Re-Fer

As part of a seismic strengthening project, several masonry walls in a residential complex in Wabern near Bern were examined for their stability in the event of an earthquake. Insufficient load-bearing resistances were found. Vertical prestressing with re-bar 10 in reprofiling mortar was chosen as a strengthening measure. For this, slots were cut into the masonry walls beforehand and the bars were anchored at the top and bottom in the concrete slab with Sika AnchorFix^®-3030 and Sikadur^®-30. After the anchoring had cured, the bars were heated to 300°C by means of a gas torch and thus activated and prestressed. This prestressing force acts as a vertical compressive force on the masonry. Finally, the slot was filled with a SikaMonoTop^®-412 mortar.

The reinforcement method with slotted re-bars allows to efficiently increase the normative degrees of fulfilment of the masonry walls in the event of an earthquake.

The following aspects are particularly noteworthy:

• High ductility of the additional reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement over several floors
• Easy to apply reinforcement with prestressing without complex tensioning equipment (hydraulic jacks) and anchor heads
• No loss of space, the bars disappear completely into the wall
• Recyclable material in case of dismantling, re-bar can be 100% reintroduced into the production cycle of stainless steel
• High situational adaptability of the reinforcement system

re-fer Product
memory^®-steel re-bar 10 with Sika AnchorFix^®-3030, Sikadur^®-30, and Sika MonoTop^®-4012 Eco