Anchorview
THE SHAPE OF GROUT ANCHORS: On construction drawings grout injection anchors are drawn as straight lines. Practice can be quite different: during the drilling process anchors can easily deviate from the intended path, both in horizontal and vertical direction, due to a number of causes. Having a shape that differs from the design can seriously affect the retaining strength of a grout anchor. And there can be additional reasons why one would want to know the real three-dimensional shape of the anchor after it has been put into place. This is now possible with ANCHORVIEW using the SAAF
The ShapeAccelArray/Field (SAAF) consists of an articulated chain of sensor elements (segments). The segments are joined together in such a manner that they can move in relation to each other in all directions but do not twist. Each segment contains a multi-axial MEMS-chip accelerometer. This makes the segment act as an extremely accurate inclinometer that determines the angle of inclination in both X- and Y-direction. The length of a segment is 0,305m or 0,500m, the diameter is only 25mm. By lowering the SAAF into the hollow core of a grout anchor and reading all the segments in the chain, the shape of the anchor is determined very accurately. For this purpose usually a SAAF with a manageable length of around 10m is utilised. The shape of longer anchors is then obtained by making successive readings with short overlaps. Due to its articulated construction the SAAF is easy to transport on a reel. Its weight is only 0,5kg/m. The SAAF is fully watertight up to 100mwc and measures with an accuracy of 1,5mm over a length of 30m