Issue of removing epoxy resin from the secondary grouting of the compressor foundation
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The company has a project that requires the removal of 2 gas compressors and their installation at a new booster station. The original compressors were filled with epoxy resin grout with a compressive strength of ≥90 MPa. There are 27 pre-installed bolts on the base, and the entire base is filled with epoxy resin. Now it’s necessary to remove this epoxy resin grout and lift the base along with the equipment out. One of my friends said that using conventional methods such as pneumatic chisels would take 2 months to clean up the epoxy resin, which is too long and does not meet the deadline requirements. Do any of you have any good suggestions?
Just some insights, for reference only. Removing this equipment may need to be done in two steps (it’s not clear whether the base of the rectangular box is integrated). First, the nuts that form the foundation of the connection need to be removed. As a precaution, the base to be poured is cleared away using a pneumatic hammer (to a shallow depth as much as possible), after which it can be lifted. During the lifting process, a sledgehammer can be used to gently vibrate the base as a supplementary measure. Let’s take another look at this basic current situation analysis. Beneath the bolt is the base to be fastened, followed by a lower shimming pad, and beneath that is the concrete foundation itself. No matter how good its adhesion to the grouting material is, it will not become one entity. Just remove the anchor bolts and everything will be taken care of. These anchor bolts are basically useless for reuse and can also be removed with a cutting torch. But there is another issue: it’s not clear from the footage whether this device was installed using a method of overall lifting, or whether it had lifting lugs for such purpose. Otherwise, the equipment will deform during lifting. To prevent these problems, it is recommended to remove all the containers other than the gas turbines in order to reduce unnecessary load. Also, to dispel your doubts, at the base corners, try breaking them apart first using a pneumatic hammer to understand the strength of the connection between the grouting material and the concrete foundation. Also, investigate further the relationship between the equipment mounting foot bolts, concrete foundations, shims, the fastening elements for the equipment foundation, and the grouting material. Oh, there’s one more thing worth noting: the connections between the shims may require welding to be secure, but these factors will not affect your lifting process. If everything goes well, one morning should be sufficient.
This secondary grouting is presumably just epoxy resin grout in the bolt holes.
The foundation of the moving equipment is very solid; if the amount of work to be done is large, using a pneumatic chisel may cause it to collapse, so wire cutting could be considered as an alternative.
The excavator damaged the surrounding concrete surface; only the base was left intact, and the entire structure was removed
Redo a common base, reinstall the pry bar unit in place, and then dispose of the old base.
The image isn’t very clear, but it seems that once the foundation bolts are loosened, the equipment can be lifted. After the equipment is removed, the foundation can be taken down as well. There are many destructive methods available, and this should shorten the time required.