Influence of different drilling methods on the behavior of post‐installed mechanical fasteners in uncracked and cracked concrete

Abstract

AbstractInnovative drilling methods gain importance in the field of post‐installed fasteners. For this reason, users, customers and manufacturers demand methods other than the standard drilling procedure of hammer drilling, as they are hollow drilling with included cleaning and diamond drilling without emitting drill dust. One open question regarding these drilling methods is the equivalence of the behavior under the conditions of cracked concrete over the entire lifetime. These conditions are typically tested in the crack movement test, which simulates the real behavior of a fastener in cracked concrete over a designed lifetime of 50 years. In this contribution, the example of a post‐installed mechanical bolt anchor is used to explain how a difference in the behavior is a consequence of different drilling methods in noncracked concrete, in cracked concrete and in cracked concrete in which the crack is cycled. Additionally, it is observed that the behavior in the crack cycling test is significantly influenced by the drilling method.