ICAIR is part-funded by European Regional Development Fund
Unipart Construction Technologies (UCT) worked with the Integrated Civil and Infrastructure Research (ICAIR) Centre, to perform experimental validation on a new column shoe design for precast columns.
The column shoe component allows for the rapid and accurate assembly of precast columns on site, incorporating UCT's laser cut steel plate and unique joining features for a robust connection. ICAIR successfully performed various experimental tests on different column dimensions and a variety of shear and bending load combinations.
The experimental setup included two large hydraulic actuators operating in conjunction, each fitted with load cells of 2MN capacity in both tension and compression. The 2.4m long concrete columns were bolted to a UC section of 4.9m length, with specimens exhibiting load capacities of up to 140kN. High-precision RDP LVDT gauges (with infinite resolution) measured displacement at each support, while a HG-C1200 laser (with repeatability of 200μm) recorded mid-span displacements.
