Facility to examine the impact of these adverse factors. The will help the graduate student in preparing the specimen and summarize the observations.
Desired Qualifications
None listed