Fuelled by product innovation and vigorous long-term testing, Australia’s civil industry has adopted a continuous improvement model in the past 30 years. As a result, Australia’s civil environments, including wastewater, tunnelling, ground stabilisation and concrete structures, are now world-class, in durability, strength and performance.
Because of this, it’s become more common than not that specifiers and contractors don’t trust or use an untested, unapproved product with minimal test data.
Building trust with consistency
At Bluey, we’ve understood for a long time that trust is built with consistency. That is why all of our products undergo extensive long-term testing to local and international standards. One example of this is accelerated testing, in which products are exposed to environmental conditions that they’d normally experience over 100 years. Many of our products such as BluGeo GRP60 remain structurally sound following the accelerated testing which is set at 10,000 hours. We have continued this testing out to 35,000 hours (currently) to prove that the performance of these bars is over and above standards requirements.
This is mainly because BluGeo GRP60 is a Vinyl Ester (VE) resin, glass composite bar, based on leading Swiss and Japanese design and manufacturing technology. The unique manufacturing process results in an ultra-high shear capacity and thread strength which is not only corrosion-resistant but also a light-weight alternative to steel bar.
Ongoing Testing
To ensure we offer our partners the highest quality products in the world, we conduct independent tests to assess every measure possible of the product’s dimensions. For example, BluGeo GRP60 tests include:
- Bond Dependent Coefficient
- Bond Strength
- Creep Test
- Creep Rupture Strength
- Longitudinal Tensile Properties
- Bond Strength
- Flexural Properties
- Transverse Shear Strength
- Tensile Strength Of Best Bars
- Alkali Resistance
- DMT Test Report U2333nn-Bs-A Shear Test
- 50º K60-32
- DMT Test Report U2330nn-Bs-A Shear Test
- Thread Characteristics.
The consistency and positive results of the GRP60 testing has resulted in the product meeting the compliance requirements of many Australian and International Standards, such as;
ACI 440 – Fiber – Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement
BS8006-2-2011- Code of Practice for Strengthened/Reinforced Soils.
CSA S-805 – Standard for Rainwater Collection System Design and Installation
CSA S-807 – Specification for Fibre-Reinforced Polymers
Eurocode 7 – Geotechnical Design
VicRoads Section 683 – Soil Nails
These Standards are widely used by RMS in NSW, VicRoads and other organisations around the World. The British and European codes are generally regarded as the most thorough international standards for soil nail design available. The inclusion of GRP in the most recent editions of the standards above is an indication of the industry’s continuous improvement approach to products, as GRP becomes increasingly known for its superior properties to steel in these applications.
We have now been granted approvals from the following authorities to use GRP for permanent 100-year design life applications.
Don’t waste your time with unsafe, unproven, inconsistent products. Choose consistency, choose quality and choose Bluey. Contact bluey@bluey.com.au or call 1300 0 BLUEY to learn more.
