Reinforcing of the connections between precast concrete panels with adhesively bonded steel rods

This paper deals with the effect of bond thickness, embedment length and type of epoxy adhesive on the adhesion of steel anchors to concrete. The test results indicate that the adhesion strength of EP3 system is independent of bond thickness from approximately I to 4 mm. However the same is not found to be true for EP1 system where considerably more complex behaviour is observed. The adhesive strength of EP1 system is shown to pass through a maximum value at 2 mm bond thickness. At thickness beyond 2 mm, the strength undergoes a reduction until a value is reached which remains essentially constant with increased thickness. The addition of aggregate to epoxy formulation results in a reduction in the adhesive strength, the magnitude of the decline being largely dependent upon the quantity of aggregate used in the mixture. The strength of an epoxy adhesive anchor can be determined by an elastic behavioural model. The curves for epoxy adhesives indicate that the elastic solution does fit the experimental data very well. Increasing embedment of an anchor beyond a certain point does not increase the capacity of the anchor