An economical and fast alternetive to conventional void filling
What is UREFILL?
A unique, pre-expanded structural resin that becomes super-light in weight.
It is produced
on site to form a liquid base-slowly or at much higher volumes depends on the need.
It can be poured, pumped or injected into holes, over long distances.
Pre-expanded before placement and with a short gel time, UREFILL will displace residual liquids and can be applied underwater.
Not a liquid, not a solid, it flows only under applied pressure-unit and it begins to set hard. The slump characteristics are controlable and the material does not run away.
UREFILL is environmentally neutral, inert, solvent free, non-toxic and non-flammable. It can be recycled for agricultural purposes and can be disposed of in landfill.
Applications
Pipelines
Embankments
Retaining walls and culverts
Back filling
Void filling
" One hit wonder" a start at Rochdale
Uretek’s UREFILL bulk void filling system was recently chosen by Rochdale Brough Council and Michael Parkman to fill a redundant subway near Town hall.
‘’ We choose UREFILL because;it was a lot easier than using concrete or granular fill, explains the borough Council’s Senior Engineer, John Ashley
‘’ if we’d had concrete, for example, Access problems and multiple deliveries would have been necessary. Plus if you pump in concrete you have to top it off and so on. UREFILL is a one-hit wonder, if you like. ‘’
A UREFILL team headed by Steve Woolley filled the 300 cubic meter subway in three days, backfilling from a brick wall constructed by the client at one end of the subway. They used a lightweight grout produced on site and specifically designed for the requirements of the job.
The speed of completion says Steve, can be replicated for a wide range of applications, as UREFILL can be pumped long distances and can be poured uphill or downhill.
‘It could equally have been a mineshaft or mine adit, a pipeline, a culvert-we could fill them all at the same rate, of 30-40 cubic meters per hour..’
Ordar filled for distribution warehouse
two and half thousand cubic meters of voiding and redundant Access tunnels underneath a mail order firm’s distribution centre in Manchester were filled this summer without disrupting commercial operations, using Uretek’s UREFILL bulk void filling system.
At the same time, the meterial stabilized floorslabs which had dipped due to heavy loading. The floor in question acted as a link between loading docks to the building and a large automated warehouse,’says Richard Harries of Clancy Consulting Engineers. ‘The quantity of goods coming across this floor was so considerable that, even short down periods couldn’t be considered – the facility is used virtually 24/7.’
Replacing the floor was considered, but reject due to large amount of dues and debris that would be created. Excavating to introduce a new suspended floor was also looked at, but turned down on health and safety grounds allied to factors of disruption and difficulty of Access. In filling the gap between the floor and the ground was decided upon, and UREFILL was chosen partly because the lightweight metarial would add minimal loading to the fill metarial, but mainly due to its lack of disruption.
We were able to fill most of the void filling from below using the existing tunnel system,explains Steve Woolley, who heads Uretek’s UREFILL operations.
Some areas were inaccessible from below, so the UREFILL team took portable equipment on to the ground floor of the warehouse. Material can be injected up to 150m from the supply tanks, allowing delivery hoses to be placed via overhead steelwork, out of the way of warehouse operations. Individual sections of the facility, including sections underneath conveyor belts, were isolated on a day by day basis for the repair to proceed.
It was a combined void filling and slab stabilisation Project, which showed the versatility of UREFILL,’ says. Steve Depending on Access, the team were able to make185 cubic meters a day while normal warehouse operations continued.
‘’We lost just one bay at a time, work within the warehouse carried on, health and safety issues were minimal, and it progressed in away that has caused little or no disruption to the clients’ business’’ says Richard Harries. ‘’The client is delighted.’’
Sea defence a breeze for UREFILL
Uretek™'s bulk voidfilling system, UREFILL, was the solution of choice for grouting works during upgrading of a marine causeway at weston Super Mare in September.
Solutions check out for ASDA
UREFILL has been successfully used to tackle mineshaft problems at ASDA’s new Tonypandy store .
The mineshafts-discovered under the supermarket car park – needed to be quickly and effectively dealt with to allow the new store to open on schedule.
Engineers Clarke Bond called in Uretek;to join on-site engineers specialist contractors Quantum ( Great Britain) Ltd. after brick linings on the 3,4 and 5 m diameter shafts were found to be failing, with any further detoriaration likely to result in surface collapse.
Quantum treated one shaft with a reinforced spray-applied shotcrete lining, and in a 3-week Project, Uretek’s™UREFILL team filled all three shafts with a lightweight foamed grout. The metarial selected was not affected by running water, and density was varied to suit the conditions occurring in each shaft. One shaft was flooded, and for this, buoyant and specially waterproofed UREFILL was injected around a steel mesh cube fixed to the walls at water leve. 200mm of concrete was then poured on top of the UREFILL, effectively sealing the bottom of the shaft. UREFILL 5000 was then added up to the surface.
Says Peter Lindsell of Quantum: '' Quantum and Uretek worked closely as a site based team to adapt the process of filling the shafts as new problems were being encountered on daily basis. Working under strengent targets for completion, all the seshafts were treated to satisfactory condition to enable the cilent to open the store on program.''
ASDA's James Brown said: ''UREFILL allowed for a quick,safe and sensitive solution to the problems,posed-traditional methods would have required contractors to work inside the shafts for a sustained period.
